Brasstown Falls
I had been at Paris Mountain State Park for a few nights. It’s a beautiful park and my tent site had water and electric. The tent area was not level, and at night I found myself sliding of the mattress. The 30F temperatures somehow wear on you. I was now hoping for warmer days ahead.
After breaking down the site, I grabbed a coffee and drove to the Sumter National Forest. I was coming in on RT 76 and I turned onto a dirt road, BrassTown Rd. The road has some ruts, but in general it’s in good shape. I noticed a couple signs requesting drivers to lower their speed in order to keep dust down. Dust was not a problem on this day.
The road winds through the valley for about three miles. I noticed a the Brasstown Creek Gathering Place & BBQ which I didn’t stop to checkout. I also saw several signs for pottery along the way. On both sides of the road, there are private homes and farms, some fairly new and others in various degrees of disrepair. The road comes to a fork eventually. At the fork, the road on the right leads to the Brasstown Falls hike. The falls consist of three distinct areas (upper, middle and lower).
Home on Road to Brasstown Falls
There is parking located about .5 miles from the fork in the road. When I arrived there were two other cars, but in summer, I’m sure the parking lot would be overflowing. There are no fees for parking or trail usage.
The entire hike is only 1.5 miles and is on the easy side. The upper falls might be wheelchair accessible, but the rest of the trail would be difficult to navigate.
Upper Falls
The upper falls are to the left over a new bridge. It isn’t even a .25 miles to the falls.
Middle Falls
The middle falls are cascading over a more gentle slope. It’s possible on days when the water levels are lower to sit in the water. Although, I’m not sure the park service encourages this.
I’ve read that there has been a lot of recent trail development to make it safer and more accessible. Not much effort is needed to get up and down the middle falls. Given the flatness, they are the least dramatic of the three areas.
Lower Falls
The lower falls, in my opinion, are the more beautiful of the three. The park service has installed beautiful stairs to make it easier to get up and down this area of the trail. They’ve also built an overlook at the same level as the top of the falls. Accessing the pool at the bottom of the falls is difficult. I didn’t want to chance damaging the camera or lenses.
There is an even lower part to the trail. I hiked further down, and noticed another very narrow falls which isn’t really accessible for photographs without wading through water. A stream forms here and it is possible to find a path along the river to some extent. I don’t think this is an official trail but it is clear many others have found their way down to that area.
Cleveland, GE
I finally found a camp ground that took tent campers, had electric, water, Internet and showers. I made a reservation at Jenny’s Creek Campground. They closed at 6:00 pm but they told me if I came in later to give them a ring. I made it to the campground and got my sight details. I was at the site by 4:30 pm.
There were two men with kids at my sight as I pulled in. The kids were about 2 years old. They were throwing stones into the river. I told them they didn’t need to stop, that I just needed to setup my tent.
After a while, they began to leave and the young girl walked over to my picnic table. They were speaking Korean and I said hello but she didn’t respond. Her father spoke perfect English and we chatted for a while. I offered the girl pomegranate seeds that I had just extracted. She kept taking them one at a time. Eventually, I found a ziploc bag and gave here a large handful. In return, she brought me back chestnuts in a bag. This brought back memories of buying hot chestnuts on the street in Bern, Switzerland.
The man at the site beside me was camping with just a hammock, cooler and stove. He was packing up and asked if I wanted his firewood. I took the wood but I rarely make a fire. I eventually took it over to the family that was speaking Korean because they had a fire going already.
I made dinner, cleaned the dishes and got everything put away. After dinner, I crawled into the tent and grabbed a book.