10th Installment – June 26 & 27 From Charleston to North Carolina Waterfalls

PLEASE NOTE THAT THERE ARE 9 OTHER  INSTALLMENTS GOING BACK TO MAY WHEN WE BEGAN OUR TRIP THAT ARE AVAILABLE FOR VIEWING IN THE BLOG ARCHIVE ON RIGHT SIDE OF SCREEN.

June 26 Sunday

We left the Campground at James Island County Park in Charleston SC on I26 heading west up into the mountains and away from the sweltering coast. 




On I26 going west from Charleston toward the mountains.

 

 



Off the interstate and on to state highway 76 near Clinton and headed diagonally west and north on 76 and 25 toward Clemson



Now I know exactly where we are.

Had to stop for some boiled peanuts.  That’s the proprietor.  Second time in my life I’ve tried them.  They’re okay.

We went through Clemson but did not visit the university as we continued to and through Walhalla on hwy 28 and up hwy 107 to Oconee.

 

Every grave at the Oconee Memorial Cemetery had flowers.



We stayed here for the night.

There’s a small lake through the woods behind the camp.



fishing dock



Closer to sun down the action picked up.  The red-headed boy in foreground was serious about his fishing.

The lake was kind of pea green, but made for nice reflections

This guy didn’t care about the color of the water.

June 27 Monday

It rained overnight, but was sunny and clear in the morning as we left the campground at Oconee State Park.  After awhile it seemed to me we were going the “wrong” way, so I turned around and went back past the campground the other direction.  We ended up going back and forth on the highway several times for a mile or three in each direction until I finally recognized something and turned around again to go the same direction we had been going when I turned around the first time.  Usually I have a pretty good sense of direction, but was definitely confused for awhile this morning.

The “right” direction.

Higher in the mountains with view to east of Lake Jocassee.

Whitewater Falls at 411' is tallest east of the Rockies.  Who knew?

 

First close-up of of rhododendrons, which are trees here in NC mountains.



And rasberries too along the ¼ mile or so hike from parking lot to see the Falls.  Yes, I picked some and the reddest ones were almost ready to be just right, but just a bit early.

 

A bypass goes under the falls



Not much traffic, so we stopped and posed

Dry Falls – so called because you can follow trail behind the falls.  It’s a short walk from parking lot.

The falls were taller than they looked on approach – view downstream.

From behind Dry Falls.

Looking back from the other side of Dry Falls.

436 



Somewhere along US 64, 19 or US129 between Dry Falls and Robbinsville, NC.



We spent the night here in Robbinsvile, NC.

The San-Ran advertises as motorcycle friendly as do a lot of other places along US 129 which is known as Tail of the Dragon and attracts motorcylicsts from around the world.  However, we didn’t learn that until the next day as we drove the Tail of the Dragon, which turned out to be an especially winding, curving, climbing and then descending road around the western border of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Tomorrow we pass through  Pigeon Forge, home of Dollyville and then travel into Great Smoky Mountains National Park and to Clingmans Dome, the highest point on the Appalachian Trail, and on through Great Smoky Mountains National Park to the Blue Ridge Parkway.