Raven Cliff Falls, Revisited...

Raven Cliff Falls
Okay, so those of you who saw the blog ummm... two weeks ago? and saw that I went to the Raven Cliff Falls lookout and found out there was another trail and didn't have the time/energy to do it? know that it's been taunting me... ever since. So for those of you who haven't, there's my picture from the lookout. If you click on the photo and zoom allll the way in at the top, there's a log-looking thing, which I believe is the suspension bridge but fuzzy and out of focus. So if you are standing at the lookout, you've done the red trail on the map below, and then to get to the bridge you have to take either the blue one, or the purple then pink one. I chose purple then pink, I thought, how hard would the whole loop be? I mean, it only looks real far from the lookout, can't be that bad... ;)

So I paid my $2 parking fee in nickels and pennies... Again I forgot one dollar bills. Yes, park service people, it's ME. And set out. And didn't look at the distances til afterwards. Oops. So red to purple to pink to blue to red looks about 11 miles. Ish. I guess. Perhaps later I'll print it out and measure with dental floss and compare to the mileage marker. Perhaps NEXT time, I'll actually TAKE dental floss with me to the trail. Ok. Perhaps not. Moving on.

From the Red Trail. Raven Cliff trail. Whatever. I like this picture because now that the leaves are gone, you can see the mountains in the background.

Ah yes. Purple Dismal trail. Which is only dismal in the downhill direction (because it was very steep and downhill) if you have bad knees or don't enjoy grabbing trees for balance. It would, in fact, be much more dismal, if you did this trail in reverse. Which I am not recommending.

And I like this picture, because it demonstrates that it was, in fact, 70something and very sunny. I did, incidentally, get sunburned. Seriously. On November 29th. Man I love the South.

So after a couple hours of hiking, and all this really steep downhill business, you come across the Naturaland Trust trail (pink). Which is inherently FAR more dismal than that dismal trail. And you know, that when you get to that point where it's been a couple hours, and you're drinking water because it's 70something degrees and sunny and you're hiking in jeans, well... You sort of stop looking at the nature and trying to see what would make a good photo, and start looking at the nature and trying to see where would be the best-hidden place to pee. About this time, I reached the bottom of the trail, and found this:

In attempting to get close to take this picture whilst eating a cheese stick, I slipped, gashed my elbow open, and dropped my cheese stick in the water. Somewhere downstream, there is a bear eating my Sargentos cheese stick. Alas... And then, continuing the trail along the river, briefly, I came to this: MOM DONT LOOK!!!!

WHAT? No trail? No rocks to hop over? This picture does this spot no justice, because it's beautiful, but the water moves real fast, and I'm short, right? Not looking good. So I examined my options... 1. Retrace Dismal trail backwords, necessitating massively steep upward climb, and NO waterfall pictures, and for certain many many blisters. 2. Cross over this wire tightrope thingy? Nevermind that my boots have no tread and are already wet, and I'm gonna have to climb up to this wire in the first place (because I'm short, right?) and then manage to inch across this thing? Where in all likelihood if I slip I will bash my head in and I haven't seen another person in MILES (it would appear no one else is stupid enough to do this trail), and I will be found floating in Pickens? Word. Well, necessity is the mother of invention, right? I crossed the wire, which is tight enough to hold you up but not tight enough not to move... And the urge to pee was gone with all the sweat and adrenaline. Problem solved.

Unfortunately, the next immediate I-don't-know-how-many-miles were steep. Uphill. And the pink trail isn't marked so good on that side of the river. And you get to do fun things like steps, scrabbling over boulders, and panting. Lots of panting. And about the time I thought I had had just about enough of this stupid trail, around the corner, suddenly, was this view:

What you can't tell from these pictures is that the rock walls are on the left of the trail and trickle streams of water down them, so you get a nice drizzle after all that uphill hiking. SOOOO refreshing. And what a view. Amazing!!!
And then around the corner from all of this granite cliff scenery and up some rhododendron hills and steps (and wooden ladders), suddenly the bridge appears! And it's like wonderland...

These pictures are angled a little funny, since they are taken from on the bridge and looking down the waterfall...

And then, across the bridge, the rest of the last 5 miles was miraculously flat!!! Hooray for gloriously well-maintained, FLAT blue and red trails!! And hooray for granola bars, vitamin waters, and Ghiradelli chocolate! And now that you've seen this hike, you HAVE to go. Don't you? ;) Particularly if you'd like to see mountains, cliffs, forest, waterfalls, pines, rhododendrons, holly trees (yes trees!), boulders, woodpeckers, tufted titmice, and squirrels. Never mind that wire part... I'm sure you'll be fine. Best hike EVER!!!