So Many Places. So Little Time.

In my hikes and travels I often run across a spot to which I dearly wish to return. They are too numerous to mention. But, life in the USA being what it is, so much of my life is taken up by labor that I can't fit in the time to go back to these magical spots. What happens is that when I can budget the time and money for a trip, I generally opt for a new place that I've never seen at all, figuring to find something new in place of revisiting that which I've already witnessed.

But there are some really cool places where I want to go back.

This spot is a waterfall along a trail that borders the Chatooga River just above the Ellicott's Rock Wilderness Area where Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina all converge. The place is a pleasure to experience. A great forest (although now bare of the native hemlock trees), steep and rugged terrain, rushing rivers and streams, and numerous waterfalls.

On the main trail we were using we came upon a waterfall that had a great plunge pool which emptied via a set of cascades into the Chatooga River. The spot all but begged me to return to set up camp and spend a wonderful 24 hours.

Someday, by Jove, I'll go back.

A great waterfall with a fantastic swimming hole.

The lower cascade leading down to the Chatooga River.

Small upper falls.

And the Chatooga River, surrounded by dead hemlocks. (I hear banjo music.)