Bloggo Piccolo e Presto: Raven Cliff Falls at Caesar's Head

Dottore Gianni is REALLY going to let the photos do the talking in this post, which he is creating mainly because of family members who might want to see the photos but are not on Facebook.

On Monday of this week it was so crisply clear and lovely that I decided on impulse to head back to Caesar's Head State Park, primarily to trek to the 400 plus foot waterfall called Raven Cliff. 

But first I stopped in at the park office to make sure I'd know how to find the correct trail to the falls. While there I also used their "facilities" and walked the short distance to the overlook. 

View from the platform at Caesar's Head

As I thought it would be, the day, while not completely clear, offered a better view than was available on my first visit, about a month ago, on my way back from Brevard. And while my point-and-shoot could not capture in this photo as much of the fall colors as I'd have liked, I think you can see some in the lower center of the photo.

Caesar's Head, you'll remember -- or maybe you won't...in fact it's quite likely you won't -- so I'll tell you that it is near the North Carolina border but still in the northwestern corner of South Carolina, and as a helpful marker near the viewing platform explains, the view is of the southernmost point of the Blue Ridge Mountains. The two peaks in the upper right Table Rock Mountain (nearest the water, which is called The Table Rock Reservoir and which provides the city of Greenville with its water) is nearly as high in altitude (3124 feet) as the platform from which I snapped the photo. and the peak to the right of it is a good bit higher than either Table Rock or Caesar's head. At 3425 feet above sea level it is the highest point in the entire state of South Carolina, so is rightly called Pinnacle Mountain. 

To the left of those two peaks you'll note a dramatic change of terrain, to the Piedmont region, characterized by rolling hills. Nearest to the left of the two peaks is a woods known as the Dismal Forest -- sounds like something out of Arthurian legend, doesn't it? Below is a view to the left of the photo above, where you'll see clearly the rolling hills of the Piedmont versus the mountainous peaks of the Blue Ridge.

The Piedmont, from the viewing platform at Caesar's Head

My destination for the day, Raven Cliff Mountain, is at the very right hand corner of the first photo, partly obscured by the autumnal looking branches in the foreground. The parking area is only about a mile north of Caesar's Head, but the hike from the parking area to the viewing platform that looks out on Raven Cliff Falls is two miles in both directions. 

An easy stretch of trail to Raven Cliff

There is a well-marked path, but there are some not terribly steep inclines up and down on the way there and back, and while the path in some parts is fairly wide and easy to negotiate, other parts are a bit tricky, at least for Dottore Gianni. The hike is marked "moderate" and at certain points I was thinking that perhaps I'd better stick to hikes marked "simple." 

But I made it and the hike was filled with beautiful natural scenery. In fact at one point I grew so exhilarated that I thought, I must do more of this -- I simply must spend some of my time in retirement hiking the Appalachian Trail! 

a stunning display of color
on the trail to the falls

I felt one with nature, found myself thinking of the Cherokees who had this gorgeous land to themselves before they were pushed, and not very gently pushed, out of it. Did it ever bore them, when they woke up and embarked on a hunt for game, for example? Possibly. Familiarity in many cases does breed, if not contempt, a sense of the mundane. "Another day [in this beautiful, barely trod, nearly virgin forest]," thought the Cherokee, "another dollar (or in his case another deer, another piece of wampum)." But one can't live in such an environment without at least occasionally absolutely adoring it, thanking god, or the gods, for it...can one?

However! Dottore Gianni has in earlier posts discussed his paranoia when in just about any situation less than usual for him, and along with the euphoria he felt for the place, his  paranoia concerning bears, became all too apparent. 

The Winter's Tale
Act III scene 3

I will admit that the only animals I saw on this trek were of the human persuasion, and the only "critter" was a dog being walked along the trail by his owner. Not a deer, certainly, not a snake (thank god), not even a squirrel! But I found myself thinking, fairly rationally to give myself what little credit is due me, "What god forbid if I come across a bear?" and answering myself, "Well, you're just totally screwed old boy, this will be the last day of your life. Not so bad, you've lived well and for the most part happily, so be it -- so it goes, as Kurt Vonnegut repeated again and again in Slaughterhouse Five. Oh! What a beautiful tree! But oh! what was that noise?" 

You get the picture. But I must say I was, if unable to shake off the bear paranoia, at least able to keep it under control. So after much beauty, but also much ado, and also as just noted a good bit of anxiety, I arrived at the viewing platform. 

The viewing platform for Raven Cliff Falls

and next to it this signpost:

I must admit that as beautiful as the spot was, I was a bit surprised and not in an entirely good way, at the location of the falls. Here was my first view:

The dark area in the center of the photo is where the falls is located. Bet you can't see them, right? I got to the edge of the platform and had this view:

Look close and you can see the falls again in the dark area at the center of the pic. Two observations: aren't the colors great? and don't you like the branch in the foreground just above the falls? It exudes an air of mystery, perhaps even foreboding...the bear again! No, no, but I discovered that Raven Cliff, the mountain and falls, was so named because raven has nested at and soared over the top of it for more than 100 years. Now whenever I hear the word raven I immediately think Poe. Edgar Alen. "Quoth the Raven, nevermore..." 

At any rate, not a lot to see with the naked eye, though one does get a sense of the height of the falls, over 400 feet. However, after fooling a bit with the zoom on the camera I was able to close in, and that's what we'll do now:

And then we'll do a little more:

The quality isn't all that great as my zoom was able to zoom no closer than this, still you get the idea -- that as far as I can tell is not the bottom of the falls, for as you see there is no discernible pond in the lower portion of the photo.

Another look:

The above photo show part of the upper level of the falls, the one before it the lower level. I tried to get ALL of what I could see in one long skinny shot:

If you look very closely at the in the upper quarter of the photo (ABOVE the area in the close-up on the photo just before it), to the right of center, you might spot what looks like the threader of a sewing needle. That is no needle, that is a suspension bridge! Again, straining my poor point and shoot to its utmost:

You see the right end of the bridge clearly here, in the upper right portion of the pic, and if you look very closely you can just make out the span itself. The left end of it is out of view. Now THAT would be a cool place from which to view the falls -- but how to get there? I don't know yet, but I think I want to find out -- unless it's like a 14 mile trek in to get to it.

Did you ever see the 60s flick Blow-Up? Antonioni directed it, David Hemmings played a photographer who caught a murder in a photo he took, by blowing it up closer and closer. I think Julie Christie was in it as well. Who knows? Had my zoom been more effective (and you'll admit it didn't do badly) I might have found something myself...a bear, perhaps! or at very least a raven. 

And at this point I make my exit, but not I hope, pursued by a bear!