STORM SCARE AND UPCOUNTRY WATERFALLS, SOUTH CAROLINA

Drove north through South Carolina and stopped the night near McCormick at the side of a lake.
What a scary evening I had, Roy complacent as usual passed it all off as "it'll be fine"
Firstly the radio gave out the usual warning tone which indicates a storm/hurricane/tornado
announcement. They said there was a tornado/storm warning and when we checked on map
which counties, they were ours!
I spent the next 3 hours in a panic, I even got to the stage of assembling the things I would grab and take with me if we had to get out of the trailer. Roy, his usual calm self just said - well its insured!
Thankfully they announced that the tornado warning was over but still cloud to ground lightning - its funny now writing about it but at the time I have to admit I was frightened. We had the TV on and off as the lightning illuminated the night sky. Still we were only watching M.A.S.H. and Columbo! The joys of States TV.
Later that night we saw the news about the floods in Houston and again gave thanks we had once again escaped.
Next morning the Camp Host just laughed when I said about the tornado threat, miles away he said - not enough miles for me!

 

Lake Jocassee

Northbound into Upcountry, South Carolina and spent three days at Devil's Foot State Park on Lake Jocassee. (Called the Lake Tahoe of the east) Visited two real pretty waterfalls and the unfinished Stumphouse Tunnel.  Whitewater Falls (lower) are part of the highest falls in eastern America  and the delicate Issaqueena Falls, named for an Indian maiden who hid on a ledge to avoid capture as she fled to warn her English lover of an Indian attack.

Whitewater Falls

 

 

The ghost of Stumphouse tunnel

Next day we drove to the summit of Sassafras Mountain, 3650ft and South Carolina's highest mountain. We hiked a trail to the top of Twin Falls but got on the wrong one, came across a thin 2ft long black snake blocking our path, then got the right trail and reached the falls
top to find a very small stream with poor views down, so we hiked back to the car, hiked to the base and were amazed by the beautiful Twin Falls that cascaded from that small stream.

Sassafras Mountain

the 2ft black snake

start of Twin Falls

Twin Falls

We moved just a few miles west to Oconee State Park in the Blue Ridge foothills for three days, this whole area recently featured in National Geographic in  "50 of the World's Last Great Places" - "Jocassee Gorges: an intense concentration of waterfalls" - with 150 waterfalls in Oconee County alone, we fell in love with this area.
Is it the rush of the water or the delight to the eye that makes waterfalls so appealing? Maybe it's the effort it takes to see them that adds to the mystique - like you've come upon a treasure that's yours alone. Walks, waterfalls and sprinkles filled our days.

Oconee State Park, Roy re- living his past!

Hidden Falls

Hidden Falls

 Roy says I have to tell everyone that yesterday when we were unloading the shopping from trolley into the trailer - I dropped a full 1 gallon bottle of milk in the entrance to the trailer and it spilt on the mat and gushed down the steps! - Whoops! Of course it was not my fault, he didn't pass it to me properly!