52 Twin Falls
Empowering! Twin Falls has so much to offer—from power and might to character and diversity—it easily lands on the Author’s Favorites List. I highly recommend that you take the trip and embrace all the wonderful things this one has to offer.
Height: 100 feet
Distance: 0.6 mile out and back
Trail surface: Wide, hard-packed dirt
Approximate hiking time: 20 minutes
Blaze color: No blazes
County: Pickens
Land status: Private nature preserve, Felburn Foundation
Trail contact: None
FYI: Open dawn to dusk
Maps: DeLorme: South Carolina Atlas & Gazetteer: Page 17 E6
Finding the trailhead: From the junction of US 178 and the North Carolina–South Carolina state line, drive south on US 178 for 7.4 miles. Turn right onto Cleo Chapman Highway (SC 100) and drive for 1.9 miles to a T intersection at Eastatoee Community Road. Turn right at the T and continue on Eastatoee Community Road for 0.9 mile. Turn right onto Water Falls Road, which soon becomes gravel. Follow the road as it winds around for 0.4 mile and dead-ends at a gate with a large fenced-off parking area to the left.
From the junction of US 178 and SC 11, drive north on US 178 for 3.0 miles. Turn left onto Cleo Chapman Highway (SC 100) immediately after passing Bob’s Place and follow the directions above.
The trailhead is located at the northeast end of the parking area. GPS: N35 00.585 / W82 49.278
The Hike
Go around the gate and follow the wide, roadlike path as it heads northeast, straight back into the woods. As you make your way toward the falls, bypass any side trails that lead to the creek. Along the way, you pass a miniature waterwheel. From here the trail narrows and begins a slow ascent to the observation deck at the base of Twin Falls.
Located within the Felburn Foundation’s nature preserve, Twin Falls has several aliases: Rock Falls, Reedy Cove Falls, and Eastatoe Falls, just to name a few.
Eastatoe is the Cherokee word for the Carolina parakeet (Conuropsis carolinensis). There was even an Eastatoe tribe known as the “Green Bird People.” The parakeet, which once flourished in the Southeast, was the only parrot species native to mainland North America. Its range covered as far north as the Ohio Valley and extended south to the Gulf of Mexico. The bird has been extinct since 1918, when the last one, Incas, died in captivity at the Cincinnati Zoo.
Miles and Directions
0.0From the trailhead, hike northeast on the wide trail as it heads straight back into the woods. Bypass any side trails to the creek and continue hiking northeast.
0.3Arrive at an observation deck at the base of Twin Falls (N35 00.791 / W82 49.123). Return the way you came.
0.6Arrive back at the trailhead.
The Felburn Foundation and Hinkle family have done a wonderful job of preserving Reedy Cove.