Raven Cliff Falls & Caesar’s Head State Park

Caesar’s Head State Park & my quest to see Raven Cliff Falls is an experience I will never forget so long as I live!  So from the beginning let me just say that I found myself running around between places in the Mountain Bridge Wilderness Area, which is a blanket term for all the South Carolina lands near this park, Table Rock State Park, Jones Gap State Park, etc.  Now before I truly start ranting, here’s the lesser bits to know about Caesar’s Head State Park from my experience.

If you start at the visitor center you can park and check out the Caesar’s Head State Park Overlook.  My entire trip in this region was a foggy one, so it didn’t work out well.  Likewise at the visitor center at the far top of the parking lot is a set of metal stairs leading into a cave feature known as Devil’s Kitchen.  Both of these things combined took perhaps 10 minutes of my time to explore.

Also from the visitor center, which acts as a parking lot, you cross the street on foot to find a trailhead for several trails.  I checked out the Frank Coggins Trail, a 1.1 mile lollipop loop trail.  There was a small waterfall on it that I’d describe as being a wet dripping cave fall. A spur off of Frank Coggins Trail leads onto the Rim Of The Gap Trail, which was closed due to dangerous issues with ice apparently.  I wanted to go down it because where the spur started there was a waterfall, that I could only see from the top.  I suspect going down the Rim Of The Gap Trail would have led to a great view from another angle.

Raven Cliff Falls is where things went entirely wrong for me.  So at the visitor center you can buy park maps.  I did this, and then I proceeded to not read it properly (my bad).  The map took a lot of abuse, but here’s what remains.

If you look at it, you’ll see the Raven Cliff Falls Trail is a 2.2 mile trail, going one way.  Making it a 4.4 mile hike to see the falls.  The back of the map suggests the trail is “moderately difficult.”  So I packed my hiking back for a 4.4 mile hike, drove to the trailhead, and set off.  Before I did though I encountered a staff member cleaning the parking lot and we had a laugh about those sort of people who are dumbasses and get in over their head.  Much irony later that day would be had.

So the Ravel Cliff Falls Trail turns out to be fairly smooth.  It is also part of South Carolina’s Palmetto Trail system.  I’m walking down it on mostly level ground without much elevation change and there is fog everywhere, so the views in the distance are almost non existent.  I don’t really know what’s around me.  The trail looks a lot like this, with fog in the background and fog obscuring the depths of nearby mountains and valleys.

So here’s what it all starts to go wrong.  In my mind I’m thinking I’m on a trail that will take me to Raven Cliff Falls.  But the Raven Cliff Falls Trail doesn’t do that.  It takes you 2.2 miles to get to an overlook of the falls instead.  Those of us who hunt waterfalls usually prefer to be at the base.  Worse, it is a foggy day, so an overlook isn’t going to let me observe a waterfall anyway.  I’ve been on plenty of trails that have overlooks and take you to the actual fall, and somehow I got it in my mind that I was on a quest to reach the base, not an overlook.  Look at the map, determine that all these little trails together must be the 2.2 miles that it takes to reach Raven Cliff Falls at Caesar’s Head State Park.  And promptly set off down the section known as Dismal Trail.  Two things happen at this point.  1.  I miss a VERY important warning sign telling me that I’m entering what is known as the “Dismal Naturaland hiking loop” that takes an additional 4 to 6 hours on its own.  A sign I would not notice until many, many painful hours later on my way back unfortunately.  It was up high in the air, and I just honestly missed it.  2.  I manage to rapidly hike down the Dismal Trail to almost the bottom of the mountain before wondering if I’d gone “2.2” miles yet.  It was easy to be distracted because hiking downhill I move rapidly and there were a couple of little waterfalls along the way, my brain happily elsewhere.  Look at the map again…

 

So at this point I’ve managed to take a 2.2 mile trail, add on another 1.5 mile trail, and realize I’ve screwed up.  But this brings me to where I intersect the Naturaland Trust Trail.  Given the map it is hard to determine the mileage of the Naturaland Trust Trail from where it intersects Dismal Trail, but it looks like I maybe have to go just another mile or two to reach Raven Cliff Falls.  Look at that map again.  It clearly shows the icon for Raven Cliff Falls along the Naturaland Trust Trail.  And what does one expect when they’ve come down a mountain, find a creek, and see on a map that the creek goes all the way to the falls?  A nice hike upstream full of pretty stuff.  My expectations would not pan out however.  If I’d flipped that map over, which was taking heavy water damage from rain and fog at this point by the way, I’d have seen both the Dismal Trail I just got off of and this Naturaland Trust Trail are rated as VERY STRENUOUS and if I had caught that warning sign earlier in the day I’d have known about a 2000 foot elevation change.  Said elevation gain would apply to both trails, going up both opposing mountains, and back up.  Anyway the Naturaland looked pretty enough until after I found a cool wooden bridge and crossed over it.

After this bridge it all went to hell.  The opposing mountainside was slick with mud, rocky, the trail was sometimes hard to follow, and I know at this point I’ve totally screwed up, there would be no easy final leg of the hike to reach Raven Cliff Falls.  But I hike for about an hour, and that’s when the trail started trying to kill me.  It had reached freezing there a week before and ice had formed on high ledges, which were now thawing out.  Let me back up and say that earlier when I’d been on the Dismal Trail I’d heard what sounded like gunshots in the distance, something you sometimes hear when hiking, and I didn’t care much about it.  The “gunshots” turned out to be a section of trail where giant bricks of ice were randomly falling from higher points, a mini and deadly avalanche.  I had to hike on some not so safe and not optimal spots to get through.  Plenty fell just before and after I tried that stunt.  I shouldn’t have been doing that.

So I’m stressed, I’m tired, I realize I don’t have enough food or water to be out here doing this stuff, and that I’m an idiot that made a poor choice, or several.  Not much longer on the trail I realize that even though there’s an icon for Raven Cliff Falls on the map that touches this trail, there’s no way it goes to the base of the waterfall.  This realization sinks in.  People are supposed to enjoy Raven Cliff Falls from the lookout point back on the Raven Cliff Falls Trail!

So it was time to turn around and face thousands of feet in elevation change, retrace my steps through the falling ice that wants to kill me, and I’m just going to guess 5+ miles of trail, probably bringing my day total to 11ish miles.  Worried about it getting dark I got off the super dangerous Naturaland Trust Trail.  Had a memorable moment breaking out a LifeStraw for the first time ever, which I’d have been screwed without.  Then hiked out of there painfully for a few hours, mostly uphill, to arrive back at the trailhead just after dark.  I slept very soundly in my tent that night, and realized I’d screwed up more than I ever have while out hiking.  Worse, because of the fog, I never got to see Raven Cliff Falls.  So now that’s a future to-do thing when I return to the area on a clear day, and I just hike the mere 4.4 mile round trip to the overlook.  Memory made though…memory made.

On a side note if you’re in the area, you can find Caesar’s Head Spring nearby and Wildcat Branch Falls not too far off.  Keep heading north from the park and you’ll get to DuPont State Recreational Forest too!