Pigpen Falls and Licklog Falls
by rmajorPigpen Falls and Licklog Falls are in the northwest corner of South Carolina. The trail is accessed by driving Hwy 107 three miles north of Oconee State Park and turning left onto Village Creek Road. A right turn onto gravel Nicholson Ford Road leads to the parking area for the trail.
The trail begins with a .5 mile hike on the Foothills Trail.
There had been some storms recently, and this tree seemed to have been a victim of it. It appeared to have been freshly uprooted. Fortunately, the tree fell away from the trail and not across it, or my hike would have ended before it got started good.
The Foothills Trail led to the Chattooga Trail, where a left turn led almost immediately to the small cascade and pool known as Pigpen Falls. This was a very lovely and peaceful place to be, and I lingered there for a while.
I crossed a footbridge over the creek and continued on down the trail. Lush growths of ferns such as this are pretty common in the Appalachian Mountains, and add a lot to the beauty of the hiking trails.
The trail got a bit narrower as I reached the Licklog Falls area, and the dropoffs got a bit steeper and deeper, but it never got bad enough for me to be really uncomfortable with it.
In the area above Licklog Falls, I encountered these blossoms I was able to identify as Rhododendron Maximus.
This is Licklog Falls. The view was mostly obscured by trees. While there were some side paths leading down to the creek and possibly a better view, they were much too steep for me to attempt.
This is a wider angle view.
I decided to explore the trail a bit further, and came upon one of the strangest looking stumps I’ve ever seen.
Another view of the stump. The only thing I can think of that would cause such an unusual growth would be some kind of trauma to the tree that didn’t kill it. What was left had to grow whatever way it could.
A bit farther down the trail, a side path led to the Chattooga River. The river serves as the state line in this area. I was standing in South Carolina, the other side is Georgia.
Another photo from the same spot, looking downstream.
At this point, I decided I had seen enough, and returned to my vehicle. The round trip was maybe 2.5 miles, and well worth doing again someday.