Caesars Head State Park, SC - hiking
 

We are thinking about visiting for the first time the Caesars Head State Park in South Carolina this week before going home on Saturday. I read description of the trails and it seems that the Raven Cliff Falls is doable within our time frame. We have about four hours for hiking and that would include commute from Cedar Mountain located near Brevard. Did you ever hike on this trail? Can you give me some details about the trail and views? Thanks

Pat - it's been a long time since I hiked that trail (it's off limits to mtn bikes), but I recall it being relatively easy. It must be, because it is one of the most popular trails around. The parking areas will be covered up on Saturday. That and Jones Gap get a ridiculous amount of hiker traffic when you consider how underulitlized most of the trails 30 minutes away in Pisgah are. Raven Cliff is a beautiful falls. Enjoy!

Thank you Litespeed Chick for great info. And now, this time of the year would you rather hike in Mills River or to Raven Cliff Falls? I think we should have enough time this Friday for the shorter hike and from your previous description it sounds the trail in Mills River is about 10 miles. Maybe we need to wait to hike all those long trails until we are permanently there in a couple years. We are going home on Saturday. Thanks again

Pat - I have hiked this trail, and a very nice one it is. I am thinking your 4 hour time limit will cut it close. In hiking the trail you can stop at a viewing station and view the falls from across the valley or go on to the actualy falls themselves. My thinking the viewing stand will exhaust your time. In/Out to the viewing station is about 4 1/4 to 4 3/4 miles. Not sure of distance but going on to the falls is quite a bit further. But, enjoy. Also, the Ranger station at Caesars Head has a hugh topo relief map under glass showing the trails in that area. If you op for something different ask them about how to get to "pretty place" the view of the area is out of sight.

Mcbain99, this is a great help. Thank you so much for all details regarding a length of this trail. Your description sounds very inviting. It just happened that one of our appointments has been rescheduled and now we have about 6 hours for this hike.
I will let you both know.

Pat - In thinking about this again. Suggest you stop by the Ranger station first for good directons. The actual hike starts from a parking lot, not sure of the distance, down Hwy 276 towards Brevard. The parking lot is on the right and the trail starts on the left as you travel towards Brevard.

Litespeed Chick and mcbain99, we did it. We hiked today to the Raven Cliff Falls. I want you to know that you greatly contributed to our wonderful hike. Thank you again for all your help.

What was the most surprising, that my husband and I were alone on the trail all the way to the platform where we viewed waterfalls, took pictures and had lunch. Then people kept on coming. We were on the trail for over four hours but we stopped for every blooming flower, every bird and butterfly. We are not fast hiker but we enjoy to notice all little things along the trail. You were right, this is a very popular trail and we didn't even hike on weekend. I can only imagine how many people must go there on Saturdays and Sundays. It is a beautiful trail with some big trees and because there are no leaves we had some great views down to the valley. Many wildflowers are already blooming and some trees have new leaves coming out. The waterfalls is 400 feet but it is far from the platform across ravine. It is 2 extra miles to get to the suspension bridge over the falls. Maybe one day!

We did not have any problem finding a parking lot for the trail. It has a big sign so it was very obvious. There are other trails starting at the same parking lot. Do you know any of them?

We were surprised to find out the parking lot is only 5.6 miles from my sister's house in Cedar Mountain.

There is $2.00 fee per person to hike on this trail. After this successful hike we promised to find out about more hikes in South Carolina. If you have any suggestions I would greatly appreciate your help.
Happy hiking and biking to both of you.
Pat

For Litespeed_Chick and mcbain99. Thanks

Hi Pat. I missed your post earlier. Glad you had a good hike at Raven Cliff. One other extremely popular (and for good reason) trail in SC is Table Rock. You are looking at it when you are on the overlook at Ceasar's head.

Continue over the top of Ceasar's head on 276, down the mountain to HWY 11, take a right and go until you see the signs for Table Rock state park. There is a trail up to the top where you can look out south toward Greenville, and if you continue a bit past the first overlook, you can look (northeast-ish) toward Ceasar's head and see RAven Cliff Falls from another vantage point.

It is a strenous hike. We are in pretty good shape and tried to run it on New Year's Day, but were only able to run about half the time. I think it took us about 3 hours + resting at the top time. If you like to take your time on a hike, start in the a.m. on this one. As I'm sure you have already learned, darkness falls hard in the mountains.

Thank you Litespeed Chick, I printed out this information for one of those days when are in North Carolina permanently. I hope you are able to find a free moment for biking in this very busy season.