Friday, April 2
Imagine if you can, getting home from work at 6A, being asleep by 6:30A, then up and heading out on the road at noon. It's a bit crazy, I admit. But, there’s a method to my madness.
This roadtrip is all about driving to Mom’s. With cooperative weather in the forecast, I decided to spend a couple of days exploring, and scratching a particular roadtrip itch.
It started with a South Carolina hiking guidebook, and some time poking around my usual sites for other interesting things. Walhalla seemed the perfect starting place.
Well, once I got through the usual Atlanta traffic.
The route was simple. I-85 north to the South Carolina state line, then Hwy 11. Walhalla is right on Hwy 28, as was everything else I wanted to hit for the day.
After the failed 1848 March Revolution in Germany, the United States saw an influx of German refugees. A group of them were settled in north-western South Carolina. They named their community Valhalla.
Just a few years later, the Blue Ridge Railroad started working on a series of tunnels through the area. The tunnel under Stumphouse Mountain was about a quarter finished when the funding ran out and the line was abandoned.
The Stumphouse Tunnel is maintained as a Walhalla municipal park. It’s a very short walk from the parking lot to the entrance to the tunnel.
Some days you just get lucky. The mid afternoon sun illuminated the inside of the tunnel perfectly. Add some standing water on either side of the path, and it made for excellent photographic conditions.
The writeup says the tunnel maintains a temperature of fifty degrees. It’s hard to tell when the outside temperature is barely above that. It also comes complete with an alleged haunting. People have claimed to hear not only voices, but the sound of tools. As I walked in I had the tunnel to myself, but heard nothing.
Within the park is a short walk down to the viewing platform overlooking Issaquenna Falls. There’s also an unofficial trail that goes down to their base. It’s pretty steep with few things to grab onto. I only climbed down to a clearing just below the overlook. As an added bonus, we were all treated to a very faint rainbow over the cascading water.
There are numerous variations Issaquenna's story. Most claim her to be a Cherokee girl. Either she fell in love with, or was captured by a member of the Oconee tribe. She later fell in love with a white trader. The names vary, but the basic story is the same.
When she overheard talk of the tribe planning an attack on the traders, she stole a horse and rode ninety-six miles to warn them. Along the way, she took note of familiar landmarks, giving them names such as Six Mile. A town by that name still exists. Her warning was successful and she eventually married the trader. They settled in the general Walhalla area.
When the Oconee found out, they come after her, chasing her towards the waterfall. She leapt off, landed on a ledge and hid behind the flowing water. The Oconee assumed she was dead and moved on.
Back on Hwy 28, perhaps twenty seconds south of the park entrance, is the turn off for Sumpter National Forest. Follow the road down to the parking lot on the left. From there it’s a pretty easy mile and a half hike down to Yellow Branch Falls.
The trail itself is a steady, but gradual slope downwards. Add in a few downed trees and water crossings for flavor, and you still have a pretty quick hike to the falls.
My home for the night was the Walhalla Roadway Inn, because quite frankly, there were no other choices. Reviews on line seemed mixed. The newest mentioned renovations. I was in a room in the back of the motel. Other than the thin walls, I really had no complaints, especially for the money.
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