Carolina Thread Trail leads hike on the Rocky Creek Trail in Great Falls
Saturday, June 3 was National Trails Day and the Great Falls Home Town Association’s partner, the Carolina Thread Trail, led a great hike on our beautiful Rocky Creek trail that morning.
More than 25 people signed up to walk along Rocky Creek with CTT staff member Brittany and of course, I tagged along as well.
It was a beautiful day to walk along the creek and while Brittany pointed out some flora and fauna, I caught the group up on some of the history in the area.
The folks visiting were from both North and South Carolina, and many were coming to Great Falls for the first time.
The Town public works crews did a great job mowing the high grass, picking up trash and sprucing up a bit extra for all the visitors. We all appreciate their help and dedication.
Rocky Creek trail was developed by the Town of Great Falls through a Recreational Trails Grant from South Carolina Parks, Recreation and Tourism and opened in 2009. The trail head is basically in the middle of the trail with the shoals and rapids to the west and the waterfall and lower trail to the west.
As hikers head east they can see across the creek the ruins of several grist mills from the 18th and 19th century that were an important part of life along Rocky Creek. They are much easier to see in the winter time than in the spring and summer. But one of the exciting sites as we headed west along the shoals was the site of a snake. Now some folks wanted to insist that it was a rattlesnake but it was instead a water snake – no rattles and the wrong shaped head for a poisonous snake.
Heading east back to the trailhead and then about a ¼ mile is the waterfall. The falls were created when Southern Power Company (forerunner of Duke Energy) blasted out rock and granite to build the Great Falls Dam between 1905 and 1907.
The hike lasted about an hour and a half and the visitors were eager to find out more about the lovely little town of Great Falls.