1-23-06 - I recently learned about this beautiful 20-25' waterfall on Laurel Fork from Jack and JC in the Carolinas Adventures hiking forum. Thanks guys! This one is a perfect example of a waterfall not having to be big to be awesome. It's located in the Laurel Fork Heritage Preserve in the Jocassee Gorges area of Pickens County off of Hwy 178. The waterfall was known as Double Falls until late 2004 when the Foothills Trail Conference named the falls for Virginia Hawkins, long time executive secretary of the FTC.

If you are coming from the NC side, take Hwy 178 south from Hwy 64 in Rosman to the South Carolina state line. From there, drive a little under 2.5 miles to a right hand "Y" type turn on to the gravel Horsepasture Rd (the upper road when you make the turn. If you are coming from south, the left hand turn on to Horsepasture Rd is about 8 miles north of Hwy 11.

Once on Horsepasture Rd, drive 3.2 miles to Laurel Gap. You will almost immediately pass parking on the left. If you want to make this a 10 mile round trip hike along the Foothills Trail instead, park here and follow the Foothills Trail west for 4.7 miles. I haven't done it, so I can't comment on the difficulty. The waterfall is on the left - you can't miss it. If you want the hike to be a 2 mile round trip, continue to Laurel Gap, passing Eastatoe Creek Heritage Preserve. Horsepasture Rd is a narrow, gravel forest type road and may not always be in great shape. On this trip, it was passable in a passenger vehicle. You'll know you've reached Laurel Gap when a gated road continues up, another turns to the right and a signed trail is in between the two. These gates may or may not be open - depends on the time of year and I think coincides with hunting season. Wear blaze orange during hunting season!!

Park so you don't block anything and take the signed trail. In a short distance, the trail descends to the left to a closed logging road. Follow this road down and around for about a mile to Laurel Fork. Just before you reach the creek will be primitive camping on the right in the trees. Head into the camp site and take the bridge on the right across Laurel Fork. Walk up the Foothills Trail for a very short distance to the waterfall on the right. It's probably best to see this waterfall after some decent rain. I've just seen pictures from dry periods where the flow was down to 2 puny fingers instead of the nice 5 in the above shot. There's a smaller ledge falls above this one, but it started raining soon after we got there and we left. I'll be going back!

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