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With its stunning view of the Blue Ridge and woods full of rhododendrons, mountain laurel and wildflowers, Keowee-Toxaway State Natural Area is truly one of South Carolina’s pretty places.
History lovers also will appreciate the park’s museum, which tells the story of the Cherokee people who first lived here and their complex relationship with European settlers.
The park features a rental cabin with a porch overlooking Lake Keowee and a courtesy dock. Camping also is available.
For day use, there’s picnicking, shoreline fishing and hiking trails.
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 Sunset |
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Table Rock Mountain provides a towering backdrop for an upcountry retreat at the edge of the Blue Ridge Mountains.
Table Rock State Park features two lakes, a campground, mountain cabins, meeting facilities and its historic, renovated lodge.
The park has been one of South Carolina’s most popular since it was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s. Many of its structures are now on the National Register of Historic Places.
Table Rock was home to one of the state’s first formal nature education programs and now serves as a trailhead for the 80-mile long Foothills Trail through the wilderness along the Blue Ridge Escarpment. Trails through the forested park also include one that leads to the top of Table Rock Mountain itself.
The park also hosts a visitors center near the main gate along S.C. 11, the Cherokee Foothills National Scenic Highway.
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Pickens |
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Caesars Head State Park has long been a must-see in the South Carolina Upstate. A granitic gneiss outcropping atop the dramatic Blue Ridge Escarpment, it offers breathtaking views year-round, especially when fall sets the hardwoods ablaze.
Another annual highlight is the Hawk Watch program each fall, timed to allow visitors to marvel at the unforgettable sight of hundreds of soaring, swirling migrating raptors – hawks, kites, falcons, eagles and more – from the park visitors’ own perch at 3,200 feet above sea level.
Hiking trails ranging from easy to challenging circle and traverse Caesars Head and adjoining Jones Gap state parks, which together form the Mountain Bridge Wilderness, about 11,000 acres of pristine southern mountain forest.
One of the most popular trails at Caesars Head leads to 420-foot Raven Cliff Falls, where a suspension bridge offers one of the two publicly accessible overlooks to the falls as they splash deep into the mountain cove below.
Picnicking and wilderness trailside camping also are highlights. The park, easily accessible with its headquarters on U.S. 276 just shy of the state line, also leads to some prime trout fishing areas in the state-designated scenic Middle Saluda River.
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 Cleveland |
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Wild trout, including the rare, native brookie. Several thousand different plant and animal species. The unforgettable peace and repose of a deep mountain cove. It’s all at Jones Gap State Park.
Jones Gap and Caesars Head state parks together form the Mountain Bridge Wilderness Area, 11,000 acres of pristine mountain woodlands on the Blue Ridge Escarpment.
Jones Gap highlights include the Middle Saluda River, the state’s first designated scenic river. Besides trout fishing, the river serves as a living lab for the park’s busy learning center, providing hands-on ecology lessons for young and old alike.
The park also includes restored portions of the old Cleveland Fish Hatchery, offers trailside camping and serves as an access point to the 76-mile Foothills Trail.
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Marietta |
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