|
   |
Westminster is a city in Oconee County South Carolina, along the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. It has a total area of 3.4 square miles, all land and is quite mountainous. Westminster is surrounded by several rivers, 150 waterfalls, and two major lakes.
|
|
Below: Sheep grazing |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Below: An old Grist Mill and water wheel |
 |
 |
Below: A combination flag with the
State of Georgia 1776 symbol and a
confederate flag - flying in someone's yard |
Don't Worry, Be Happy |
 |
 |
Sumter National Forest is one of two forests in SC that are managed together by the U.S. Forest Service, the other being the Francis Marion National Forest. The Sumter National Forest consists of of 370,442 acres in parts of several counties. |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Then the two RV Gypsies found themselves on a dirt road. |
 |
When the two RV Gypsies saw the sign shown below, they turned onto a dirt/gravel road that was too narrow for an oncoming car to pass. Fortunately, they only met one other car, and it was on a corner that had a pull-over spot and the other car quickly pulled into and stopped. The driver apparently knew the road and was ready to pull over if need be. This was a long road, and not fun to drive on. |
 |
 |
The road just kept getting worse and worse. There were no other signs anyplace, and after awhile, the two RV Gypsies found themselves back on the main road and never saw the waterfall. Karen Duquette deliberately looked down every driveway to be sure they were not missing a turn. Lee Duquette then circled back and checked once again. No luck. |
 |
 |
Below: Even though The Two RV Gypsies turned where they saw the sign shown below, they eventually figured out that they did not get to the correct area. Even after taking the awful hike shown below, they drove around again looking for other signs and ended back at the same place. They were looking for what is said to be a 45 minute, moderate 1-mile hike to Riley Moore Falls which is a short cascade of about 12 feet tall and 100 feet wide. That is NOT what they found, as shown below. |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
bad stuff on the trail |
 |
 |
Below: Pink rope at trailhead. |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Below: Look what was right above Lee Duquette's head on the trail. And further on, these sharp branches hung even closer to his head. And as shown further below, some fat branches stuck out from the side of the cliff, and were over part of the trail. |
 |
 |
 |
Below: At times, The Two RV Gypsies got glimpses of part of the waterfall, although it was not the main part, and they had to peek over the cliff and through the trees. |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Just as The Two RV Gypsies thought the trail was bad enough, it got worse. |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
Then The two RV Gypsies spotted the machinery that was making the trail. And when Karen Duquette saw two men working to make the path go further, she yelled out to them to ask if it was the end of the trail, and they said "Yes, for now". So although they had seen glimpses of the waterfall along the way, they never got to it. There must be another trail somewhere else. |
 |
 |
So the Two RV Gypsies left feeling very disappointed after a long drive here. |
 |
