National Geographic's Must Not Miss: Jocassee Gorges | Expeditions With Patrick McMillan

[@madisonhancheck6943]

devils fork state park employee here, thank you for showcasing how truly magnificent this area is!

[@captainjocassee]

Thanks for working so hard Madison❤💯🔥🔥🔥

[@chrisramsey6725]

I LOVE the Jocassee Gorges. I have been hiking all four of those river gorges since 2003. Toxaway River is my fav of the four. Such a beautiful and relatively unknown place. And as I write this it is almost Oconee Bell season :)

[@brent829]

Hi Chris, how do you get access to Toxaway River? I can clearly see some amazing waterfalls along it, but the closest access seems to be from Jocassee itself rather than from any road. Thanks for any experience/help!

[@chrisramsey6725]

@@brent829 go to the Frozen Creek access of Gorges State Park. This would be east of the main entrqnce and is just outside of Rosman. From that trailhead there are 2 different logging roads you can take to get there. One of them, the Canebreak trail, will take you 5 miles down to the long suspension bridge on the foothills trail over the mouth of the Toxaway as it enters Jocassee. But the other trail (cant remember the name) will take you to a sunken concrete ford of the river (and eventually take you all the way to the Horsepasture and beyond) From this sunken bridge, don't cross the river, but head upstream on an old logging grade. This will take you up the river to Wintergreen Falls. From here it is difficult to follow a good path. But you can get upriver on a faint logging grade that gets high up above the river and eventually get to more waterfalls and the Toxaway Narrows and, if you csn follow the very difficult path from there, all the way up to Toxaeay falls on highway 64. But keep in mind thst once past Wintergreen Falls , you will be high up above the river and will have to find scramble paths down to get to riverlevel. Winter might be the best season to go, as you will have more visibilty. Its heen about 13 years since i have been. If interested, maybe we could meet at trailhead one day and i can show you the way

[@rustybearden1800]

I've spent many beautiful days on and around the lake and in the Gorges - a lot of my teenage years actually. I remember days during the height of summer and fall when you rarely came across anyone on or around the lake. There are places where you are truly alone in a way that you can't find anywhere around the upstate in the Tri State area. It is remarkable. Explaining the rarity of plant and animal life here is difficult to the average layman. I am by no means a hardcore backwoodsman but I have experienced such amazing serenity and solitude here. Like going back in time.

[@captainjocassee]

Rain or Shine Hot or Cold Jocassee is My Gold

[@g-dcomplex1609]

i love how this part of the us looks, and how it blends appalachia/piedmont downhill into coastal palmetto/pine forests, cypress swamps and grasslands with florida/ish landscapes, such a gifted state🤗

[@coopshopdesigns4890]

I worked at jocassee outdoor center moving boats

[@captainjocassee]

Thanks for working hard and putting up with the credit card captains at the ramp.

[@Justaguy-c3u]

Use to be a lot better when people didn't advertise it. Gee...thanks

[@chrisramsey6725]

The nice spots are still hard enough to get to via trail that it will deter most people