Tour: Wildcat Wayside State Park & DuPont State Recre­ational Forest Micro-adventure – hunting for waterfalls

If you want to set off on a search for spec­tacular waterfalls, you can simply let chance lead you to them in the moun­tainous region of northern South Carolina as part of a micro-adventure – or you can let our local guide Grace lead the way. We pulled out of Greenville and headed off to the mountains on Route 276. After trav­elling 37 kilo­metres, we spon­tan­eously pulled over at the nondescript Wildcat Wayside State Park that is located directly on the roadside. The rest stop built in the 1930s is now a small nature park that serves as the home to a 2.3 km circular trail winding its way through a deciduous forest filled with oak trees and nutwoods. The middle section of the area is filled with blooming dogwoods and rhodo­dendrons during the early summer. Ferns, flowers and moss blanket the ground. The animals that populate the area include white-tailed deer, reptiles, amphibians (including snakes and sala­manders) and numerous types of birds (including turkeys, wood­peckers and warblers), according to an information board. The upper Wildcat Branch Waterfall is located at the northern end of the Wildcat Wayside State Park – a surprising small jewel that rises about 15 metres high.

We pull out of Wildcat Wayside State Park and set off on Route 276 once again on our way to the Blue Ridge Mountains. Twenty-six kilo­metres later, we reach our second and final destination: the visitor centre of the DuPont State Recre­ational Forest in North Carolina. We then head off on the Triple Falls Trail, which leads us to the – unbe­lievable – waterfalls that go by the same name. Water plunges 38 metres downwards here in three distinctive cascades. The location has caught the eye of film­makers as well. The Triple Falls served as a backdrop for the THE HUNGER GAMES and Hooker Falls as a setting for the film THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS. Hooker Falls is located just a few hundred metres farther to the northeast and rounds out our five-kilometre circular walk in DuPont State Forest. As the sun sets on our way back to the car, we run into two black bears right on the side of the trail. Talk about a micro-adventure.