Accessibility – Medium+

Height – 20′

Distance – 1.2 (out and back)

Beauty – 5

Photo rating – 5

Solitude – 6

GPS Info: LAT 34.9294 LONG -83.1305

Last updated: 07/24/2016

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Licklog Falls, along with Pigpen Falls were not on our travel plans and we ended up here more of less by accident. If you must know, I made a wrong turn and before we figured out where we were going I spotted a sign for WATERFALLS. Licklog Falls is downstream of Pigpan Falls on Pigpen Creek. The waterfall drops in three sections about 75 feet and dumps into the Chattooga River. The upper drop is a vertical plunge of about 16 feet. This is followed by a rockslide of equal height and then a tumbling cascade that emerges from under the trees. The lower section is diverted to the river right by a channel in the rock before it spills into the river. Only the lower section of the falls is easily photographed.

Before I tell you how to get to Licklog Falls, a story. Whenever my family and I hike, I usually take the lead, my daughter Alana follows behind me and my wife Jennifer follows her. For most of the weekend my daughter was teasing me about being in the lead and always being the one eating cobwebs. While hiking to Upper Silver Run Falls, I posed a question to Alana.

Me: “Daddy goes first and eats all the spider webs. Do you know what happens to the person who goes second?”

Alana: “They get stung by all the bees!”

Me: “Exactly!”

Alana: “Daddy, what happens to the person who goes third?”

Me: “They get eaten by the bear.”

Fast forward to our hike to Licklog Falls. In a rare positional alignment, Jen was in the lead (eating spiders), I was in second (the bee sting position) and Alana was last in line (the gets eaten by a bear position). Jen stepped over a hole in a grouping of roots in the middle of the trail. Two seconds later Alana and I were scurrying away from a swarm of bees that were not amused by the intrusion. We hurried into a nearby campsite and dashed through the woods thankfully without being stung. It was a good thing we were a few feet back or the result might have been different.

To get to Licklog Falls start at the bridge below Pigpen Falls following the Green Blazed Chattooga River Trail downstream. The trail keeps a relatively level course as it nears the falls. As it approaches the falls, the right side of the trail borders on a steep drop. Near the top of the upper drop there was a stupidly steep scramble path that conjured only one thing in my mind, “down the rabbit hole”. Having just climbed the root ladder at Upper Silver Run Falls, I opted against this foray into the depths. The trail continues along the falls before reaching a sweeping left hand turn. The scramble to the base is here. From the top if looks insanely steep but the roots along the way are almost as good as steps. The path emerges onto the bank of the Chattooga River. The falls is a a handful of paces to the right. You can set up on the spit of land at the base of the falls but you can only see the lower section. No matter, the falls is nice but on a sweltering day in the upstate, the Chattooga River was the rear treat. Sadly we couldn’t stay longer with a four hour drive looming.