Accessibility – Moderate
Height – 20′
Distance – 1.6 miles (out and back)
Beauty – 7
Photo rating – 7
Solitude – 9
GPS Info: LAT 35.04275 LONG -82.80655
Last Update – 12-27-2024
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A word about this one: It is not easy to get to Rocky Bottom Gorge Falls or Rock Bottom Falls without wandering onto someone’s property. It’s a pretty fine line between Jocassee Gorges Property and private land. Once you get onto the old road on river right, you are for sure on public land, but getting there will have you passing very close to someone’s deck.
Where to park: There is a wide pullout on Southbound side of US178 just south of Rocky Bottom. The GPS of the parking area is: 35.04078, -82.80375.
The hike: What I did was walk down the road toward Rocky Bottom, which means heading North through the left hand bend. When the road bends back to the right, I hopped over the guardrail and bushwhacked down the embankment. To keep me on track, I had dropped a pin at the corner of the property so I knew where I could go, and it got me to the creek just across from the house with the deck. The pin I used as a marker was placed at 35.04303, -82.80529. When I got to it, I went downstream and crossed the creek, getting on the old road that parallels the creek. The road was easy to follow, but there were a of trees down to contend with. A quarter of a mile downstream, you will pass the top of Rocky Bottom Gorge Falls, and downstream of the falls, look for a best place to head down to the creek. It wasn’t easy to get down the bank, but it was for sure worth the effort. The creek is overgrown and close to the falls is nothing but small cliffs, forcing a longer route to the base.
From Rocky Bottom Gorge Falls, climb back to the road and resume following it downstream. At times this next 0.3 was pretty easy and at others it sucked. The road helped and then it went away and then it was there again. It really became a matter of finding the easiest way to keep going without worrying about the road. Rock Bottom Falls is located just upstream of a small tributary that comes in on rover right. Getting to the base of the falls was easier than getting to the base of Rocky Bottom Gorge Falls, but it still involved getting wet and dirty. The entire trip there and back is 1.6 miles, and it took 75 minutes, so the going was for sure slow. You can go here to see a picture of Rock Bottom Falls. They are a great pair of waterfalls, and for me, very close to home.
