Wildcat Wayside State Park Dupont State Recreational Forest

If you're looking for impressive waterfalls, you can simply set off on a micro-adventure in the mountainous north of South Carolina or, like us, find what you're looking for with our local guide Grace. Coming from Greenville, we follow Route 276 and make our first spontaneous stop after 37 kilometres at the inconspicuous Wildcat Wayside State Park, which is located directly on the road. The short rest stop, established in the 1930s, is now a small nature park with a 2.3 km circular trail that leads through a deciduous forest of oaks and walnut trees. The middle layers are occupied by flowering dogwood and rhododendron in early summer, while ferns, flowers and mosses cover the ground. The wildlife living there includes white-tailed deer, reptiles and amphibians (including snakes and salamanders) as well as numerous bird species (including turkey, woodpecker and warbler), according to the information board. At the north end of Wildcat Wayside State Park is the upper Wildcat Branch waterfall - a surprising little gem about 15 metres high.

From Wildcat Wayside State Park, we climb up Route 276 into the Blue Ridge Mountains and after 26 km we arrive at the DuPont State Recreational Forest Visitor Centre in North Carolina, our second and final stop. There we first follow the Triple Falls Trail, which takes us to the eponymous - and extremely impressive - waterfalls. The water plunges down 38 metres in three distinct cascades. While the Triple Falls served as the backdrop for THE TRIBUTE OF PANEM, the Hooker Falls were used as the backdrop for the film THE LAST MOHIKAN. They are just a few hundred metres to the north-east and complete our 5 km round trip in the DuPont State Forest. On the way back to the car at sunset, we even come across two black bears on the side of the road. Micro adventure my arse.