An attempt to see the Opossum Creek Falls

This week has been a little crazy new for me. I started my GA (graduate assistanship) and I love it. I have a lot to learn, so it is a little overwhelming but with time I will learn it all...hopefully! hahah

Well enough of day to day. I will get to it sometime in the near future!
Anyhow, Joe, Lawrence and I decided we wanted to go see a waterfall. Okay, the back story...
Joe got a new Pentax K10D for graduation from his mom, so he wanted to put it to use. One day I mentioned that I would really like to see a waterfall, just because. You know, one of those things you want to but never get around to it.

So on Friday Joe and I looked up waterfalls and picked one that was others had said were challenging but not impossible. ( Mind you my only previous experience with Hiking was part of the Appalachian trail with an outdoor group from UF, there were two guides we hiked for 7 hours and camped overnight. It was a great experience.) But all in all I am not expert.

The next morning we get all of our stuff together. Things like, sun-screen, bug repellent, lots of water, hats, first aid kit, matches (the last two were courtesy of Joe =) he said it was a safety precaution!!!), he also had a pocket knife, and snacks. We geared up, but our shoes on and headed out the door. We met up with Lawrence and hit the road.

Oh yea, it takes 3 hours from Columbia to get to the Sumter National Forest where this waterfall is located. Long story short we arrived at the "location street" around 3pm that afternoon. Little did we know that there were no signs of where this unpaved road ended nor of where the trail could possibly start. Like I said before I am no hiking expert and neither are the other boys. We failed to realize that looking into getting more detailed instructions might have been slightly beneficial. But hey, like I told them yesterday-- it will be an adventure. What an understatement.

After about 20 minutes of driving on the dirt road which both google maps and my Tom Tom said the distance was less than a "1 minute," we saw CARS. You should have seen our happy faces. We actually saw parked cars on the side of this one lane, curvy, dirt road! We stopped and looked for a possible trail, and there it was... An upwards red arrow that lead to a four wheeler "marked" trail.

The beginning of the trail was nice and easy, which surprised us since we had read it was going to be a "strenuous" 2 mile hike that would take two hours each way. But hey, we were just happy to have gotten somewhere. Of course like every good hiker we each picked up a hiking stick! At first we only used it because it was fun and looked cool.

Let's just say that we were glad later. To recap, we have no map, no idea where this trail is leading us, but we are proud.

Lawrence proved to be a good leader. He lead most of the way including parts where I did not think it was possible to get by. I am not very good with imagery but just imagine this inexperienced hikers, walking around with a stick, a sweet new camera, on a difficult and obscure path.

The best part was when we could hear the water from the trail. Then the feeling vanished when I saw the steep downhill slippery path we had to go through. But hey we got by!

On a good note, no one us got hurt. Except me, not bad. I had scratched, and Joe got the first aid kit out. Okay it was more than just a scratch if I had to count it would be ten on my lower leg, it was bleeding a little. No problem! I am a trooper.

In the end, we did not see the waterfall, instead we saw ......well the pictures speak for themselves!




We had a great time! Sorry for the long entry. It is my first...I hope you enjoy it!

GaBy