Adventures of a swimming hole aficionado

Today, I met up with Cade (my friend and former classmate from Southern Miss) in Clayton, GA with the intention of spending a week checking out waterfalls and swimming holes in north Georgia and the nearby Carolinas. We had actually planned to come to this area last October, but we changed plans at the last minute and went to Florida due to the weather in the mountains. The main reason for our trip here is to go to Tallulah Gorge, but accessing the gorge floor requires a permit, and permits are not issued after 4 PM. I arrived in Clayton around 4:15 PM, with Cade having arrived a few minutes earlier, and we were both exhausted from driving, so we had neither the time nor energy for a long excursion today. I recommended Brasstown Falls, about 30 minutes away in South Carolina. I had originally dismissed it as not looking worthwhile when researching places to check out, but it was fairly close and had a short hike with potential swimming holes, so we decided it would be a good warm-up. Brasstown Falls consists of three consecutive waterfalls about 15-30 feet high, with a fourth waterfall, Little Brasstown Falls, a little ways upstream. From the information I found, it was unclear whether or not there were any swimming holes.

( Click here for the full trip report with pictures and videos )

In summary, Brasstown Falls was okay. The waterfalls were decent (especially the second one), but it was fairly unremarkable from a swimming hole standpoint. The pools were mostly shallow, the rocks were blunt with sharp edges (not the smooth granite found on many other mountain streams). Still, it was a decent warm-up (and cool-down) after a long drive, and I’m hoping we can hit some of the more spectacular swimming holes while we are here. I don’t hold out much hope for tomorrow, though, because it looks like it’s going to be a wet one.