Turns out that Mondays work very well for Perry Weinberg and I to do a bit of kayaking. Some time ago it was Wednesdays that worked out for paddling and we called it “Wet Wednesdays.” I was trying to think what we might call this. “Moist Mondays”? This particular Moist Monday Perry and I decided to head up to Longnose Falls off of the Tugaloo branch of Lake Hartwell.
It was a gorgeous day. We headed up to Stephens County Park and got ready to launch. When we got there we noticed that they had installed a new accessible kayak launch at the park. We had already unloaded our boats when spotted it and Perry’s wooden boat would probably not do well on this launch.
We started from the landing with a light breeze, paddling under Highway 123 and the railroad bridge.
From here it was a couple of miles up to the entrance to Longnose Creek. We made a brief stop at Tugaloo Mound.
The entrance to Longnose Creek is really tricky. On this particular day, I missed it. I stumbled around through willows and birch trees before finding the proper entrance. In the meantime, I found one nice water lily.
Eventually I found the entrance. Through a tunnel of willows we reached the River Road Bridge.
Beyond that was a true willow tunnel. The approach to the falls along the creek is about a mile or so, through some of the most beautiful paddling I’ve seen. It is truly stunning.
We couldn’t paddle all the way up to the falls, but got close enough. Perry and I pulled up and took numerous photos of the falls and the spectacular house overlooking them.
The correct name for these falls is Fountain Falls, but Longnose is now more common. Fountain Mill is the correct name for the ruins near the falls.
I really wanted to put up my hammock and just hang out here. It is a peaceful place. It would also be a great place to cook bratwurst and have a couple of beers. Instead, I had the turkey I’d brought with me.
Sadly, we needed to get back. Perry and I paddled back along the creek and out to the lake.
At the River Road bridge we spotted an SCDOT crew working on the bridge. There was a compression strap holding up part of the bridge, and they were working to fix it.
It’s much easier to find the way back out onto the lake than the way in. Soon we were back on the lake and headed toward our takeout. It seemed to take longer to get back than to get out. The railroad bridge seemed to never get closer. A train passed over as we were approaching.
It was a beautiful Monday to be paddling. In all we paddled 7.4 miles.
I still think I could do a throw-in at River Road and shorten this trip, leaving plenty of time to hang a hammock at the bottom of the falls. I’ll have to do that next time.
As always, I did a time-line of the trip with my GoPro.