Saturday was the first clear, cool weekend day of this fall. The thought of doing yard work, or sitting inside and watching the Furman game on TV was just not appealing. What I really wanted to do was get out and go hiking. Laura and reached a compromise that combined hiking and football, and turned it into a very nice day.
First we headed northward in the converitible in search of falls of two types – fall leaves and waterfalls. We basically retraced my earlier trek last spring to Dupont Forest by way of Flat Rock. The air was very cool, and with the top back on the car, we actually had the heater and seat warmers going.
It was a beautiful drive through Flat Rock and along the valley on the other side of the Blue Ridge Escarpment. There was enough color in the leaves to hint of things to come. With the weather so spectacular, I expected crowds at the parking area, and I was not disappointed. We took probably the last available spot, and hiked down to Hooker Falls.
The day was slipping away faster than we wanted. Our plan was to continue to Hendersonville, then head down I-26 to Spartanburg for the Furman-Wofford game. With such a tight schedule, we didn’t have time to hike up to the other two falls. Oh well, we’ll save that for another time.
We backtracked along Little River/Kanuga Road to Hendersonville, and once again found one of the last available parking spaces on Main Street. Lunch was a wonderful wrap while sitting at a sidewalk table. We still had a bit of time, so we wandered through the shops.
Back on track, we hit I-26 and descended the steep Green River grade that leads down from Hendersonville to Spartanburg. I almost wish there was an overlook at Tryon, for the view across Upstate South Carolina from that point is spectacular.
We got to Spartanburg in plenty of time to get parked and get tickets. Having prepared for the coolness of the convertible, we weren’t really prepared for the heat bearing down on the visitor’s side of the stadium. However, it was a great game and Furman trounced Wofford. Local bragging rights remain.
Our long day was rounded out by an excellent meal of Mexican food at "On the Border" at Pelham Road. We don’t get out to restaurant row in this area, and were pleasantly surprised at how good both our meal the service was that evening.