Headwaters State Forest
Bursting Rock and Reece Place Falls Loop
with Dillon, Blizzy, and the Professor
Transylvania County, NC
Saturday, August 8th, 2020
Reece Place Falls - Headwaters State Forest, NC
Headwaters State Forest officially opened up to the public in September 2018. The Professor and I decided that its about time we started exploring around and enjoying this new 6,730 acre playground! Also joining us would be Dillon and his fearless canine companion Blizzy!
On the drive up the mountain out of South Carolina I made a quick stop at Bald Rock (aka Graffiti Rock).
Bald Rock Panorama
Even at 7:15am there were already about 30 humans hanging out on Bald Rock. All the graffiti, trash, and humans definitely take away from the beauty of Bald Rock, but it still offers up a great view of Table Rock Mountain and the South Carolina Foothills.
View of Table Rock from Bald Rock
We met up at the entrance to Sherwood Forest along US276 a few miles north of Caesars Head and combined vehicles from there. We parked at one of the public access points along Happy Acres Road to begin our adventure. Note: Do not trust Honda navigation to find the trailhead! We would have never got there if I followed the route my Honda Ridgeline was trying to take me on!
There is a maze of old dirt roads and paths that meander through Headwaters State Forest. Some of these roads are well maintained while others are virtually unnavigable. Our planned loop involved both!
Bursting Rock or Bursted Rock?
Most of the maps I have seen call this mountain Bursted Rock. However, the official survey marker and the official NGS data sheet both call it Bursting Rock, so that is what I am going with!
Whatever you decided to call this spot, its a great open rock face to hang out and enjoy the best view of Table Rock Mountain that I have ever seen! And you are not likely to encounter many other humans out here! In fact, we did not encounter any other people throughout our entire day of exploration around the forest.
View of Table Rock from Bursting Rock
Group Selfie at Bursting Rock
Hanging out at Bursting Rock
Me with Dillon and Blizzy on Bursting Rock
After a nice break on Bursting Rock we backtracked a bit and returned to the maze of forest roads. We did a bit of exploring around some rock faces on the north side of Bursting Rock Mountain.
Let's try to get up there!
Dillon Checking out a Rock Wall on the North Side of Bursting Rock Mountain
From Bursting Rock Wall we were able to navigate some well maintained forest roads all the way to the base of Reece Place Falls which is definitely one of the highlights of Headwaters State Forest!
Dillon and the Professor hiking towards Reece Place Falls
Dillon at Reece Place Falls
Blizzy and Me enjoying Reece Place Falls
Reece Place Falls
Blizzy, Dillon, and The Professor at Reece Place Falls
Blizzy, Dillon, and Me at Reece Place Falls
Reece Place Falls
Dillon and Blizzy at Reece Place Falls
Many maps show the old forest road continuing alongside Reece Place Falls, but that was not the case with the route we picked. It was definitely a steep and difficult bushwhack until eventually we got to the point where the road materialized again and it was smooth sailing back to trailhead to complete our loop.
Yellow Fringed Orchid
Enjoying some fine post hike Pale Ales
Blizzy enjoying the ride
It was a fun day exploring around Headwaters State Forest with some great friends!
My complete set of photos is posted here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/8146392@N05/albums/72157715471314797
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