Keowee-Toxaway State Park

Date: Sunday, December 20, 2009
Location / Map

Trails: Natural Bridge, Raven Rock
Distance: 4.0 miles
Time: 1 hour, 50 minutes

Rating: &&& (out of 5)

Having just returned from a week-long business trip to California, and having just started my two-week Christmas vacation, I was ready to get out for a hike. The weather was nice, meaning it wasn't raining. Actually it was a bright sunny day, just with temperatures in the upper 40's. I left the house about 1:00 and took the 30-minute drive up to K-T State Park. It's close by, and free, and full of interesting natural features. For example: the natural bridge rock formation, Poe Creek with several small waterfalls, exposed rock cliffs and outcroppings, and views of the Blue Ridge Mountains and Lake Keowee. For a 4-mile hike, that's quite a lot to see!

I got on the trail about 1:45. Mine was the only car in the lot. In fact, I only saw two other people (and their dog) the entire time. The trail system here is basically a figure 8, with the Natural Bridge trail comprising the lower loop closest to the parking lot, and the Raven Rock trail being the upper loop. The maps and posted signs direct you to take both the lower and upper loops in counter clock-wise directions. Unfortunately, this means you have to take the steepest part of the Natural Bridge trail going uphill and you completely miss the middle part of the "8" which contains a nice view of a small waterfall. I have found, by trial and error, that it is better to take the lower loop in the clockwise direction!

The real treat today, besides the clear weather, was the amount of water flowing in the creek. There had been a lot of rainfall in the area a couple of days earlier, and the creek (which feeds into Lake Keowee) was full of whitewater! It was very loud, and I could hear it a long time before I could see it.

The Raven Rock trail is rated "strenuous" in every guidebook I've seen, and it is a fairly well-deserved rating. Leaving the Natural Bridge trail, you are basically climbing steps for 10-15 minutes. As soon as you reach the top of the climb, it starts descending again, almost as steeply. And that is followed by another steep climb. At the top of this hill, the trail more-or-less flattens out for another 10-15 minutes, and this time of year there are pretty good views of the mountains and the area all around, with the leaves being off the trees.

After the trail bends sharply to the left, there is a junction (easy to miss). If you take the path to the right/straight it will take you on a short and extremely steep descent/ascent to some campsites at the Lake Keowee shore. Honestly, I don't think it is worth it. Instead, I took the left fork, which descends (less steeply) and completes the Raven Rock loop.

The final portion of the Raven Rock trail is one of my favorite areas of the whole park, as the trail closely follows Poe Creek back to the Natural Bridge trail. In the summer it stays nice and cool down here in the "canyon".

I finished the hike in a little under 2 hours. I really had a great time!