Oconee State Park: Old Waterwheel and Oconee Trails (Blog Hike #253)

Trails: Old Waterwheel and Oconee Trails

Hike Location: Oconee State Park

Geographic Location: north of Walhalla, SC (34.86361, -83.09811)

Length: 4 miles

Difficulty: 7/10 (Moderate/Difficult)

Dates Hiked: October 2008, April 2014

Overview: A forest hike with lots of up and down featuring an historic waterwheel site.

Park Information: https://southcarolinaparks.com/oconee
Hike Route Map: https://www.mappedometer.com/?maproute=943072
Photo Highlight:

Directions to the trailhead: Take SR 28 west out of Walhalla.  Follow SR 28 for 8 miles to its intersection with SR 107.  Take a soft right on SR 107.  Follow SR 107 for 2.3 miles to the state park entrance.  Turn right to enter the park, and pay the nominal entrance fee.  Bear right at the first intersection, heading for Foothills Trail trailhead.  After driving 0.6 miles past the campground, park in the small gravel Foothills Trail parking lot on the right.

The hike: For some general comments on Oconee State Park, see the Tamassee Knob Trail blog entry.  The two trails described here combine to form the nicest and most remote backcountry forest experience in the park.  The two trails could be hiked separately, but since neither one forms a loop, a significant amount of backtracking will be necessary no matter which route you choose.  Combining the two into a single hike not only allows you to see more of the park’s mature forest but does so without adding significantly to the backtracking.

            Begin at the Foothills Trail trailhead, but instead of following the Foothills Trail, take the narrower Old Waterwheel Trail, which starts to the right of the wide Foothills Trail and is marked by round metal badges with the trail’s name written in orange.  The first 0.5 miles follows a meandering course through forest with a dense understory as the trail weaves in and out of several ravines.  The sides of the ravines create some very steep sections of trail, but the steep areas never last very long.

Old Waterwheel Trail

            For a brief period a dirt road (Oconee Station Road) can be seen through the trees on the left, but soon the trail curves right away from the road.  The next section of trail passes through some nice, mature, open hardwood forest.  The ravine on the left makes for some great leaf peeping in late October and early November.  At 0.7 miles, the trail begins to descend into this ravine.  At first the descent is moderate, but the last couple hundred feet are quite steep.

            After crossing a pair of small streams on thick wooden bridges, the trail reaches the spur trail to the old waterwheel site at 0.8 miles.  A very short walk on this spur trail will take you to the site.  The waterwheel is gone, moved to a more accessible point in the park, but the stone structures remain here for your discovery.  The stone wheel house at the end of the trail is about 20 feet high.  Notice also some stone pillars to the right of the trail which once supported a trough directing water into the wheel.  A low stone wall makes a good place to sit, letting you observe both the stone structures and the surrounding forest while enjoying a snack.

Old waterwheel site

            Back on the main trail, the trail climbs steeply out of the ravine, crossing over a few wooden waterbars.  At 1 mile, you reach the intersection with the Oconee Trail, which goes left.  Continuing straight would complete the Old Waterwheel Trail and lead to the cabin area in another 0.25 miles, from which you could walk along the park road to complete a shorter 1.5 mile loop.  This hike will turn left and begin the Oconee Trail, which is marked by round metal badges with the trail’s name written in green.

            The first mile of the Oconee Trail passes in and out of steep ravines much like you saw on the Old Waterwheel Trail.  This trail passes very close to the park boundary, and during the leafless months you will catch glimpses of the Piedmont to the left some 1000 feet below you.  Although the trail is well-maintained, a pair of large windfalls make the hiking more challenging.  It is easy to see how to get around the first one; the best way to get around the second is on the left side since the trail takes a sharp left turn under the windfall.

Hiking the Oconee Trail

            2 miles into the hike, the trail crosses an old road.  Turning right on this road would lead back to the developed area of the park, but the Oconee Trail angles left and continues across the road.  Watch for the round metal markers.  While a few hills remain, the rest of the trail is much flatter so that the hardest hiking is now behind you.

            The trail heads gradually downhill through noticeably younger forest, heading for the campground lake.  At the couple of points where the trail becomes somewhat hard to discern, look for more round metal markers.  At 3 miles, a single switchback brings you to a clearing near the dam area for the campground lake.  In the clearing, you will need to take a left turn to reach the dam, then another left turn to cross the grassy earthen dam.  Neither of these turns is marked.            

Campground lake

            Across the dam, the trail angles right, reenters a nice hardwood forest, and begins paralleling the lakeshore.  The campground soon comes into view across the lake.  The final 0.6 miles undulate moderately as the trail crosses several tributaries to the campground lakes.  Where side trails exit right to the campground, stay left to remain on the Oconee Trail.

            At 3.7 miles, the Oconee Trail ends at the campground amphitheater.  Continue straight to intersect the main park road across from the campground mini-golf course.  Now a right turn and 0.3 miles of road walking are required to return to the Foothills Trail parking area and complete the hike.