Wildcat Branch Falls Wayside

The waterfall visible from the road is the lowest of three tiers fed by Wildcat Branch Creek. It drops 30 feet down a slab of exposed granite into a shallow pool — and you see all of that the moment you pull off SC-11, before you've even put the kickstand down. The pull-off is paved and holds roughly 15 cars, so parking is generally straightforward outside of busy summer weekends, when the spot draws a crowd.

If you have a few extra minutes, a set of stone steps to the left of the lower falls leads up to a 10-foot middle cascade and the remnants of a Civilian Conservation Corps shelter from what was originally called Greenville Wayside Park — one of six wayside parks established in South Carolina in the 1930s to give traveling motorists a short rest stop. The area is now managed by South Carolina's state park system as part of the Mountain Bridge Wilderness Area. One note worth passing along: the trail to the crest of the upper falls is closed by the state park service due to past accidents, and signs at the upper falls reinforce staying on the marked path. The lower view from the road costs you nothing and carries none of that risk.