How We Found It: Thanks to Danny of HikertoHiker.com for getting us interested in this one. BrendaJWiley.com also has a detailed trail breakdown.
Date and Distance Hiked: 3/12/12, 11 miles
Good Seasons: Spring (cool but not icy), fall (leaves!)
Find the Trailhead: Off Hwy 276 in Cleveland, SC, 1 mile west/northwest of the Caesars Head visitors center. Park directions here.*
Map: Find a map online to print or pay $3 for a slightly better one at the visitor center.
Bathroom Situation: No worries. Visitor center.
Fees (Where/How Much): Adults pay $2, SC seniors pay $1.25, and 15 and younger are free. Pay when you stop at the visitor center or in an envelope/drop box at the trailhead.
Our Route: We started at the trailhead (off of 276/Geer Hwy, a mile-ish west/northwest of the visitor center). When the trail forked left to the falls overlook, we stayed to the right and followed the trail all the way to the suspension bridge at the top of Raven Cliff Falls. We doubled back along the same trail, adding an in-and-out to check out the overlook on the way back.
The overlook is where the featured photo was taken.
Of Interest: Want to say that you have hiked the Foothills Trail? You’ll run into it on your way to the suspension bridge above the waterfall.
Which, by they way, is the tallest waterfall in South Carolina at somewhere between 350-400′.
What Nobody Told Us before We Went: The Naturaland Trail (which completes a loop to the suspension bridge above the falls) has an elevation drop and gain of 2,000′ in a relatively short distance. The ranger told us in no uncertain terms that it takes 6-8 hours to make this loop, even if it’s only 12 miles. Be prepared to adjust your route to an out-and-back if you don’t have enough time or moxie to do this part.
Even if you pay at the visitor center, be sure to register at the trailhead to let rangers know what your car and party looks like as well as when you expect to be off the trail.
*Google Maps doesn’t know where the visitor center is, exactly, and undershot this trip by about 7 miles on the route we took from Charlotte. We came in from the south, through Spartanburg, and Google Maps set us down between Wildcat Falls (a small falls right off Hwy 11) and a boiled-peanuts vendor at the corner of 276.
If this happens to you…
– Turn right on 276 at the boiled peanuts and wind 7 miles north.
– Visitor center will be on your left. Trailhead is 1 mile north/northwest of that on 276 on your right (with overflow parking 300 yards past that on the left).
Hike Highlights:
• Hiking to the suspension bridge and seeing almost nobody; most people stop at the overlook.
Blue Ridge Dayhiking 
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