American Alpine Project
Ascending America's Highest Peaks to Raise Spirits Around the Globe
Sassafras Mountain, South Carolina
Sassafras Mountain, SC
Elevation: 3,560 ft.
Summit Attained: 12:30 a.m., 02/17/07
This was the first highpoint of our 2,000 mile President's Day weekend road trip. After driving from Providence to Lancaster, PA late Thursday night, Jason and I set off at 1 P.M. on Friday, bound for the town of Picket, South Carolina. We arrived in Picket just after 11:30, travelling north on SC 178.
After winding along for about 10 miles, the road suddenly began to switch back wildly, climbing more than a thousand feet as it wound along the wooded mountainside. Even our GPS had trouble navigating the squiggly line that looked like the scribbling of a bored pre-school child. After several more miles, we came to a great little roadside bar called Bob's. Surrounded by rusting cars and complete with a rickity front porch and a healthy adornment of flags (American and confederate,) fly-fishing poles, paddles and other great trinkets, the place was almost cartoonishly rural-southern.
Several more winding miles brought us to the settlement of Rock Bottom. We initially missed the turn onto 199 (also called the F. Van Clayton hwy,) so we snapped a photo of the road sign. The turn is on the right, directly in front of the sign for the Blind Retreat and Conference Center. We followed 199 up the Sassafras mountain for about 5 miles to a yellow gate. Coming from sea level, the 2,000+ ft. elevation gain on 199 produced a euphoric expanding sensation in our heads.
You're supposed to park in front of the gate, but it had been broken open by someone, so we continued through it. A short distance later, the road split, and we took the path to the left. We parked the car a few yards up the left fork and walked the remaining distance to the USGS marker. It didn't look like the marker was on the actual summit, so we walked another ten or twenty yards to a small mound next to some trail signs and a park bulletin board.
My altimeter said that this was the top, so we snapped a few photos and enjoyed the cool night air on the top of SC. You couldn't see much, but it was a pretty remote highpoint, and the curiosities that we passed en route had made it quite fun. We made a few phone calls from the summit before heading back to the car and returning to Picket on our way to Brasstown Bald, Georgia.
Elevation: 3,560 ft.
Summit Attained: 12:30 a.m., 02/17/07
This was the first highpoint of our 2,000 mile President's Day weekend road trip. After driving from Providence to Lancaster, PA late Thursday night, Jason and I set off at 1 P.M. on Friday, bound for the town of Picket, South Carolina. We arrived in Picket just after 11:30, travelling north on SC 178.
After winding along for about 10 miles, the road suddenly began to switch back wildly, climbing more than a thousand feet as it wound along the wooded mountainside. Even our GPS had trouble navigating the squiggly line that looked like the scribbling of a bored pre-school child. After several more miles, we came to a great little roadside bar called Bob's. Surrounded by rusting cars and complete with a rickity front porch and a healthy adornment of flags (American and confederate,) fly-fishing poles, paddles and other great trinkets, the place was almost cartoonishly rural-southern.
Several more winding miles brought us to the settlement of Rock Bottom. We initially missed the turn onto 199 (also called the F. Van Clayton hwy,) so we snapped a photo of the road sign. The turn is on the right, directly in front of the sign for the Blind Retreat and Conference Center. We followed 199 up the Sassafras mountain for about 5 miles to a yellow gate. Coming from sea level, the 2,000+ ft. elevation gain on 199 produced a euphoric expanding sensation in our heads.
You're supposed to park in front of the gate, but it had been broken open by someone, so we continued through it. A short distance later, the road split, and we took the path to the left. We parked the car a few yards up the left fork and walked the remaining distance to the USGS marker. It didn't look like the marker was on the actual summit, so we walked another ten or twenty yards to a small mound next to some trail signs and a park bulletin board.
My altimeter said that this was the top, so we snapped a few photos and enjoyed the cool night air on the top of SC. You couldn't see much, but it was a pretty remote highpoint, and the curiosities that we passed en route had made it quite fun. We made a few phone calls from the summit before heading back to the car and returning to Picket on our way to Brasstown Bald, Georgia.
