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Date Hiked: 2/9/91
Length: 7.4 miles
Type: backtrack
Difficulty: 2
Scenery: 2
Blaze: square wooden, white
Main Features: Stumphouse Mountain Tunnel, Issaqueena Falls, unfinished railroad tunnels, winter views
Animals: pileated woodpecker, gray squirrels, chickadees, tufted, titmouse, mourning doves, sparrows
Location: Stumphouse Mountain Tunnel Park, Sumter National Forest, South Carolina
Driving north from Walhalla on highway 28, the entrance to Stumphouse Mountain Tunnel Park is on the right side of highway 28 about 4 miles from Walhalla. The turn is 0.1 miles after you enter Sumter National Forest. At the fork on the park road, the tunnel is to the left, Issaqueena Falls and a picnic area is to the right. Make note of the park's closing hours. When I was there the park closed at 5:00 pm. Walking from the picnic area toward the falls overlook, cross one small footbridge. Then turn left on a steep path up a rhododendron-covered slope. This path is northeast of the falls overlook.
Approximate Altitude Changes
Descend 50 feet from tunnel entrance to Issaqueena Falls
Ascend 100 feet from falls to ridge near middle tunnel
Descend 40 feet to low point on ridge
Ascend 90 feet to ridge top at 2.5 miles
Descend 300 feet to turnaround point by road at 3.7 miles
Total Ascent: 1,160 feet
Miles
0.0 tunnel entrance (walk down the park road away from the tunnel)
0.2 bear left on road across stream
bear right towards the picnic area
cross one small wooden footbridge
0.3 turn left on steep path up through rhododendron
turn right on railroad bed
0.4 winter views on right
enter deep cut
0.7 detour left at fork to go view the middle tunnel
0.8 turn left upon returning to the main trail
0.9 gain ridge top
go straight across crossroads
1.1 pass north end of middle tunnel
1.4 step across small stream
1.8 stay to the right at the junction
2.2 saddle tunnel
ascend steeply up to the left and bear right at the fork
2.3 leave path and follow the blazes straight up the slope on the right
turn left on ridge
2.5 ridge top
3.2 gain ridge top
3.5 go straight across crossroads
3.7 reach edge of dirt road and cleared area
backtrack
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