Description: Although once voted Oconee County’s most scenic waterfall, this 75-foot high falls has no official trail, but hikers have been making the difficult, 1.5-hour trip here for 170 years, surely making it easier to follow over time. Lee Falls lies deep within a hardwood hollow that shelters a wealth of botanical rarities such as Oconee bells, bulblet fern, and others. A spray cliff also buttresses the waterfall, allowing a quasi-aquatic habitat of amphibians, mosses, and ferns to thrive in moist coolness.

Height of falls: 75 feet

Length of hike: 1.5 miles

Time to hike: 1.5 hours

Difficulty: Strenuous

Creek or river: Tamassee Creek

USGS Quadrangle: Tamassee

Directions to falls:

1. From the intersection of SC 11 (Cherokee Foothills Scenic Highway) and SC 28 at Walhalla, drive north on SC 11 for 8.3 miles and turn left (west) onto Cheohee Valley Road  (Oconee County S-37-375).

2. Drive 2.3 miles and turn left onto Tamassee Knob Road (S-37-95).

3. Drive .5 mile and turn right (northwest) onto Jumping Branch Road.

4. Drive 1.5 miles and turn left (northwest) onto FS 715A, which is gravel.

5. Drive 0.5 mile to parking area on the right (just before small bridge over Tamassee Creek).

6. At the north end of the parking area, strike out through the middle of the first of three fields, crossing creeks as you come to them.

7. At the end of the last field, the trail enters the woods.

8. Hike through the woods for .3 mile and take the left fork, crossing a creek , and head toward the larger branch of Tamassee Creek.

9. Hike another .2 mile and follow Tamassee creek upstream to a point where the trail gets very rocky and obstructed. You are less than .2 mile from the falls. You may have to cross the creek several times depending on conditions.

10. Once you can see the falls, you should be on the south side, which is the best place to be to view the falls.

Information: Sumter National Forest, Andrew Pickens Ranger District, 112 Andrew Pickens Circle, Mountain Rest, SC, 29664.  Telephone: 864-638-9568