Caesars Head & Table Rock

South Carolina's real mountain climb in one loop: from Travelers Rest the route takes US-276 through Cleveland and up the hairpins past Wildcat Wayside to Caesars Head State Park, where it turns around because the road continues into North Carolina. Back down, it follows SC-11 west past the Grant Meadow overlook below Table Rock, then US-178 to Pickens and SC-183 home. It's 68 miles. There's no fuel or food at the top, and the park lot fills on fall weekends.

From Travelers Rest the route takes US-276 north through Cleveland and starts climbing the Blue Ridge Escarpment, the "Blue Wall," on a run of hairpins. On the way up it passes Wildcat Wayside, a roadside stop where a waterfall comes down beside the road. At the top is Caesars Head State Park, whose overlook, reached on foot from the visitor center lot, looks over the drop of the escarpment; every fall the park hosts a hawk watch during the migration. The overlook is open from 9 a.m. to sunset, trail access costs $3 per adult, and there's no roadside parking: the lot fills on October and November weekends.

North of the park, US-276 crosses into North Carolina, so the route turns around at Caesars Head and comes back down. US-276 here was closed by Hurricane Helene and reopened on October 25, 2024. At the bottom the route follows SC-11 west to the Grant Meadow overlook, a paved pull-off Pickens County opened in 2022 facing Table Rock, next to Table Rock State Park, one of the parks the Civilian Conservation Corps built ($6 per adult). From there it takes US-178 south to Pickens and SC-183 back east. There's no fuel or food at the top, so fill up in Travelers Rest or Cleveland.