Greenville County High Point Trip Report
Coldbranch Mountain and Little Rich Mountain
Date: February 13, 1999
Author: Ron Tagliapietra
From US 276, hike 5 miles west on the Foothills Trail to Gum Gap.
Continue west on the Foothills Trail about a half mile or so to a gate on the north slope of
Slicking Mtn. The turquoise paint banding the trees a few steps back mark the boundary of an
SC heritage preserve and the state line. Follow these markings up the north summit of
Slicking Mtn. (not the NW summit), where the boundary turns south into SC. Follow the
markings south and soon note red blazes of the Greenville Watershed. Continue following
blazes SE to the East Summit (after the second dip, which is too shallow to show on topo).
Backtrack across the second dip and follow the ridge southwest; cross the Central summit
and on to the South summit. Winter views were restricted by dense trees but lack of leaves
permitted clinometer readings. From the East summit, the nearby South summit was four degrees
higher (only 0.2 mi. away), Coldbranch Mtn. was two degrees higher (but 1.3 miles away).
From the South summit, the East summit measured lower but was difficult to sight precisely.
Backtrack to Gum Gap and then south a half mile or more to an obvious junction on your right
that leads immediately to a footbridge. Walk along this trail-jeep road until you see a viable
route ascending left (not a trail). Ascend to summit. We descended the north ridge to the river,
crossed logs, and wandered a maze of jeep roads to the top of Raven Cliff Falls.
We saved mileage but not time or effort. Backtrack! In six clinometer readings, half showed
Slicking Mtn. higher by a fraction of a degree, and the other half lower by as much.
Nevertheless, the readings from East Slicking prove that Coldbranch is higher than either
summit of Slicking Mtn.
Little Rich Mtn. is on private property. Beyond the radio tower on the road to Pretty Place
(alias Symmes Chapel) near the highest point, turn left into a private posted development
(note Lake Lula almost immediately). Closest house to summit is gray, but no cars were there.
We stopped at a lower red house. The man was nice and granted permission but did not seem the
type to encourage streams of HPers. Also, I doubt if the summit property is actually his.
He told us to park at the gray house and walk beyond to find a steeper dirt road up to summit,
a 20-minutes round trip from parking. However, summit sign forbids everything from hunting to
walking and gives the following address:
Shoal Branch Rod and Gun Club, PO Box 451, Cedar Rock, NC 28718.
I forgot my clinometer in the car, but the 40-foot maximum contour differential would probably
not have registered significantly at 10 miles distance through thick trees anyway.