finding ellicott rock

[TNhiker]

howdy...

going to head down to ellicott rock wilderness in a few weeks or so, and was wonderin if i could get some tips on how to find the rock?


thanks very much.....

[bwb49]

Ellicott Rock is hard to find. The best description I have seen is in the book by Tim Homan Hiking Trails of the Southern Nantahala Wilderness Elliott Rock Wilderness Chattanooga River. There are 2 marked rocks in the area "Ellicott Rock" and "Commissioners Rock" they are within 10-15 feet of each other. Elliott rock is "NC" carved into the rock and Commissioners rock has "LAT 35 AD 1813 NC+SC" carved into it. Check the following web sites http://n2backpacking.com/hikes/south...ellicott-rock/ another web site is http://www.emapstore.com/sc_blue_rid...k-SC-NC-GA.pdf and http://hikingthecarolinas.com/Ellicot%20Rock.php

[ChuckT]

I walked right past it last October. Some discription will tell you how well marked it is. I dunno 'but that when I went by I had to guess where it was and the river was running high just where I thought the Rock was - too high to my liking so I wasn't ready to climb down to see if I was right or not. The trail along the river was narrow and eroded with several blowdowns and the signs mentioned in the guide were missing.

[TNhiker]

ive been on a self imposed backpacking hiatus to save money for trips that start next week, but i plan on doin this after i get back....

with the lack of rain in the southeast in the last few months----i hope it makes it easier to find....

and yeah, i have homans book on the area........

[Dogwood]

I sent ya that email describing what i did to find it but here goes again. Depending on what trail you take to get there its signed. I usually get there via the East Fork Tr hiking towards Oconee SP taking that route instead of the regular Foothills Tr SOBO that takes ya by the fish hatchery so I can get more miles in along the river. Commissioners Rock is nearby Ellicotts Rock. Both are inscribed. See the pics. I found Commissioners Rock first. I had to search for it though one fall in decent weather which was the first time I found it. Now I better know where it is. It's usually easy to find unless there's snow/ice and/or very high water along the river making for sometimes rain forest/muddy conditions. Heed the first article's advice I've also found the 30 cal geocaching box talked about in the second link. I've found both rocks with no need for a GPS. It was also orange flagged last time I was there about 2.5 yrs ago. Perhaps, the flagging was because signage was missing then?

http://www.stayandplayinthesmokies.c...isioner-rocks/

http://www.geocaching.com/geocache/G...b-65481e39557c

[ChuckT]

I will agree with the the trail description on the "Stay and Play" Web page. Coming down to the river via that route the trail was considerably better then along the river.
At the site I saw only one sign at the site, no arrow pointing down to the river, and no flagging. I didn't get down to the water to find either rock as the water there was faster and higher than I liked and the scramble down didn't look at all inviting. YRMV of course and not seeing the rock was a definite dissapointment.
When I was there the weather was threatening most of the time and rained twice. Hence the high water?
I saw numerous blow downs and coming up from the river to Sloan Bridge one was a major PITA. From there I went back south to the Ford and that trail is rather dry. I missed the location of waterfall mentioned and ran short of water so I hopped out on to the highway at the Fish Hatchery road and got a ride into town.

[TNhiker]

I sent ya that email describing what i did to find it but here goes again.

yeah......somehow i deleted it before i could save it.............