Musgrove Mill State Park (Part 2)

Hey there! Today we visit the second area of Musgrove Mill, the battlefield trail! In case you missed the last post this park has two areas separated by the Enoree river, both parts have hiking trails and are almost like two parks. So we split them up like two parks! This second area is about a mile drive from the main area and has just a gravel parking lot, however there is a handicap parking spot that is paved and the trail to the waterfall is paved! A lot of people just come here for the waterfall but they miss out on a great trail past it.

I started the trail at horseshoe falls but there's a small walk to the falls from the parking lot. This trail is a right around 2 miles and a little hilly, it is more difficult than the main trail in part 1.
    


Starting from the parking lot you have to cross the road and right past that is a cool old one lane bridge, we had to stop for a photo op!


The trail to the falls is paved and well maintained. There are benches along the way and at the end of the pavement there's an overlook area for viewing the falls.



Horseshoe falls is a really nice waterfall and shoals. I was able to get a lot of great shots of the falls. Here are a couple of my favorite but I'll put some more at the end of the blog post as I really like them all!





Once you finish at the waterfall you can continue on to the battlefield trail. This is where the pavement ends and you're on ground the rest of the way, well, aside from a few bridges. It is about twice as long as the main trail (see part 1) and has a lot more hills. The trail from this point is about 1.5 (sign says 1.3 but I found it to be a little off, maybe depends on how well you stay on the trail :) miles but closer to 2 miles when you include the walk from the parking lot.



There are just a few spots with benches on the trail, this area of benches was off the main trail just a little bit. I thought it was part of the loop but it's just a dead-end with a group of benches. Probably why I ended up with more than the advertised 1.3 miles!


This trail has a lot of historical pointers and signs, they are all kept up very nice and informative. They give a very detailed description of where you're at and where the battle took place around you, history at it's best!




There is plenty to see besides just the battlefield way-points. The streams and the diversity of the landscape make this a great nature trail just as it is!

This has been one of my favorite trails (and parks) - yes I am a history lover but all the other aspects make this a great, diverse trail. When you add the main area (see part 1) to this trail it makes for a great experience in history and nature and a really great park! I highly recommend this park, go grab a picnic basket (don't forget the food ;) and spend a day at this great park! Scroll on down to see a few more of the Horseshoe fall pics, then head over to my website (http://www.centerlightstudios.com/) to see all the pics from this and the other state park visits!!
P.S. Here is one last area, if you go past the parking lot for the battlefield is the canoe/kayak launch. There was an old bridge here at one time and you can see this spot (see part 1) from the main area trail.


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