Visiting the Highest Point in South Carolina at Sassafras Mountain

South Carolina has mountains. It’s one of those quirky facts about a state most commonly known for Charleston and Myrtle Beach and the Grand Strand’s beautiful beaches. Knowing this fact could help your team win trivia night at the local bar.

Visitors can explore the Blue Ridge Mountains while driving to the highest point in South Carolina at Sassafras Mountain.

Sassafras Mountain is 3,553 feet above sea level. It’s the 29th-highest point in America. That’s not a bad ranking considering many people don’t realize South Carolina even has mountains.

I discovered Sassafras Mountain by accident while road tripping along the Cherokee Foothills Scenic Highway, one of South Carolina’s four national scenic byways. It’s “accidents” like these that’s kept me road tripping for over ten years.

I was heading to Brevard, North Carolina, to spend time with my grandmother. Usually, I’d take U.S. Highway 276 past Caesars Head State Park and one of my favorite scenic overlooks in the country. But this time, I continued along the Cherokee Foothills Scenic Highway to Table Rock State Park.

The park’s visitor center is an excellent wayside on the scenic highway. When I asked the nice lady at the information desk if there was anything “really cool” nearby, she quickly pointed out Sassafras Mountain.

“It’s just ten minutes away,” she gleefully told me. Spoiler: it takes more than ten minutes to get there. A lot more.

But I had a new place to visit. So, I left the visitor center and started the journey to the highest point in South Carolina. It would not be the last time I visited Sassafras Mountain.

Map of Sassafras Mountain

How to use this map | Click the icon in the top-left corner to open the Map Legend, then click on any of the legend items to display more information. If you have a Google account, click the (very faint) star at the end of the map’s name to save this map to your account, then access the map from your smartphone during your trip.

Why Trust What I Write

The first time I visited Sassafras Mountain was in 2016. I was on my way to Brevard to visit with my grandmother when I learned that the highest point in South Carolina was just “ten minutes” away.

At the time, the only thing to do was walk out onto the Lower Observation Deck. The view was achingly gorgeous. But the lighting was horrible, so I vowed to return.

I returned to Sassafras Mountain once every year until 2020. During those visits, I saw spectacular sunsets, fall colors, and a fog so thick I could only see ten feet in front of my car.

In 2019, I walked to the mountain’s summit for the first time. It was about six months after the new Sassafras Mountain Observation Tower was open to the public. It was a pleasant late-October day about a week after the peak of the fall colors. I was thrilled to see the new observation deck.

You can trust what I write about the highest point in South Carolina at Sassafras Mountain because I’ve been there several times. And I’m also on a quest to visit the highest point in every state. But I have a long way to go before finishing that mission.

How to Get There

Where is Sassafras Mountain? That’s a valid question because the highest point in South Carolina is in a remote part of the state far from interstate highways. But that’s also part of the mountain’s charm: it’s remote, peaceful, and features spectacular views.

Sassafras Mountain falls into the same category as Clingmans Dome, Mount Mitchell, and Brasstown Bald – you can drive to within a few hundred feet of the summit. It’s an excellent opportunity to walk and see the surrounding landscape from the highest point in the state.

But first, you have to get there. And that’s half the fun.

It’s quicker and easier to get to Sassafras Mountain through North Carolina. Take Exit 40 on Interstate 26 at the Asheville Regional Airport. Travel along the four-lane highway through Brevard. Finally, turn onto U.S. Highway 178 in Rosman to continue the drive along a two-lane, winding road. This route is about 35 miles and takes just under an hour.

In South Carolina, take Exit 5 on Interstate 26 in Campobello. Turn onto S.C. Highway 11, the Cherokee Foothills Scenic Highway. This is one of my favorite drives in South Carolina because you’ll see the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in the distance during this drive.

Continue along the scenic two-lane road past Table Rock State Park. Turn right onto U.S. Highway 178. Finally, take another turn onto a local road in Rocky Bottom. Contrary to what the nice lady told me at the Table Rock State Park visitor center, it takes closer to 30 minutes to drive to Sassafras Mountain from the visitor center. I wonder how fast she drives?

The route through South Carolina is about 54 miles and takes around 1 hour and 15 minutes to drive.

The final leg of the journey is to turn onto F. Van Clayton Memorial Highway. Google Maps calls this Sassafras Mountain Road. The final 4.7-mile drive takes about 10 minutes.

Use 1391 F Van Clayton Memorial Highway, Sunset, SC, to get turn-by-turn navigation in your favorite maps app. Or, click the address above to open in Google Maps on desktop or the mobile app.

A gravel parking lot at the end of the road has enough space for over a dozen autos. A privy restroom is a nice addition – it wasn’t there the first couple of times I visited. It takes just a few minutes to walk to the observation tower from the parking lot.

Lower Observation Deck

The first time I drove to the top of Sassafras Mountain, the only thing visitors could do was walk out on the Lower Observation Deck. The walk is mere minutes along a primitive path from the very end of the parking lot.

Local college students at Clemson University designed the observation deck. The deck extends off the side of the mountain with a pretty good view through a cutout in the trees. The view looks southwest toward Lake Jocassee.

Sassafras Mountain Observation Tower

When the long-awaited Sassafras Mountain Observation Tower opened to the public in 2019, it allowed visitors to stand 11 feet above the mountain’s summit at 3,353 feet above sea level. On a clear day, visitors can see as far as South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, and Tennessee.

The South Carolina-North Carolina state line bisects the stone and concrete observation tower. The tower was built to precisely align the center with the border. Even the center of the staircase aligns with the border.

There are two ways to walk to the observation tower. Ironically, the accessible route is the longest.

From the parking lot, walk to the right of the restrooms to the staircase. The United States Geological Survey medallion marking the mountain’s summit is near the stairs.

If you walk to the left of the restrooms, a primitive path slowly winds up the summit. Then, a long, zigzagging concrete ramp ascends to the observation tower.

The observation tower features an uninterrupted 360-degree panorama. Visitors can see Rabun Bald in Georgia, the Blue Ridge Mountains through North Carolina, and Table Rock Mountain in South Carolina. If you look closely enough, you can see the Blue Ridge Escarpment – the point where the landscape suddenly descends over 1,000 feet at the definitive edge of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Handicap Accessibility at Sassafras Mountain

Visitors can drive nearly to the summit of Sassafras Mountain. Like Clingmans Dome and Mount Mitchell, the final leg of the journey on foot is relatively easy.

But it’s only quasi accessible. Let me explain.

The parking lot is gravel except for a single concrete space marked for handicap parking. This makes it easy to get a cane, walker, or wheelchair out of the vehicle. But that’s where the convenience ends.

The gentle trail leading from the handicap parking space to the observation tower’s ramp is gravel. It would be difficult for anything with wheels to make it up that path. Although the ramp was a nice, government-required addition, the path was left undeveloped.

So, although there is a handicap space and ramp to the observation tower, Sassafras Mountain is not accessible. Maybe this is something the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources will address in the future.

Foothills National Scenic Trail

The Foothills National Scenic Trail is a 71.5-mile hiking trail between Oconee State Park and Table Rock State Park. The trail features over 13,000 feet of elevation gain as it crosses the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains.

The trail also crosses the highest point in South Carolina.

Instead of driving to the mountain’s summit, visitors can hike from a small parking area on U.S. Highway 178 at Laurel Valley Road. From there, a 4.5-mile hike to Sassafras Mountain includes an almost 2,000-foot climb.

Frequently Asked Questions