A Shoutout To The Foothills Trail

[cneill13]

I wanted to give a quick trip report on the Foothills Trail that I hiked last December between Christmas and New Year's Day.

The Foothills Trail is a 77-mile trail in South Carolina between Table Rock State Park and Oconee State Park. I hiked a 32-mile section beginning at Bad Creek Access and hiking back southwest to my car at Oconee State Park.

I cannot say enough good things about this trail. It is truly a hidden jewel. There are challenging parts such as the 4 mile hike out of Bad Creek Access where I was dropped off to begin my hike. There were portions of this first leg where I was literally walking up a rock cliff via stairs.

After 2.3 miles there is a spur trail right (don't dare miss this) to the Whitewater Falls. A platform is setup to see the falls.

Falls.jpg

The trail also takes you down by the Chattooga River (yea the one where Deliverance was filmed)

Chattooga.jpg

and up over ridgelines with amazing views.

view.jpg

Every mile of the trail I hiked on was interesting and different. There are some challenging sections such as narrow walkways high above the Chattooga River. If I had stepped off the edge, it would have been all over as there was no one else out there but me, no cell phone reception and it was very cold. But it was all worth it in the end.

I did the 32 miles over 3 1/2 days camping three nights between. Campsites were fairly easy to find and nice for us hammock campers.

campsite.jpg

There was a $3 per day (a bargain) parking fee at Oconee State Park but it is also in a nightly locked and protected area. The Foothills Trail website is highly informative with shuttle service drivers available. They do not charge but a donation is highly recommended. I used Jim Simpson and he was one of the great trail angels I have ever met. He even gave me a free alcohol stove that he made from an aluminum beer bottle he found thrown onto the side of the road.

Shug has a good video on the trail that he and Hickery did last year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XH8NKmkHny0

It was very cold when I was out so I only saw 5 people in nearly 4 days. Two were hikers going the other way, two were fishing and one was a Duke Power employee checking out the campground I was on.

Icecycle.jpg

This is a trail that needs to be explored. It is highly accessible from top to bottom so there a several bailout points, if needed. Hikes can also easily be broken down into sections rather than trying to do the whole 77 miles at once.

Go checkout the Foothills Trail! You will not be disappointed.

[Cabmanhang]

Nice write up. We're planning the 77 miles in March and this just gets the blood flowing about the trip. Beautiful pictures as well. Thanks.

[TallPaul]

Nice write up and pics. I plan to hike more of this one in the future.

[Floridahanger]

Great intro to the Foothills Trail there. Accompanied by the Shug video, your pics and write up did the trick. If I was only closer, it would be a wonderful few days.

[johnspenn]

I want to do some hiking on that trail, nice report. That last pic of the icicle encapsulating the sapling is really cool!

[u.willie]

I thru hiked the Foothills Trail in the fall of '16. Really Great trail & Really Great hike! Thanks for sharing you photos, experiences, and the info

u.w.

[johnspenn]

I thru hiked the Foothills Trail in the fall of '16. Really Great trail & Really Great hike! Thanks for sharing you photos, experiences, and the info

u.w.

Probably took you about a day and a half huh =)

[Wkerber]

Sssshhh....not so loud!
I love the Foothills trail. I've done 3 or 4 sections on it thus far and was supposed to thru-hike it last fall, but then that thing called work messed up my plans.
If you want an overnighter that could be easily stretched into 2 nights and that is a loop as well, look at starting at Sloan Bridge and taking Fork Mtn trail to the Chattooga trail and then the Foothills trail back to Sloan Bridge. There are a couple of spurs to water falls along the way and you can try to find Ellicott Rock. I was slightly concerned about my car being left at Sloan Bridge (out on a county road) but nothing happened.

[rambotogo]

One of my favorite places and about 45min from me.I plan on hiking the entire trail if work will allow. Thanks for the report and the pics very cool.

[Ashhang]

I planing to do half of this trail sometime this year. I liked how you did it leaving your car at a state park. I was going to leave it at a half mark to see if I can go for more days but it seems safer to do it the way you did. I was planing to go in may but not to sure when I can do it now but going to do it by the end of the year