NC/SC>Foothills Trail Thru Hike>Mid December?

**Bobo1234** · 10-15-2018, 16:49

Hey Y'all! A friend of mine and I are thinking of doing a Foothills trail thru hike sometime in the middle of December, possibly the 14th through the 20th. We're both early twenties, and have hiked before, and feel like this is a reasonable pace for our first true thru hike. It's all still in the planning stage, and nothing is for certain, but I just wanted to put it out here in case anyone cared to join us. I just saw Shug's 3-part series on his and Hickery's hike, and I've been doing a bunch of reading about the trail, and I'm looking forward to it!

**OC_Looper** · 10-15-2018, 19:39

A buddy and I did the Foothills trail the first week of January 3 years ago. You have plenty of time scheduled there. It took us 5 days total. Highly recommend starting at Oconee and ending at Table Rock. Get the pocket trail map that anti-gravity sells. It tells you everything you need to know. There is plenty of water along the way also. Plan to camp along the Chattooga river also, its amazing along there. Any other questions ask away.

**TallPaul** · 10-15-2018, 20:59

I have no practical advice but wanted to drop in and say it sounds fun!

**Vanhalo** · 10-16-2018, 06:12

https://foothillstrail.org/
Thanks for shedding light on this trail.
I was unaware.

**cneill13** · 10-16-2018, 07:53

I hiked the FHT the last week of December 2017 and had the entire trail to myself. I saw 5 people the whole time as the highest daily temperature was 28 degrees but that is not the norm. I agree with OC_Looper in hiking from Oconee to Table Rock.

One thing to note, there is almost zero cell phone reception on the trail. Keep this in mind as there might be ice in December. The trail has some pretty high cliff-like areas above the Chattooga river. I was alone so if there was a problem, no help would have been available.

Have a great time. It is my favorite hiking trail.

**chknbone** · 10-19-2018, 13:27

Me and the wife did about 20 miles of it this past July (Fish Hatchery back to Oconee State Park) and I've been dying to go back and do the whole thing. Those dates look like they'd work for me and I like that you're looking at 7 days in the early stages of planning as that pace works for me as well. I've also mapped out a 5 day hike where the milage was 15, 13, 15, 16.5, and 9.3 that I thought would be doable for my pace but I was thinking about having Summertime daylight hours when I worked that one out.

If you're going to be at the Uwharrie hang, I'll bring my copy of the most recent Foothills trail guide and we could discuss it more then.

Edit - Annnnd of course you're in Cary....I could get my copy of the Foothills Trail Guide to you to use any time (even if I can't make the trip) lol. I work very near the Sheetz on Aviation Pkwy.

**Shug** · 10-19-2018, 14:10

A lot of folks we passed were doing 11 mile days. Wish we had!
Shug

**gunner76** · 10-19-2018, 21:22

Bobo...talk to me at the hang next week about this. I would like to go with you but even if I can not, I may have some map / planning stuff that could help.