The Foothills Trail is a 77 mile long footpath leading from Oconee State Park to Table Rock State Park. It spans the divide of Upstate South Carolina and Western North Carolina. Highlights of this relatively short trail included numerous and spectacular waterfalls, tranquil river walks, high mountain ridges, lush deciduous forests, and a visit to South Carolina’s highest peak, Sassafras Mountain, at 3553′.
I’d been wanting to hike this trail in the the late fall, to enjoy the foliage turning, possibly less humidity, and cooler temperatures. But on a whim, I decided last minute (a day before) to hike it on my way back from AT Trail Days at the end of May, 2024. I was visiting a friend in Tyron, NC, which was less than an hour from the eastern terminus. I saw that there was going to be a rain-free weather window of about 3 days and couldn’t resist going for it! I also found that arranging the shuttle from one end to the other was remarkably easy. There’s a list of shuttle contacts on the Foothills Trail Conservancy webpage (https://foothillstrail.org/). The first driver I called, Taz, was already taking another hiker the next morning. I left my car at the Table Rock SP parking lot (there’s a small per-day fee for parking there), and he drove us to the western terminus at Oconee. He also hooked us up with a resupply cache at the 28 mile mark, so I only had to carry 1 day of food at the beginning and 2 days for the second part.
I did almost no preparation for this hike, other than already having my hiking gear ready and my trail legs fit, after having just completed the 300 mile Benton MacKaye Trail the week before. I had the Far Out guide, which I actually found to be overly-detailed for this trail. There were so many waypoints marking every little thing, like each individual campsite at the large commercial campsites. I had to really zoom in to be able to click on each individual waypoint for information, which I found kind of annoying. But I guess more information is better than too little. It was also a pretty easy trail, save for my 3rd day, which unexpectedly morphed into a night hike into my 4th and last day (you’ll have to read the daily post for that story). There were also SO MANY wooden steps on the trail, going up/down some very steep grades. I know these steps are very disliked by some hikers, but I couldn’t complain too much since my pack was very light and my fitness was good.
Here are the links to all my daily posts for the FHT:
FHT Day 1: Why Not?
FHT Day 2: Waterfalls!
FHT Days 3: This Trail Has Some Teeth…That End in a Cliffhanger
FHT Day 4: An Unexpected Finale, To Say the Least
BMT & FHT Summary & Stats