That might be a white blaze but it isn’t the Appalachian Trail it’s the Foothills Trail!
I knew at least two people who have hiked the Foothills Trail and spoke greatly about it so I knew I would hike it at some point in the future. The great part is that it’s easily attainable for those of us who are fully employed because it’s only around 76-77 miles. I hiked the Wonderland Trail a few years ago which was also considered a long trail but also attainable because of it’s short length. The Foothills Trail is a little easier in the distance category but a little tougher in the logistics category because it’s point to point and a shuttle or car-spotting is required. Fortunately there is the FOOTHILLS TRAIL website that makes planning so much easier as well as educates you about the trail experience.
My chance came to hike it in 2017 when I reached out to a few friends whom I knew were already interested from our previous conversations.
So once we determined the exact dates that we wanted to hike, we proceeded to work out the logistics portion of the hike. An excellent place to start is the official Foothills Trail website. This website has a wealth of information that is essential for planning a hike on this trail.
| RESOURCE: https://foothillstrail.org |
| DATE OF HIKE We went in December and there were only 2 other groups of 2 people each on the entire trail. |
| HIKING DIRECTION – EAST TO WEST OR WEST TO EAST We hiked from West to East so we wouldn’t have to climb Sassafras Mountain immediately. We started at Oconee and hiked to Table Rock. |
| SHUTTLE OPTIONS There are options |
| PARKING FEE AT STATE PARKS |
| HIKER REGISTRATION |
| ACCOMODATIONS/FEES THE DAY PRIOR/AFTER HIKE |
| TIME OF ARRIVAL TO PARK AT BEGINNING OF HIKE (GATE CLOSES AT SPECIFIC TIME) |
| TIME OF ARRIVAL TO PARK AT END OF HIKE (GATE CLOSES AT SPECIFIC TIME) |
| WATER SOURCES There are lots of water sources on this trail. |
| CAMPSITE LOCATIONS / AVAILABILITY Campsites were not an issue at all. At the time we went there were only two other hiking groups on our entire trip. Also, there are quite a few campsites that are quite large. |
| WEATHER Our weather ran the gamut. We started out with warm beautiful weather the first day or two. The third day we got rain and by the 6th day we got snow. |
| FOOD I splurged pretty good unlike most long distance trips. I brought a frying pan, egg powder, bacon and generally ate very well. |
| BEAR HANG or CANISTER We went with the bear hang to keep pack size down. It worked out pretty well. |
We began our trip on Saturday, December 2nd, 2017 by departing from our homes in the Cincinnati, Ohio area. This would be the first leg of our trip and which is predominantly a travel day. We arrived at Table Rock State Park around 3:30PM where we met our prearranged volunteer shuttle driver Jim ‘Taz’ Simpson. He met us there promptly and right on time. He’s a wealth of knowledge about the trail and I have to say that our shuttle drive went by rather quickly because of this and we learned a few things along the way. He was great company and the drive was a great start to a wonderful hike!
We stashed food at Whitewater Falls where the Foothills Trail crosses 107. This is a fairly common place for people to stash half their food so it was well known to Jim. We used a 5 gallon bucket with a lid and hid it in the woods just over the hill from the pull-off at the trail crossing.
Jim pulled over at a lookout where we took some pictures of Lake Jocassee where we would actually hike past in about 4 or 5 days. It was a gorgeous view.
We arrived at Oconee State Park around 5’ish where we camped for the night. This was a great little campground and a pretty nice place to kick off our adventure. I reserved the campsite online which required a 2 night minimum. But, the ranger said if we would have just waited and paid for the campsite when we got there we could just paid for one night.
My overall take on the Foothills Trail is that it’s an excellent, well-maintained trail. Now, at the time we went there was still some trail blockages that we had to climb over. This was due to the hurricane last year which took down a lot of trees. There were a lot of trees that had already been cut and removed but still quite a few more that needed removed. This wasn’t a major problem for us at all and just added to the personality of the hike.
Litter on this trail is virtually non-existent until you get down by the river. Our first night campsite was next to a small trash pile from someone who left their sleep pad and a lot of supplies buried but it looked like a bear dug it up. It was pretty sad but fortunately people like this aren’t common on the trail. Another section was pretty bad as well and basically this trash heap consisted of two cheap poly tarps that were up as if someone was still camped there but it was obvious that no one was there. There were beer cans all around the tarps and downstream there was another pile of cans that had washed down from the campsite and got trapped in an eddy. There are several access roads at different locations on this trail so unfortunately you will get the worst trash within a mile radius of these roads. All in all it was still a very clean trail.
GEAR LIST FOR THIS TRIP
| FOOTWEAR/BACKPACKS/CONTENTS | WEIGHT OUNCES |
| SHOES/BOOTS NOT INCLUDED IN PACK WEIGHT | |
| VASQUE SCREE LOW SHOES | 36.00 |
| TREKKING POLES NOT INCLUDED IN PACK WEIGHT | |
| BLACK DIAMOND FL ULTRA DISTANCE TREKKING POLES | 16.00 |
| BACKPACKS | |
| ULA CIRCUIT BACKPACK | 41.60 |
| TENTS | |
| NEMO VEDA 1P TENT W/FOOTPRINT (NO LONGER AVAILABLE) | 39.00 |
| SLEEPING BAGS | |
| COLUMBIA LINER BAG | 10.20 |
| QUILTS | |
| ENLIGHTENED EQUIPMENT HOODLUM APEX 20-40 DEGREES 2.1 OZ | 2.10 |
| ENLIGHTENED EQUIPMENT REVELATION PRO 20 DEGREE QUILT W/STUFF SACK | 29.00 |
| SLEEPING PADS | |
| THERMAREST NEOAIR XLITE LARGE | 16.00 |
| THERMAREST RIDGEREST SOLITE REGULAR CUT DOWN TO 20X60 | 12.00 |
| TARPS | |
| SEA TO SUMMIT SILNYLON PONCHO TARP | 12.90 |
| FOOD | |
| 5 NIGHT FOOD – LOKSAK ODORPROOF BAG / ZPACKS BLAST FOOD BAG | 128.00 |
| BASICS | |
| BEAR BAG KIT-CORDAGE / BLACK DIAMOND NEUTRINO CARABINER | 4.50 |
| MINI COMPASS AND TEMP GAUGE | 0.70 |
| SAWYER FILTER MINI(2OZ), ONE SQUEEZE POUCH(1.5OZ), SCOOP CUP(2OZ) MESH BAG | 5.50 |
| SAFETY LANYARD – BG COMPACT SCOUT KNIFE/ADVENTURE MEDICAL RESCUE HOWLER/PICO LIGHT | 2.80 |
| TOILETRY KIT – MEDICINE/TOOTHBRUSH/TOOTHPASTE ETC IN OUTDOOR RESEARCH SMALL DRY DITTY SACK | 10.40 |
| FIRE KIT: DRYER LINT/LIGHTER/LIGHT MY FIRE FIRESTEEL | 2.80 |
| POTTY KIT – DEUCE OF SPADES, TOILET PAPER, HAND CLEANER BOTTLE/HOLDER IN NYLON SACK | 4.30 |
| CLOTHING | |
| WINTER CLOTHING BAG 5 NIGHT QUILT: (2 PR) WOOL SOCKS/MIDWEIGHT WOOL THERMAL BOTTOMS/(2 PR) DRYMAX HEAVY SOCKS/SHORTS/(2 TSHIRTS)/MISC. ITEMS IN ZPACKS MEDIUM PLUS PILLOW | 67.00 |
| EDDIE BAUER IGNITELITE HOODED JACKET | 13.00 |
| SEIRUS GLOVES WATERPROOF FLEECE LINED | 3.60 |
| NIKE RAIN PANTS | 12.40 |
| RAB LATOK GAITERS LOW | 5.50 |
Frogg Toggs Men’s Ultra Lite Rain Jacket, Blue, X-Large |
5.80 |
| ZPACKS CUBEN FIBER KILT | 1.20 |
| COOKING | |
| MSR SKILLET & FOLDING SPATULA | 5.40 |
| LARGE GSI FAIRSHARE MUG 2 32OZ/TOAKS TITANIUM POT/HOMEMADE PLASTIC CUP | 10.50 |
| MSR POCKET ROCKET STOVE | 3.10 |
| OPTIMUS LONG FOLDING SPOON | 0.80 |
| WATER BOTTLES – BLADDERS | |
| SOBE BOTTLE EMPTY | 1.50 |
| PLATYPUS 1 LITER SOFT BOTTLE EMPTY | 1.50 |
| LIGHTING | |
| BLACK DIAMOND STORM HEADLAMP IN HMG NANO CF8 CUBEN STUFF SACK W/EXTRA BATTERIES | 5.30 |
| LUMINAID PACKLITE NOVA | 5.00 |
| TOOLS | |
| LEATHERMAN TOOL | 5.30 |
| MISCELLANEOUS | 32.00 |
Bahco 396-LAP Laplander Folding Saw, 7-1/2 -Inch Blade, 7 TPI |
6.70 |
| EXTRAS | |
| CROCS SHOES | 14.60 |
| TOTAL SUM OF WEIGHT OUNCES | 522.00 |
| TOTAL SUM OF WEIGHT POUNDS | 32.63 |
I forgot my battery to recharge my phone so unfortunately I couldn’t do much reading on this trip. But I do purchase quite a few books from Kindle and usually read a bit at night. Especially on winter trips when everyone goes to bed early because it gets dark at 5:30!
Free Shipping on orders over $50! Click here for details.
GearTrade.com – Buy Gear Cheap. Sell Your Own Gear For Cash! Click Here for Details!!
Stocking Stuffers For Athletes At GUenergy.com
Just after we crossed the large suspension bridge we passed through a small park and immediately headed up Heartbreak Ridge. It was a pretty tough climb up 4×4 steps that are small. Once you get to the top you follow the ridge for a bit then drop down and cross a creek that opens up into some gorgeous campsites. This was a beautiful area.
The snow started on our sixth day. We woke up around 6am to the sound of snow-sleet pelting us – it wasn’t much and was very small. However, over the course of the day snow came down and we ended up with about 8 – 10 inches of snow at the upper elevations. As we descended the snow got wetter and I was soaked by the time I got to the bottom.
Cincinnati
Thank you for posting! Very informative. Can’t wait to hike this trail.
Strange, I didn’t get a notification that I received a comment so I’m sorry for taking so long to respond. This is a great trail although I want to hike it again in warmer weather like Spring or Fall.
Have a great trip.
You said you left food where the trail crossed 107, but on the map I have, it shows it is 281. I don’t even see a 107. We will use Taz for sure, we have heard a lot of great things about him! We plan to do this hike this coming fall. Thanks for all the info and great pics!
I thought it was 107 but I could be wrong. Looking at the map 281 makes more sense. I can picture the gravel lot and even the very log where we stashed the 5 gallon buckets but I couldn’t tell you now looking back if it was 107 or 281.
Say, if you like trails around that size you should check out the Timberline Trail in Oregon. It’s not loaded with extreme elevation change like the Wonderland Trail and is a decent hike. What’s even better is the lodge at the beginning and end of the hike.
Appreciate the comment and best of luck to you!
There is a road called 107, but it looks like it intersects the trail near Sloan Bridge. I think the one near Whitewater is 281. Regardless, it’s a very recognizable location if you choose to cache there.
BTW, thanks so much for posting all this information! It was really helpful when I hiked this trail for the first time last spring.
Right on that’s good to hear. I intend to go back and hike it again but in better weather.
If you like a good hike check out my hike from the Mt Rogers headquarters to Damascus. Great hike and easy to get a shuttle from one of the outfitters in Damascus. I love the Mt. Rogers and Grayson Highlands area and this hike went through some really gorgeous countryside. It’s around 63 miles and when you land in Damascus at the end you can eat a nice meal there or head to Abingdon for some great food. I would do this hike again too!
That’s funny, I literally just got back from Grayson Highlands this weekend! Will keep your recommendation in mind next time I’m planning a 50+ mile trek!
I’m heading out to hike the Devils Causeway – Chinese Wall in Colorado later this year. Should have some good pics afterwards.
Any good hikes coming up for you?