Hiking in Upstate South Carolina

• Foothills Trail - the flagship trail of this area. Built and maintained by Duke Power Company and the Foothills Trail Conference, this trail extends almost 80 miles from Oconee State Park to Jones Gap and Table Rock State Parks. Most sections can be day hiked with the exception being the section from Whitewater Falls to Laurel Valley. I have hiked it all and frequently pick a short section for a day hike. Try it out! Hiking Trails

• Mountain Bridge Trail System - associated with Caesar's Head and Jones Gap State Parks. There are 17 trails in this system and some of them are fairly new. This system has waterfalls, views, rivers, and almost any type of scenery that you would expect to see in this area. A nice color map is available at the park headquarters.

• Table Rock - several nice trails lead from Table Rock State Park including a connector (via Pinnacle Mountain) to the Foothills Trail. The best trail is the Table Rock Trail. It's only about 3.5 miles (one-way) but has an elevation change of 2,000 feet. Good practice (minus the snow and altitude) for some of the bigger mountains out West.

• Whitewater Falls - without question, one of the most spectacular falls in the Southeast. Take SC 130 out of Salem or off Hwy 11 and continue until it turns into NC 281 (Whitewater Falls Road). The road to the falls is on the right if you are going North. A paved trail leads from the parking lot for a view of the falls. A better view is a few hundred feet down the Foothills Trail. Continue to the river and see the nice steel span bridge at the bottom. Be careful off the trail...this falls has claimed many lives. To see Lower Whitewater Falls, take the turn into the Bad Creek Project (sign-in at the gate) and go to the Foothill Trail parking lot and hike the trail (maybe 4 miles round trip).

12:50 - 2008-Sep-23 - post comment

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