Foothills Trail Thru-Hike Day Five!
The last day on the trail and I may have possibly had a Bigfoot encounter? Read to find out
On the last day of my trip, I woke up to a densely foggy forest with only the soft pitter-patter of rain droplets filling the silence around me. It was 5 am, but despite the early start time, I was wide awake and eager to knock out the last few miles of trail and make it to my truck by noon. Ahead of me lay a 3-mile mostly uphill march toward the summit of Sassafras Mountain (the highest point in South Carolina at 3,553ft). I’ve completed other state high points before, so it was exciting to add another one to the list. With everything that’s kept me alive over the past five days shoved back into my pack, I aimed my headlamp toward the trail ahead of me and hiked on.
The trail was sopping wet with slippery leaves covering the ground and the surrounding mist that cloaked the air made it hard to see even three feet in front of me. I spent most of the morning just trying to avoid accidentally losing the trail. As I got closer to the summit, something sort of strange happened and I’m still not quite sure how to make sense of it today. I was hiking up one of the switchbacks leading to the top of the mountain when I heard someone or something walking around in the thick underbrush a few yards away. At first, I thought it sounded like another hiker, but as I got closer I figured it was just some animal poking around. I remember slowing down and just trying to point my headlamp toward its direction, but with the fog, I couldn’t see anything. I took another step and suddenly I heard a huge crash as this animal tore down the mountainside at top speed.
I hiked further up the trail confirming that whatever this was had to be a deer because I startled it so quickly. That and I wasn’t sure what else in the woods could move that fast. However, not even a minute later, I heard the same leaf shuffling/footsteps again close to my right. At that point, I was getting a little on edge and couldn’t think of an animal that could travel back toward me just a few seconds later. My mind raced; mountain lion, bear, Bigfoot? Or was it simply just a squirrel, opossum, or raccoon that was in the same area where the deer took off? Yet, the movements sounded so similar to footsteps. I’m not exactly sure, but I hiked faster away from whatever it was and just tried to forget it. If anyone has any other ideas as to what else this thing could have been, let me know in the comments!
I reached the summit of Sassafras Mountain just as it was starting to get lighter. Unfortunately, because of all the mist, I literally couldn’t see anything. I know there had to be a really awesome view, so it sucked not to see it. However, at the same time, I wasn’t too disappointed. I stood on top of the observation tower and looked out into the expansive white mass of fog, musing about the last few days and feeling a bunch of conflicted feelings.
During the last ten miles of the trail, I hiked and felt so incredibly ready to be done. But then a minute later, I’d look around at the mountains that have taught me so much and I’d get a little teary-eyed at the thought of driving away from it all. This part of backpacking never really made a lot of sense to me. While every step felt excruciating on tired feet and my shoulders felt painfully numb from the weight of my pack, I still didn’t want to leave. A warm bed and shower waiting for me at a hotel I booked in Greenville was calling to me like a siren song. Something I craved so badly, but also something that I knew would take me far away from the backcountry for an undetermined amount of time. Back to civilization, to school, to work, to “real” life.
Was this all just an escape? Was this thru-hike selfishly designed to inconvenience others while I took pleasure in having a break from reality? Was I running away from something? I’m not sure I have all the answers to these questions yet, but I like to think that this hike wasn’t meant to escape anything. I can find Callie in my life back home. I can see glimpses of her when I’m around the people I love the most and when I take care of and nourish her properly. Yet, when I’m hiking in the woods far away from that life, I feel like we are one in the same again. I’ve tried to translate this feeling into my off-trail life, but I haven’t been fully successful. I’m not sure I ever will.
By the time I made it back to my truck, I was all smiles. For the first time in a long time, I was truly proud of what I had just accomplished and it felt good. It felt good to feel appreciative of what I had done. I hiked all 77 miles of the Foothills trail and while there were plenty of rough moments, I stuck through it and made it back to Table Rock State Park.
From there, I took pleasure in peeling off five days’ worth of sweat, grime, and all sorts of grossness that had seeped into my clothes from my body and changed into something ultra comfy. 45 minutes later, I was checked into my hotel room where the shower and bed were there as promised. I may or may not have eaten an entire pizza while watching Animal Planet later and then passed out to the glow of the tv set. Isn’t civilization glamorous? The next day I traveled back to Kentucky and spent the following week or so processing the entire trip.
It was really fun and I learned a lot while I was out there. I may dive deeper into that for a future post but for now, I’ve just been relishing the journey I went on and have naturally already started dreaming of the next one. Am I crazy? I am crazy.
Thanks for reading along on these Foothills Trail trip reports over the past couple of weeks! I hope you enjoyed them. More content will be coming your way next week! Like before, I have linked the day five video down below if you would like to watch it.
See you out on the trail!