Foothills Trail Thru-Hike Days One and Two!
The initial post detailing my first two days in the land of waterfalls.
The glow of my headlamp illuminated a five-foot beam ahead of me as I hiked; beyond that, I didn’t know what existed. After having already traversed 20 miles that day and the sun having already set hours ago, the chill of winter’s breath was thick and heavy around me. With each humbling step forward, over jagged roots and across slick wooden bridges below a clear stary night, I softly whispered, “I can do hard things…I can do hard things.” Over and over. My persistent and stubborn body let me know that I was pushing myself too far by gifting me a migraine above my right eye. But I couldn’t stop yet, I had three more miles until I’d get to camp. “Just one more hour,” I pleaded. “I can get there.”
Day One
Judging by the title of this post, you can assume that I have survived my Foothills Trail thru-hike and that I have lived to now tell the tail! Over the course of the five-day excursion, a lot of things happened. A lot of emotions were felt, a lot of angry Callie moments were had, and a lot of beautiful waterfalls were seen. I can’t possibly describe everything that occurred in one post, so I’m going to be breaking the trip report up into small chunks. For this one, let’s start at the very beginning.
On the morning of January 8th, I woke up early to make the four hour drive from Kentucky to the Table Rock State Park trailhead where the Foothills trail ends (or begins depending on each way you hike). The plan was to hike eastbound starting at Oconee County State Park. There are a few advantages to going in this direction. The first ten miles or so beyond the Table Rock trailhead can be gnarly with two of the highest climbs on the entire trail being right off the bat. When starting at Oconee, you get to ease into the many ups of downs of the trail first and then tackle the steepest parts at the end.
Pre-Trail Catastrophes
Upon arriving at Table Rock, I purchased my parking permit from the visitor’s center and drove to the trailhead. Once there, I got my pack organized like I wanted it and then ate some overnight oats while I waited for my shuttle driver to come pick me up. The plan was pretty standard; leave my truck at the end, be shuttled to the start, and then hike back. Easy peasy! I had never done something like that before and was a little nervous to be in the car with a stranger for an hour. Murder or kidnapping was a concern, but I was mostly worried about the conversations we would have and whether it would be awkward (thanks social anxiety and introvertism).
My scheduled pick-up time was 11 am. But soon, 11 am came and went without a word or a sighting of my shuttle driver. At first, I just thought he was late. When the driver wasn’t responding to my texts after 30 minutes, my anxiety started to escalate and I wasn’t sure what to do next. My mind raced, knowing that I was on a slight time crunch to hike a decent amount of miles that day before dark. I also didn’t have a backup plan and was hundreds of miles away from anyone I knew.
By noon, I abandoned all hope of the driver showing up and decided to contact someone else from the Foothills Trail Conservancy website. By some miracle from the Trip Planning Gods, the first person I reached out to was able to come and get me in an hour. The ride was not as bad as I thought it would be, socially speaking. Jamie, the driver, was incredibly nice and I could not thank him enough for going out of his way to help a franticly desperate hiker like me.
After that emotionally charged fiasco, it was such a huge relief to be hiking. I managed to do 8 miles that day and only ended up having to hike a few of them in the dark to get to my campsite. Nothing too notable stands out in my mind about that section of trail other than having the opportunity to get a feel for what the hike would be like. So far, I encountered gentle switchbacks and soft inclines. With it being winter, most of the trees were naked with the ground covered in their leaves. Everything was very wet as well. It rained throughout the night, but even before then, I noticed how the entire surrounding forest seemed damp and musky.
Once at camp, I took no time to cook my Patagonia Provision dinner and get settled in my sleeping bag. Falling asleep to the sound of rain pelting my tent was the last thing I remember…as well as feeling my sleeping pad deflate every 30 minutes throughout the night. Fun, fun times.
Day Two
For my second day on the trail, I decided to hike more than I originally planned in order to make up for the miles I didn’t hike the day before. 20 miles was the goal, so with that in mind, I got up well before sunrise in order to knock some of it out early on. With my Outdoor Herbivore cold oatmeal in hand, I marched out into the morning with both excitement and a little fear. I honestly wasn’t sure how my body was going to respond to the higher mileage. I’ve done plenty of 20+ mile days before, but not in a long time.
I am an anxious person, I know this about myself. I also know that it’s easy for me to overcomplicate things. So, for the majority of the morning, I tried really hard to hone in on putting one foot in front of the other and not future-tripping about what was ahead of me. Reminding myself that these hikes are not a race and that I am out there for fun can be a challenge sometimes. However, it can help to slow things down and break the day into smaller goals to refrain from getting too overwhelmed by something as daunting as the space between you and the next campsite.
Most of that day was spent hiking along the Chattooga River, which was so incredibly stunning in every way. My first goal was to get through this section, but because it was just so sinking pretty, it took me a while to move through it without stopping to take pictures of literally everything. There were parts of the river with large slabs of exposed rock where you could go out and stand in the middle of the remarkable scene. With the water rushing around you, the sun warming the mountains around, and the vibrant green trees collectively teetering with each breath of wind, it was hard to pick up the pace for fear of missing more from something this beautiful.
Before lunch, I also had my first waterfall sighting at Kings Creek. I doubted for a moment if taking the 0.2 mile side trail to see the falls would be worth it. However, once I got there, I realized just how wrong I was to even question why that wouldn’t be a good idea. I mean, come on! With the previous night’s rain, the 65 foot masterpiece was gushing, standing regal and tall among the surrounding cliffs. Moments like these make me feel so small but in the best way possible.
After a hummus wrap with chips for lunch, I began climbing up away from the Chattooga River and walked along the steep sides of the hills around. Soon, I reached the North Carolina/South Carolina border, which was super exciting! The Foothills Trail begins and ends in South Carolina, but does occasionally dip into North Carolina at various points. I celebrated for a moment and then moved on because I knew I still had a ways to go. From that point, after consulting FarOut, I realized that I would have to do a little more than 20 miles. Once I entered the Whitewater section, the next approved campsite was five miles away. At the rate I was going, I knew that in order to get to that specific campsite and meet my milage goals, I would have to hike in the dark for a couple of hours.
And that’s exactly what happened. Night hiking makes me a little uneasy sometimes, but usually, I’m able to get more into a steady groove because I can only see so far in front of me with my headlamp. The temperature plummeted and soon I could see my breath as I huffed up each incline. The sky was also so clear; I could see endless stars throughout the galaxy and beyond. As I surpassed 20 miles and started feeling my body protest with the tension headache setting in, I couldn’t help but feel so happy to be there. It sucked. I was tired, and my feet and shoulders ached more than they have in a long time. But it was also one of those moments where that didn’t matter. I was right where I belonged.
Thanks so much for reading and stay tuned for days three and four to come next Tuesday! I also made a video that goes along with this post, so be sure to check it out. It is located at the end of this post!