10 Reasons You SHOULD NOT Hike the Foothills Trail

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diciembre 13, 2025

Choose Your Own Adventure: The trail has several side quests to waterfalls and alternate endings that allow you to chart your own course, if you wish. For purists who must touch every fire on a road, this could create an existential crisis. It’s best to stick to the continuous trail and ignore distractions like the tallest waterfall east of the Rocky Mountains.

Well, seriously, though…

The Foothills Trail is a true gem of a hike and the trail volunteers are obviously proud of their work. This is a true Appalachian hike – you’ll get a green tunnel effect and the panoramic views are mostly at the end. But the devil is in the details, as I’ve already implied: sparkling rivers, interesting flora and, if you read one of my previous posts, potential interaction with a variety of wildlife.

If you want to hike this trail, I recommend doing it anytime between late September and April. You can hike this trail in the summer, if for some reason you feel like punishing yourself. Given the heat and humidity in the southeastern United States, hiking this trail in the shoulder seasons and winter is probably a much more pleasant and possibly safer option. Please note: It gets cold in the South Carolina mountains. I’m not saying throw away your common sense here, there’s plenty of opportunity for a middle ground between 95 degrees with 85% humidity and freezing rain with negative wind chills.

We completed this trail by walking west to east from Oconee State Park to Table Rock State Park, which seems to be the most popular direction. Hiking in this direction means that the easiest terrain is completed during the first day and the difficulty gradually increases as you get closer to Table Rock. It may be tempting to tackle the toughest terrain in one go, but friends, I wouldn’t want to climb Pinnacle Mountain and then Sassafras on my first day. I mean, do your own hike, but there’s no reason for you to hate yourself either.

The Foothills Trail social media pages are a great place to find local trail angels/shuttle drivers in addition to those from the agency. website. There are a few lodges in the area, but I can’t speak to them beyond their existence, as we opted for a hotel further down the road to break up our trips to and from the trail. Small regional airports in Asheville, North Carolina and Greenville, South Carolina, may be viable flight destinations. Charlotte International Airport and Atlanta International Airport are a 2-hour and 2.75-hour drive, respectively, from Table Rock State Park.

This trail is on FarOut and parts of it are also on AllTrails. Despite these electronic resources, I recommend purchasing the official guide from Foothills Trail Conservancy. In addition to providing financial benefits to the FTC, the printed copy of the guide provided valuable information about alternative access trails and access points that are not available in the applications.

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Many thanks to The Trek for the opportunity to share this adventure with other hikers. I hope you enjoyed following me! If you’re interested in reading about other adventures, generalized reflections on life, and the occasional fictional essay or poem, feel free to follow me on IG @notanotheroutdoorgirl or on Substack: NoOtherOutdoorGirl