Foothills Trail

The Foothills Trail roughly follows the NC/SC border. It crosses many rivers and streams. The area is an escarpment, where the land drops hundreds of feet, creating many waterfalls. The trail was built by Duke Power when they created Lake Jocassee by damming these rivers. We would hike about 35 miles over 5 days, from the Whitewater River where it is crossed by NC281 to the Laurel Valley Trail access near US 178. We would climb and descend about 10,000 feet over the 35 miles.

Saturday, June 22 -- I had arranged to have Headwaters Outfitters near Rosman, NC, drive us in our van to the start of the hike and then leave our van at the end of the hike. They charged $75. If we had a cell phone and called at the end for the van, it would have been $50. From Oconee State Park, we drove north on SC107 to SC413, turned right, drove about 2 miles to 281, turned left, drove about 10 miles to 64 (crossing the Whitewater River on the way), turned right, and drove about 10 miles to Headwaters Outfitters. We were right on time and they were ready for us. We backtracked to the Whitewater River. The girl shuttling our van, Christine, was very helpful. She reminded us to take maps, which I was going to forget, and she said she would put a cable lock on our kayaks.


The only real confusion over the trail was at the very beginning. We started down river left only to have the trail end. We went back to the bridge and found the trail on the river right side. We reached the overlook for Upper Whitewater Falls after about .5 mile.

Angie and Missy at Upper Whitewater Falls

Upper Whitewater Falls

We descended the steps to the river and crossed the first of many splendid bridges built by Duke Power. There were groups of people cooling off in the river.

We continued on, crossed Corbin Creek, and passed a group of about 10 boys. We would see no more people for two days. After about 2 miles we came to the spur trail to Lower Whitewater Falls. A few hundred yards further we arrived at our campsite. We set up camp and ate Ramen noodles with a can of chicken. We would never be far from water. We took a filter and never had trouble getting water. After dinner Angie and I took the spur trail to the lower falls.

Lower Whitewater Falls

Sunday, June 23 -- This would be another short day, about 5 miles. We crossed the Thompson River and Bearcamp Creek. Just after Bearcamp Creek, we took a spur trail to the left which led to Hilliard Falls. There was a nice campsite at the base of the falls. We were able to wash the trail grime off here and learned to play hangman with sticks. Dinner was tuna helper. I hiked to the top of the falls. The little creek comes to the edge and takes a plunge. It would be easy to go over the edge.

Hilliard Falls

Monday, June 24 -- It was time to get down to serious hiking. This would be an 11 mile day. The Foothills Trail is known for its steps, thousands of them. Switchbacks were starting to look good. We met a couple at the Horsepasture River who had kayaked in over Lake Jocassee. They took our picture as we crossed the Horsepasture River. Late in the day, we arrived at Cane Break, a boat access to the trail and campsite near the Toxaway River. Dinner this night and the next would be a repeat of the past two nights. The food was starting to get boring. Some juice mix might have helped. Everyday, breakfast was breakfast bars and lunch was gorp. We had tea and coffee also.

Tuesday, June 25 -- This would be another long day, 9 miles. Angie was trying out her new gps unit on this trip. It helped to take waypoints often to get accurate distances. We crossed the Toxaway River and Bear Creek early in the day. Later we came to Laurel Creek and Laurel Creek Falls. There was a plaque at the falls for a boy who had died there. The trail criss-crossed Laurel Creek many times. We camped at a large site just downstream from an unnamed falls.

Toxaway River	Laurel Creek Falls

Wednesday, June 26 -- We were ready to get back to civilization. So we knocked off the last 5 miles quickly. The last mile to the Laurel Valley Trail Access was almost all downhill. Our van was there waiting for us.