My LONGEST and HARDEST Adventure: The Foothills Trail

We hiked 53 miles of the Foothills Trail for my 53rd birthday

I had no idea how much harder hiking the foothills was going to be compared to hiking Florida. I should have known, but I was too excited! We have been hiking for months in Florida! The trails around here are flat. Completely flat. Climbing the foothills was an entirely new skill set for me. Don’t forget, I also spent the six weeks prior to this hike unable to exercise. So I should have been in no way surprised by the challenges I experienced on the Foothills Trail.

So how DID I prepare, you ask? Well, I did get to walk in my hiking shoes for a week prior to the hike. So at least my shoes were broken in. AND I had been walking with my backpack on for a few days, but it was NOT fully loaded with food. When we finally packed everything on Friday night, my pack weighed 27 pounds. I knew it was a lot, but I hadn’t done any ups or downs or OVERS yet. I had three goals for the week: celebrate my birthday, get my pack signed by someone who had done the Appalachian Trial, and finish the Foothills Trail.

And now, let the tales of my every day adventures on the Foothills Trail begin!

Friday, March 15th

We drove from South Florida to North Carolina, stopping for a few things at REI and Kroger before we got to the FUN tiny-container-home we stayed in that night. (More on that in another post.) When we arrived, we took all of our worldly goods for the next week and laid them out all over our tiny home. Bill was packing like a well-oiled machine because he had done this before, while I was completely lost. I wanted to bring EVERYTHING. But that would have made my backpack about 50 pounds. Bill had purchased two Bear Canisters, so we put half of our food in the extra canister and left it in the woods at Bad Creek to pick up half way through the hike. This ended up being a brilliant plan, except for one thing: I didn’t pack some important food items. (That will ALSO end up being another blog post.) By the time we finished packing, it was midnight, and we crashed into bed.

Saturday, March 16th

When we got up the next morning the sun was peaking over the hills. It was breathtaking. Hoisting our packs on our backs, we checked out and headed to the car to hide our Bear Canister with the food for the second half of the trip. Bill expected us to get to this stop about halfway through our hike, hopefully on day three. At noon we drove to Oconee State Park to start hiking the Foothills Trail Eastbound.

Rain jacket, long sleeve cotton shirt, short sleeve cotton shirt, tank top, biker shorts, rain pants: these are the layers I started the hike in at 12:30pm . The hiking weather was predicted to be in the 60s for the entire week, but Mother Nature is a fickle woman who provided me a starting day hike with a high of 87 degrees. Hiking uphill and downhill was new to me, and I was a dripping sweat. The salt made my eyes feel like they were on fire. A sweat towel is ALWAYS part of my exercise routine, but I didn’t even consider that I would be sweating on this FREEZING COLD hike. The joke was on me.

Two miles in, I had to peel off all but my bottom layer. Thankfully, Bill did too. I immediately felt lighter and full of vigor. Start cold is permanently my motto when hiking (even in Florida where this may require me to start with an ice pack under my hat.) Once we got back under way, we hiked 8.1 miles and stopped for the night at Campsite Beside the Creek. I know that doesn’t sound like a lot of miles, and I was feeling a bit down on myself until I realized that I had NEVER walked with 27 pounds on my back before. If you have no idea what 27 pounds feels like, hoist a three year old child up on your back and give him or her a ride for 8.1 miles and that will give you a better idea. Exhausting.

8.1 miles Lick Log Camp Site

When we got to camp, Bill lit our campfire, and we shared a camp meal. Another first: the freeze dried meal. I was starving, and the oatmeal-like curry hit the spot. No idea if it was chicken, beans, or veggies. Just salty, curried oatmeal. After dinner, Bill went and hung my bear bag. For the non-hikers who are reading: you put all food stuff and any personal items that have scent in a large sack that is hung up in a tree above the reach of the bears. This keeps the bears away from you. I liked that idea. I was tired, but not so tired that I’d sleep next to a bear. I blew up my sleeping pad and got my blanket ready for bedtime.

Suddenly, my phone rang, nature was calling. Using the rest room in the woods is like riding a bike. Once you find the tree size and shape you like, it’s a piece of cake. Well, not exactly, but you get the idea. Dig your cat hole, hold tight to your tree, squat, and throw dirt like a cat. Done. This sounds simple, but when looking over your shoulder for bears, checking your legs for spiders, and trying to get your trousers back up quickly, it ain’t easy or quick. Sheesh.

I returned to camp, brushed my teeth and slid under my blanket. Hiker midnight is when the sun sets. On my first night sleeping in a tent since I was 18, I slept like a baby. Until my phone rang again. Yep, out into the pitch darkness I went. Thankfully, Bill had given me the low down on what to do when nature calls at night. I had my headlamp and gear right beside me in the tent. This time, it was quick and painless. But wet and cold. The tent collects condensation on the inside that pours down on you when you unzip the tent to get out. I fell asleep as soon I was back down on my mat. What bears?

Sunday, March 17th

The singing birds woke me up in the morning, along with the gentle sun shining through the tent. I WAS SORE. This was as bad as the day after my one-and-only marathon. AND the temperature was much colder this morning, in the 40s. Cold + sore muscles = STIFF JOINTS. Still in the tent and half-asleep, I attempted some of my morning yoga routine to stretch out my muscles from the ups and downs yesterday. I started my yoga routine BEFORE deflating my sleeping mat. That was amusing. I rolled around like a baby in a playpen. Once I deflated my sleeping mat, I had better success doing yoga.

Bill has a solid morning routine from his three hundred miles on the Appalachian Trail last year. I didn’t have my bearings yet as a hiker, much less a routine. But I did manage to get my clothes on and get out of the tent after doing part of my yoga routine. Bill had gotten coffee ready, and once I had a cup I started to figure out what I needed to do. Breakfast, tree, brush teeth, pack again. After all these were taken care of, we hiked out. Bill is unendingly patient. Thankfully. Because I was S L O W as a tortoise.

Yoga and breakfast helped me get moving (I was still bleary-eyed exhausted), but seeing our first BIG waterfall invigorated me! I chattered Bill’s ear off after we saw it, making plans to camp there in the summer and play in the cool water. At 40 degrees, playing in the water was not appealing at that moment. But it might have really woken me up. Hmmm. Hind sight is always 20/20.

We hiked up and down the beautiful foothills of North Carolina all day. Bill taught me how to properly use my trekking poles to help myself on the ups. It is a bit like skiing when going uphill. You dig your poles in and lean forward when going up the hills. Downhill, you use them as stoppers, which is like nothing I have ever seen in my life. You basically stab the ground in front of you to keep yourself from going too fast down the hill and taking a tumble. So, I would gain momentum on the downs and use that to help me get up the hills on the ups. This is exhausting, but it does work. By the end of the day, Bill told me I was looking like a pro. He is not only patient, but also kind.

15.5 Burrell’s Ford Campsites

We stopped because there was a PERFECT campsite on the creek WITH A PRIVY. Meaning: I didn’t have to use a tree tonight when my phone rang. We picked our campsite and set up the tent. Then off to find the privy we went. Campsites come in several models: basic, economy and deluxe. We were currently in an economy campsite, but Bill saw a deluxe campsite was available next to ours. So what, you ask, is included in a basic campsite. Nothing. There is nothing at a basic campsite. You have what you bring and that is all. At an economy campsite you have a fire ring, which is a bunch of rocks in a circle. BUT the deluxe campsite has a fire ring, a picnic table, and sometimes a hanger for your clothes to dry on. This deluxe campsite had it ALL! So Bill picked up our tent, and he walked it over to the new campsite.

We enjoyed some fresh food for dinner here. I brought a sweet potato and chili and cooked them on the fire in a pouch I made of aluminum foil. It smelled delicious, but-as I tend to do-I burned it. Black as coal. Charbroiled sweet potatoes. There were a few non-charred sweet potato cubes, so I gave them to Bill. And he made no complaints. As I said, he is kind.

After dinner, we took our dishes to the river to wash up in the Chatooga River. I had no idea how I was going to scrub them without a dish sponge, but Bill taught me. He had me find a little pine branch and use the needles as a scrub brush. Worked like magic. Pot was clean as a whistle. I also did a bit of laundry in the river. It was getting dark, and I had decided-worst-case-scenario-I would just have to put on wet clothes in the morning. That would have been better than the wet-dog-scented clothes I had been wearing for sure. I don’t know when I cuddled up with a wet dog, but it must have happened somewhere because that’s what my clothes smelled like.

Tonight, I was wide awake. So we made a campfire, and I read some of Walt Whitman’s poems aloud while my shorts for the next day dried on a stump beside me. It was definitely the best night of the trip. I don’t know that I will ever pack an entire book again. They are heavy. But for this trip, it made for a highlight!

Monday, March 18th

Remember that we upgraded to the Deluxe Suite yesterday. Well that made the morning routine so much easier. I had a TABLE to put my pack and worldly goods on. I had a wide clearing where I could do my adapted morning yoga routine. I tested out putting my coffee IN my breakfast to speed things along, and it WORKED. We were out on time. And I knew how to hike. So today was going to be easy. Famous. Last. Words.

There were a LOT of ups as we climbed Mount Rest. Whoever named this mountain was hilarious. Probably slapping his knee as he wrote the name on the map. I huffed and puffed my way up the mountain side. And then we arrived at the notorious stairs we had read about. Word on the street is there are 1000s of stairs on the Foothills Trail. I had not seen any until this moment. And I was tired BEFORE I started climbing them. They seemed to go up endlessly, but it did end. And then you had to DESCEND the stairs. Which was worse. Much worse. They were wet and slippery. Yes, you guessed it. I took my first tumble going down these stairs.

Just in case you had forgotten. I had just gotten out of my cast for my broken foot DAYS before this. So my foot was ANGRY when I fell. I sat and cooled down for a few minutes. Then off we went again. We had broken camp near another camper that morning and watched him hike off in front of us. Lo and behold, here he comes back toward us. We said hi, and kept hiking. Bill got ahead of me, because I was erring on the side of caution with my steps since my little spill on the steps. We hiked up and up, and I could hear a waterfall in the distance. I was excited to see another waterfall, so that helped spur me on despite my fears. Until, I got to a tree as big around as three grown men, lying across the trail. It had a notch cut out for a person to slide through to continue down the path. I deeply regret not taking picture of it. I looked at this and sat on the ground to ponder what to do. When I looked up at the fallen tree, I noticed a hand hold on the side. This gave me some confidence to try to get through. I took my pack off and put it on the other side. Then, unencumbered, I grabbed the hand hold and squeezed myself through the carved out segment of the tree. I was bear hugging the tree. I was an actual tree-hugger. And much to my surprise, as I hugged the tree I felt a hand hold on the other side of the tree too. So I used the other hand hold to pull myself to the other side. After extracting myself from inside this huge tree, and with much relief, I hoisted my pack back up and continued hiking. The trip to the waterfall included hiking over some HUGE rocks and roots, but I made it. The biggest happy tears of the trip happened right there at King Falls.

The temperatures dropped all day, and we were supposed to have the coldest night of our trip that night. The rest of the day was just ups, downs and stairs, in different mixtures. I had become a pro at finding and filtering water, answering Nature’s call, and making snacks while walking. We made it to the NC/SC border, and I did my first border shot! That Maker’s Mark went down SMOOTH after nearly 30 miles of hiking.

It was too cold to stay still for long, so we booked it to our camp site. The camp site was on the top of a mountain that had just had a controlled burn and everything was black. The wind was starting to whip, but we were somewhat protected by a grove of trees on one side. We got into the tent as soon as it was up and ate snacks for dinner because we were too tired and cold to cook. Bill scurried out to hang the bear bag, and we were asleep before the sun set.

25.3 miles NC/SC State Line Camp Site

Tuesday, March 19th

We woke up the next morning and stayed in the tent until 10am when the temperature rose above freezing. Quick breakfast and repack, then we hoofed it out to try to catch up on the miles that we had lost that morning. I was surprised that my muscles were getting less sore, not my foot so much. But some improvement is better than none.

We had to go get the second-half of our food hidden in the woods at Bad Creek Junction too, so we had a lot of hiking to do. Bill got us to Bad Creek and back on our path to the next camp site, but my foot was getting really sore. We spent the afternoon walking along the Whitewater River, which was beachy and beautiful. It had warmed up nicely, so at least we weren’t freezing at this point.

Bill found me a nearby campsite, so I could get off my foot. We had to fill up on water before we got to our camp because it was a dry camp site (I haven’t explained water filtering either: that is for another post). This meant climbing down to a water source after a LONG hiking day. After encouraging and helping me all day, Bill took both of our waters and filled them. He is a gentleman.

34.7 Dry Boy Scout Camp Site

That night my foot was not too happy. But we ate freeze dried chicken and dumplings, and they were remarkably tasty. After doing our nightly routine and getting our bear canisters out for the night. We cuddled up and slept like babies. The sun set on one side of us and rose on the other in the morning. It was breathtaking.

Wednesday, March 20th

It was freezing this morning, but I was bound and determined to start cold. And going around the warm side of the mountain, I was cold, which was perfect. When we got to the shady side of the mountain, I was freezing. This is hiking. We made it to the Half-Way Point this morning. After lots more painful ups and lots more painful downs on my sore foot, Bill found a camp site called the Sore Foot Camp Site, with a cold, cold creek for me to soak my foot in.

42.6 Sore Foot Camp Site by Bear Creek

We set up camp early, and I washed clothes and soaked my foot in the creek. It was heavenly. But I wasn’t sure how much further I was going to make it. We decided to play it by ear the next day.

Thursday, March 21st Happy Birthday to ME!

I woke up feeling better. Bill gave me my birthday gift, a keychain with medallions commemorating our adventures. The Foothills Trail included. Unfortunately, we knew we needed to figure out a way to get off the trail early. I wasn’t going to make it 77 miles. So Bill analyzed the map and found a potential bail out site. We had to hike to Toxaway Camp Site about six miles away. Then the next day, we would hike five more miles up to the Canebrake Trail Parking Lot, as long as we could locate someone to pick us up. There was nothing to do but get going, so that is what we did.

It was a beautiful hike, a slow hike. We finally got to see the famous Oconee Bells that we had be told about at the beginning of our hike. They were breathtaking. A perfect birthday gift.

Sadly, it was another day of hellacious stairs. When the hike was over, I was elated. That is all I have to say about that day’s hike.

48.5 Toxaway Camp Sites

But I made it to camp by late afternoon, and we got to go play in the river. Fully clothed, I took a dip in it. The freezing water mitigated my foot pain quickly. After our excursion to the river we set up camp and made a friend, Mex Buckeye. He had done the Appalachian Trial years earlier, and so I got my backpack signed for the first time that day. It was shaping up to be a great 53rd birthday. At the very end of the day, Bill surprised me with a last birthday gift. Avemar is the name of our home. It means sea bird. He got me a locket with a compass on this inside and a sea bird engraved on the outside. I cried more happy tears.

We hung out at the campfire and heard all about Mex Buckeye’s AT Hike. He was an inspiration. He had done the trail in his 60s, and now in his 70s was hiking the Foothills Trail for the second time. Bill’s niece, Madison, connected us with Taz, a Foothills Trail driver who Mex Buckeye knew, and we had a ride back tomorrow. So with that settled, we went to our tent for our last night on the Foothills Trail.

I couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed that I wasn’t going to be able to finish the trail. But when Bill tallied up our miles, we realized that-if I made it through tomorrow’s hike-I would have hiked 53 miles for my 53rd birthday. And THAT was the best birthday gift of all. I was overwhelmed with gratitude. We slept peacefully that night. Nature left me alone until the morning, and this camp site had a BRAND NEW privy. Clean and fresh.

Friday, March 22nd

The last day of hiking dawned cold again. But following the mantra, I started cold, and it was a beautiful hike. Knowing I was about to get off my foot helped, but this was also a day WITHOUT any stairs. Mex Buckeye decided to join us and dip out of the Foothills Trail early. He felt like meeting us was a sign to take it easy. He and Bill had a blast sharing AT stories, and I had a quiet hike mostly alone. I took some amazing photos of nature with Bill’s camera (This will also be in another post). I love the silence of hiking. Just you and your footsteps for hours. And the birds sometimes. It’s meditative. I have had a growing peace inside me for several years now, and I felt it expand again on that last hike. I am at peace. My 53rd year is going to be full of peaceful adventures.

I achieved two of my three goals for this trip. Bill was so proud of me. He beamed! I had hiked-just off a broken foot-and made it 53 miles. We will be coming back to finish the Foothills Trail in the fall. I can’t imaging how the blazing fall colors will enhance this already breathtaking hike. But I will be ready. I have been training since March, and by the fall I will hike all 77 miles with ease! Another everyday adventure awaits.

53.7 Cane Break Trial to Gorges State Park Frozen Creek Access for pick up