2018 Foothills Trail Run

I've seen fire and I've seen rain...
James Taylor - 1993

Less than a week after the Mount Mitchell Challenge, I got an e-mail (or maybe it was a text) from Dennis and Brian about running the Foothills Trail in upstate SC. I had just recently heard about the Trail from Darlene and knew almost nothing about it. Brian wanted to run the full 77 miles of the trail, having hiked it two years ago. Dennis wasn't sure what his plans, distance-wise, were and I could choose some or all. With only three people involved and limited access points, it basically came down to whether I wanted to run 28 miles (to where my car would be) or 77. After getting the go-ahead from my wife Leslie--it only cost me a Kiawah weekend--I told them I'd join the run.

There is a website dedicated to people who complete the trail non-stop (no camping, etc...) here and a closed facebook group here. We looked at the times of people we knew listed on the website and thought we had a pretty good idea of what sort of time we could expect. The only problem was that it didn't indicate what level of support they had or which direction they went. Actually, it did indicate direction, but we didn't notice the coding system at the time. Our west-to-east attempt would have my car near Whitewater Falls at mile 28 with food, water, and gear for the night. Brian put out a "bear canister" at mile 62 with food and dry clothing for him and Dennis. I would have my water filter and Brian was bringing bleach so we could drink from the creeks along the way.

In hindsight, maybe our plan for the start wasn't ideal. We couldn't get a permit at Table Rock State Park (the finish) until 9:00 a.m. and then began the shuttle to Oconee State Park to get an additional permit for parking there. 

Me and Dennis at Oconee (Note fire in the background)

Around 10:20 a.m., we pulled into Oconee and Brian went in to get the permit. We then drove to the parking area at the western terminus of the Foothills Trail. As we pulled in, we noticed they were doing a controlled burn near the parking area. Thinking nothing of it, we unloaded, geared up, and went over to the informational kiosk to have our picture made--as shown on the right. Submitting pictures at locations along the way is required to get listed on the Foothills Trail sub-36 hour finishers website. We walked to the trail head and were greeted by one of the rangers, leaning against his fire rake and smiling a little too much.

Seeming to relish an opportunity to exert his authority, he told us "not today, guys" as they were (obviously) doing a controlled burn. He and another ranger said we could go down to where the trail meets Highway 107--mile 4.6--and start there. They could have told us this when we got the permit or at least as they watched us put on our packs, but there was no way around it. The first few miles of the Foothills Trail were off limits on this day. Walking back to the car, we began to notice that it really was a much bigger burn area than it first appeared. One of the rangers said it would be 1000 acres in total. Dejected, but not defeated, we headed out of the Park, but not until after checking for (and not finding) a possible connector trail within the State Park that would bypass the fire and get us onto the Foothills Trail.

With no other options, we parked at mile 4.6. To allow us to at least travel the actual distance of the Foothills Trail, we ran on the Trail back towards Oconee for 2.3 miles, then doubled back and ran toward Table Rock State Park. Our 2.3 mile run towards Oconee did not get us back into the State Park or anywhere near the fire.

After the 4.6 mile out-and-back, we were again at Dennis's car and ready to head onward. There was now a state van with a trailer here as well and we wondered if a work crew might be out on the trail. I can't go into a mile-by-mile replay of the run because we were talking a lot and while I got to enjoy the views, I'm not sure I can recall where on the run we encountered them.

Early on, we dealt with smoke from the prescribed burn at Oconee, the cool temperatures were pushing it down into the valleys. It was fairly significant in terms of air quality, but visability was certainly not an issue. The Foothills Trail is very well blazed with white rectangles, just like the Appalachian Trail. The only complaint we had about the blazes was that their double blaze that indicates a turn was vertical, whereas trails like our MST angle the stacked blazes in the direction of the upcoming turn. That said, there were very few instances in the 77 miles where it wasn't pretty obvious which way the Trail turned.

After a few hours, we encountered a solo hiker coming toward us. After we told him about the prescribed burn--in case he was headed all the way to Oconee, he told us that he had noticed the smoke but also said it was better where he had just come from, so it looked like we would not be breathing it all day. I was very relieved when just a few minutes later, we found that he was correct. It had been bad enough that if I was still breathing it by the time we reached my car at mile 28, I knew I was going to quit.

Mile 17 - Dennis and Brian Heading To Sloan Bridge

We spent a lot of time early on running beside the Chattooga River, making Deliverance references, and just enjoying a nice day. The temperatures were mild, maybe reaching into the 50s and now that we'd left the smoke behind, everything was going well. Eventually, we came upon the last people we'd see on the Trail. Coming towards us was a group from Western Carolina University. It looked like it was possibly a backpacking class as they were mostly younger, college age hikers. We decided that they were likely headed to the van we saw parked by Dennis's car back where we started our adventure.

The trail is very nice on this end with lots of creeks and bridges. We did not count, but there must be 200+ bridges along the entire trail, ranging from simple two-board footbridges to steel-cabled suspension bridges. Even though it felt like we were moving quickly, it took us much longer than anticipated to reach my car at mile 28. Seven hours had passed and we were not terribly far from nightfall. The late start and slower pace had us cutting it too close because the only lights we currently carried were our cell phones.

Mile 28 - TRU Shirts Were Popular on this Run.

The pit stop at my car was a big one as we filled up on fresh water, changed shirts, got our lights and more food, and grabbed some rain gear. We had heard there was a chance of rain later in the evening, though how much, showers or drizzle, wasn't very clear. So I had a decision to make. Do I carry my bulkier but waterproof Brooks jacket, or my extremely lightweight but only water resistant Patagonia. I went with the latter, backed up with my long-sleeve Grindstone running shirt and a spare short sleeved shirt in a ziplock bag. For safety, I also threw in two large handwarmers. I think Brian mentioned he threw a solar blanket into his pack, just in case things went horribly wrong in the coming miles.

Saying goodbye to the car and hoping it was safe alone in this gravel, roadside parking lot, we headed back into the woods. It would be almost 50 miles until we saw another car--Brian's--at Table Rock State Park. We were now committed, unless someone decided to turn around and go back to my car relatively soon. Everyone felt really good and we now all had our trekking poles. I had been carrying mine from the start because I wanted to practice with them. I'll pause here to mention that I had severely underestimated the value of these poles. Not only did they help greatly with technical climbs and descents, they even help propel you on flat surfaces--I used them like I was cross-country skiing. They are confidence boosting as well as energy saving. Dennis would later comment that they had really helped him take pressure of his knee and hip.

Whitewater Falls

As it grew darker, we powered up the headlamps. Dennis and Brian both had high powered lights that lit up the trail like a car headlamp. I brought my less powerful Tikka RXP, but since I couldn't find my spare battery for it, I had to bring an additional headlamp as backup. I like the Tikka because if its beam overlaps another beam, it automatically dims to save battery life. Once night fell, we could hear, but no longer really see the waterfalls around us nor the views. We briefly had a view of the stars--notably the Orion constellation, but then clouds covered the sky as the night wore on.

On the right is the only picture I took along the trail, aside from pictures of us at various checkpoints. You can barely make out Whitewater Falls in the upper left, through the trees. Let's just say the picture doesn't do it justice. The upper portion is in NC and drops 411' and the lower section is in SC and drops another 400'. There is an access spur trail we didn't take that gives you a much better view. This was taken from a large bridge along the trail well below the Falls. I'd recommend searching for pictures of Whitewater Falls or Foothills Trail to get an idea of the types of things you'll see along the Trail. I don't think my words or memory will do it justice, so I will focus on our run/hike in this blog.

We knew it would happen, and eventually it did. It started with a few drops, then a sprinkle. For a while, we just got teasers. Little passing drizzles that dried fairly quickly after they stopped. Then, with the passing of the hours, the sprinkles got more frequent and became more like light showers. It was never a hard rain, but enough where when combined with the cool temperatures, we had to break out the rain gear. My decision to go with the lightweight Patagonia jacket worked well for a while, but eventually the rain overpowered it's protective coating and soaked through to my skin. The extra layer of the jacket did, however, keep me a bit warmer, despite being wet.

For most of the journey, the three of us traded out running point, though none of us was ever eager to be the leader. Without our actually discussing it, it felt like as the miles passed, we'd each have our highs and lows at different times. Usually that meant two of us were good while one was going through one of the expected downs, so the two pulled the one along. I think I probably had the longest "low" once my eating had slowed and possibly a bit of Mount Mitchell fatigue began to creep in. For selecting the lead runner, we somewhat had a pattern. Dennis led on a lot of runnable stuff, they put me in front on some climbs, and Brian led on a mixture of everything.

After about 2:00 a.m., a lot of the trail sort of blurred together into a dark, wet, trudge forward. We were now farther from my car than we were from Brian's. Going forward was the only feasible option. I can't speak for Brian and Dennis, but I was hitting some low spots at this point. Our checkpoints (basically anywhere there were directional mileage signs) came and went, each seeming to take much longer to reach than necessary. At this point, my legs felt fine but my head was abandoning me. I just wanted to curl up and go to sleep. I had convinced myself that if Brian had left his tent at mile 62, with the bear canister, I would get in and tell them to come get me when they finish. I was getting chilled (mostly from my metabolism slowing) and just feeling beat. I couldn't see finishing.

Mile 62 - Brian and Dennis Gear up for the Final 15

When mile 62 finally did arrive, I saw that Brian's tent was not there and I was indeed obligated to finish this thing or die trying.. We stood under the kiosk and I put on a dry shirt and my slightly-wet-from-rain Grindstone shirt. Then, I put my soaked through jacket back on since the rain had shown no signs of passing. It was about 5:17 a.m., a little over an hour before sunrise. This extended stop, and perhaps the dry shirt, actually made me feel a bit better and we actually had some runnable sections after this that helped keep us warm, while moving us more quickly towards the end of the Trail.

Sunrise was unspectacular with the cloud cover, but it did provide a much needed emotional lift to our spirits and energy. It increasingly began to seem more likely that I'd live to see Table Rock State Park. We still had a lot of climbing to do and at least twelve more miles at this point, but I certainly felt a lot better about doing it. The climb up Sassafras Mountain was a tough one and due to construction work at the top, we were detoured up the pavement rather than continuing along the Foothills Trail. I don't think it changed the distance much. By now, the rain had pretty much stopped, though I hadn't bothered to take off my gear. In the wee hours of the night and early morning, conversations had dwindled--with Dennis even putting on headphones to help him "zone out." Now, with an end in sight, we were much chattier and jokes flowed much more freely.

Mile 67 - Sassafras Mountain & Headlamp Hair!

From here, we had just under ten miles to go. our pace quickened somewhat through areas where we could move fast. There were still stretches that required cautious navigation, but between the daylight and renewed energy, even those went by quickly. After Sassafras, we worked our way towards Pinnacle Mountain, which featured some enormous stone features. Lack of sleep led some of us to see buildings and dams that were, in reality, simply large rock formations. I'm used to this happening to me at night during a run, but it was unusual to experience it during the daylight hours. By now, the rain had passed and I was starting to heat up with my layers on. But, since we were steadily moving, I didn't want to hold things up by stopping to take off jackets. Our next checkpoint was the point where the Foothills Trail joined the Pinnacle Trail. It seemed to stretch on forever, but we were at least distracted somewhat by the interesting scenery. It was somewhere just before reaching this point that my GPS ran out of juice. It recorded almost 72 miles and made it for 22 hours. I had not set it for the most conservative battery-saving mode because it would take GPS readings less frequently and I feared it might have too great a negative affect on the map and distance calculations.

At last, we reached the trail junction and saw the sign stating that it was four miles to the Table Rock Parking Lot. At this point, it was about 9:20 a.m., so we had 1:40 to finish in under twenty-four hours. We headed down quickly, knowing it would be a steep and somewhat technical descent. After going about a mile along this section (they had markers every 1/2 mile) I was really getting warm and decided I had to at least get my jacket and gloves off. The jacket is lightweight but it was holding in the heat now. To avoid a complete stop, I removed everything while maintaining a reasonably fast walk through the less technical and flatter stretches of trail. It was fitting that when we had descended to the lower elevations, we were once again crossing bridges, like we had for so much of the run. These final bridges were over (I believe) Mills Creek.

At the Foothills Trail Kiosk in Table Rock State Park.

Finally, the trail emerged behind the, strangely closed, visitor's center. 23:25 had elapsed since we started our journey and we were beaten down but not defeated. To no one's surprise, it started raining again after we took pictures at the sign marking the eastern terminus of the Foothills Trail. The rain was stronger than it had been earlier, so we had finished just in time to avoid most of it. Dennis had some sore spots on his feet, which he attended to, while (after changing to dry shirts yet again) Brian and I waited in the car. The parking lot was mostly empty, so there were no curious onlookers wondering where we had come from and why we looked so exhausted. There wasn't really a period of reflection or celebration, we were all too drained for that. The ride back to my car was a combination of discussion and message checking--letting people know we survived.

When we reached my car in the now-soaked and muddy parking area, I gave Brian and Dennis their stuff back from my trunk as I held a waterproof a seat cover over me--it was the only dry thing I had I could use for protection from the rain. As I got in my car, I noticed someone had walked up (their car was there when we pulled in) and spoke to Brian and Dennis. They later told me that he was one of the shuttle drivers who ferries hikers to their car when they finish their hike or from their car to the trailhead. He gave them his card for "next time." Since we finished, I really have no need for a next time, though I will say that doing the trail straight through means missing a lot of the beautiful scenery since for most of us, that means running at night. It's a great challenge to do it non-stop, but forgoing all the spur trails to overlooks and waterfalls is tough to accept. It's definitely worth another visit (especially in the Fall) and I hope to return with Leslie one day soon for a more leisurely experience.

My Strava GPS Record -- Note that the GPS quit after about 22 hours and six miles short. It also missed the elevation change, though when I imported the file to MapMyRun, it showed 11,000' of climb. In another person's online report, they reported 18,000'. Whatever the true number is, if you go, just be prepared for some seriously steep climbs in places.