Foothills Trail  May 27-28, 2006 (22 hours 40 minutes)    
       
Day 1 Table Rock State Park to Oconee State Park Daily mileage: 76.0 Trip mileage:  76.0
 
Day 1
I recently completed a speed hike of the Georgia section of the Appalachian Trail in just over 22 hours. So I thought I'd see how quickly I could cover the Foothills Trail.

I decided to hike from Table Rock to Oconee in order to hit the tougher climbs first and cruise the last half of the trail. Sherpa dropped me off at Table Rock State Park, where I would begin the trail. He then drove over to Oconee, where he would camp for the night and wait for me to finish the trail.

My pack weight was somewhere around 23-24 pounds for this trip. The weather was awesome, cool temperatures and clear skies. I had decided to log my times throughout each section. I used the FTC Guide To The Foothills Trail for determing the beginning and end of each section. In lieu of mundane details of this trip, I will instead list each section and time it took to complete each one.

I started the trail at 9:00AM on Saturday and finished at 7:40AM on Sunday.

Section (Start)
Section (End)
Mileage
Section Time
Trip Time
A1: Table Rock State Park
A2: Sassafras Mountain
8.8
2 hr 26 min
2 hr 26 min
A2: Sassafras Mountain
A3: Chimneytop Gap
2.7
0 hr 46 min
3 hr 12 min
A3: Chimneytop Gap
A4: Laurel Valley
2.1
0 hr 42 min
3 hr 54 min
A4: Laurel Valley
A5: Laurel Fork Falls
8.1
2 hr 24 min
6 hr 18 min
A5: Laurel Fork Falls
A6: Canebrake (Toxaway R.)
5.8
1 hr 47 min
8 hr 5 min
A6: Canebrake (Toxaway R.)
A7: Bad Creek Access
16.4
4 hr 56 min
13 hr 01 min
A7: Bad Creek Access
A8: Upper Whitewater Falls
2.3
0 hr 40 min
13 hr 41 min
A8: Upper Whitewater Falls
A9: Sloan Bridge (SC 107)
5.5
1 hr 43 min
15 hr 24 min
A9: Sloan Bridge (SC 107)
A10: Fish Hatchery Road
3.3
1 hr 01 min
16 hr 25 min
A10: Fish Hatchery Road
A11: Burrells's Ford Road
3.9
1 hr 12 min
17 hr 37 min
A11: Burrells's Ford Road
A12: Cheohee Road (SC 107)
10.4
2 hr 54 min
20 hr 31 min
A12: Cheohee Road (SC 107)
A13: Jumping Branch TH
1.4
0 hr 30 min
21 hr 01 min
A13: Jumping Branch TH
A14: Oconee State Park
4.6
1 hr 39 min
22 hr 40 min