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Route: Foothills Trail (NC, SC)

Location
North Carolina, US
South Carolina, US
Distance
73.1 mi
Description

Here's what GORP says about the 76-mile long Foothills Trail:

The Foothills Trail may be the most unsung, underused, and underrated long trail in the Southeast. It traverses the Cherokee Foothills of the Southern Appalachians in North and South Carolina, through state parks, national forests, and state-owned preserves. In these lands are high ridgelines, wild and scenic rivers, deep rock gorges, wilderness areas, mountain lakes, clear trout streams, towering forests, and a number of incredible waterfalls stretching from one end of the path to the other. There are so many cascades along the Foothills Trail that I wonder why they didn't name it the Waterfall Trail. -- Johnny Molloy, on GORP
 

Jason Sullivan has organized several group starts on the Foothills trail, and has set up a website dedicated to thru-runs.

GPS Track
Foothills_Trail_Unsupported_FKT.gpx5.25 MB

FKTs

Images
along the Foothills Trail
This route on the old FKT site
http://fastestknowntime.proboards.com/thread/8/cherokee-foothills-trail-nc-sc

Comments

marcy_beard
Thu, 01/30/2020 - 01:49pm

I plan on attempting the FHT out-and-back FKT starting this Saturday around noon (supported).  If I make it, it will be my longest trek so far.  So no matter what happens, I expect to learn something!

Tracking map will be active once I start:

https://share.garmin.com/MarcyBeard

 

 

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Natalie H Daniel
Wed, 03/25/2020 - 07:35pm

I plan on attempting an unsupported FKT starting on Monday,  March 30th starting at sunrise

Pepto
Thu, 10/08/2020 - 03:50pm

I'll be attempting an unsupported out & back fkt starting on October 19th of 2020. 

Adam Young
Tue, 10/13/2020 - 09:40am

I ALSO will be attempting an unsupported out and back fkt starting on October 23, 2020. 3rd times a charm.

Tracking will start shortly after 7am. Link to tracking- https://share.garmin.com/AdamYoung31

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Emily Hutchins
Tue, 03/02/2021 - 08:17am

Planning to attempt supported one way fkt starting on March 13. Yee Yee!

MTPoole
Tue, 11/30/2021 - 03:27pm

I'm going for the out and back supported FKT starting from Table Rock this Friday morning. The weather looks to be perfect!

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Hunter Leininger
Thu, 04/21/2022 - 06:53am

My Dad (Jeff Leininger) and I will be attempting to establish an Unsupported (Team) Out and Back FKT on the Foothills Trail. We will start at Oconee State Park and travel eastbound and turn around at Table Rock and head back. We are treating this as a training hike so no big-time goals, but felt like this was a perfect way to explore the trail! 

I'll post as many updates as possible on my instragram: https://www.instagram.com/hunter_leininger/?hl=en

Our tracking link is: https://share.garmin.com/HunterLeininger

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Casey Denman
Sun, 06/05/2022 - 05:56pm

Tomorrow morning I’ll begin my attempt to establish the Self Supported Out & Back. I’ll be starting at Oconee State Park, will head eastbound to Table Rock where I’ll turn around to head back.  Looking forward to the challenge!
Tracking Link: https://share.garmin.com/caseydenman

Instagram for updates: http://instagram.com/caseydenman