| Date |
Distance |
Time |
Elevation Gain |
Average Moving Time |
Year to Date Miles |
|---|
| 5/11/2022 |
11.6 miles |
6 hours 24 minutes |
1,320' |
2.0 |
362.2 |
Parking:
- One car at Oconee State Park
- One car at Bad Creek Access Area
- One car at Table Rock State Park
Maps:
Directions:
- Backpack from Bad Creek Access Area to Bear Gap Campsite
Day 4 of our hike. We were happy to have had a hotel break and a shower, plus a meal from the grocery store. We drove back to Bad Creek Access Area and took the 0.7-mile access trail back to the Foothills Trail. We didn't see a lot of wildlife on this trail, but we did encounter some non-venomous snakes. We encountered our first of several suspension bridges. These were bouncy and fun to cross. The weather started warming up today. We encountered a lot of stairs and steps. The warmer weather made the climbs even more sweaty, but the nights were at least milder, maybe 50 degrees. The cleanness/dryness we had from our hotel stay quickly disappeared. One thing I'll pack on my next trip is a little bit of powder, to help with the moisture. We did have some nice sections of "cruisey" trail too.
And happily, we had our first bear bag cable at camp. Although we felt the food bags hung too low, it was at least easier than finding a decent tree. We set up in a camping area with 3 other ladies. They said they would get together and meet twice a year to go backpacking somewhere in the country - they've been all over. What fun! I'm working on finding backpacking friends to do trips with.
I liked this tent site, because it was right next to the river. This made for quick filtering. My ankle was sore by day 3 of our trip, so I started taking naproxen. I spent some time soaking my feet in the river, working on getting any inflammation in my ankle down.
One thing I liked about this trail: TRAIL MAINTENANCE
Holy cow, I was blown away by the trail maintenance! This trail has so many bridges! Even multiple suspension bridges. The trail is along rivers and creeks a lot, which need crossing back and forth. The bridges were sturdy and well made. There were stairs, and then there were all of the individual wooden steps built into the trail. I haven't seen this much at least not to the extent they've been used on this trail. There was a lot of cribbing as well (e.g. logs at the edge of steep slopes). It's obvious that a lot of love is given to this trail by volunteer trail maintainers.
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