Agile Trekker: The Narrows, Eastatoe Creek Heritage Preserve, Sunset, SC

Date	Distance	Time	Elevation Gain	Average Moving Time	Year to Date Miles
2/7/2024	5.4 miles	2 hours 57 minutes	769'	2.1 mph	76 miles

Parking:

Foothills Trail - Laurel Valley Trailhead, Horse Pasture Road

Map:

Gaia GPS app

Directions:

Eastatoe Creek Heritage Preserve (sctrails.net)

Carolina Mountain Club Challenges:

100 Waterfall Challenge, Eastatoe Creek

A sunny day means it's time to hike! Temperature was around 60 degrees today, so it was great to hike in a short sleeve shirt in February. I wanted to do another waterfall hike, so we chose one from the CMC list. I've seen all sorts of mileage for this hike from 3.4 to 5.5 miles, so we weren't sure what to expect.

We've parked at the turnoff for Horse Pasture Road before - for a CMC hike. We continued up the gravel road, which has some ruts. After a short way, there is the Foothills Trailhead on the left side of the road. It's a large parking lot. You could drive just a little further and park at the Eastatoe Gorge Spur Trailhead, but there is less room, and you need to make sure not to block the gate.

From the Foothills Trailhead parking lot, we turned left to continue uphill on the road. Turn left off the road at the red gate. The trail is very well marked with yellow blazes and signs. The beginning of the trail is a wide woods road. Near the waterfall, you descend more steeply. There is a Y intersection, with an arrow pointing to the right. I've read some reports of people taking the left spur and bushwhacking down to get closer to the Narrows. We were fine skipping this, and just followed the main trail. The trail leads to a lookout platform, which is a great place to stop and have a snack. The falls are more impressive in person then in a photo, and the Narrows is like a deep gorge channel that the water flows through. The trail doesn't take you close to the water.