In all the talk of beer, I forgot to post the statistics for the 3 days we were on trail in my original post. For those keeping track they are below.
Day 1 - Oconee State Park to Simms Campsite
Day 2 - Simms Campsite to Round Mountain Campsite
Joe was correct on this day. He said it felt like it was 17.5 miles and he was right on the money. The maps and the trail sign mileage has it at 15.5 miles, but in fact the GPS recorded 17.5 miles which includes the side trip to Kings Creek Falls.
Day 3 - Round Mountain campsite to Whitewater Falls parking area
You might ask why are we starting with a picture of a bathroom? Well actually, this is the end and we will get to the beginning shortly, but this just happens to be the same bathroom that saved me 8 years ago on the Foothills Trail in January 2014.
same bathroom hand dryer 2014!
On that day in 2014, I spent more than an hour drying my wet gear and myself before proceeding to compete the trail over the next few days.
This year I was also drying myself and gear off, but we were not continuing. Back then the sun was shining after the rain and continued to shine the remainder of the week. This year it was continuing to rain today and tomorrow and the day after that. You can not see anything past 30 yards. For proof look at Whitewater Falls (one of the highlights of the trail) below. Not exactly the views you want and you are getting rained on in 45 degree temperatures.
So let's start at the beginning. The three amigos Cory, Joe, and myself, also known as Disco, Honey Bunny (more on that later) and Pisco, decided months ago to hike the Foothills Trail in South Carolina. I have already mentioned I hiked it in 2014, but I had no problems going back as it is a lovely trail and is also one of the 11 National Scenic Trails in the US.
Cory has a brother near by, making logistics very easy, so dates were set and a plan was made. Hike from Sunday to Friday to cover the 76 miles and then spend a night in Asheville North Carolina on the way back home.
Day 0
It is 644 miles from my house to our destination today. We arrived at Cory's brother's house (Andy) in the late afternoon and we were immediately made welcome. He is quite the cook and has a very impressive collection of adult beverages.
We ate and drank like kings and could not have had a better pre-hike experience. (smoked cream cheese with homemade jelly topping- below... yum!)
Pulled Pork, Carolina Style
Did I mention that they have a pet pig (Dollie) what a riot. She is amazing and very smart (and spoiled) they have 3 dogs, 2 cats and Dollie. She sleeps right on the couch
The next morning we were up and out (maybe not so bushy tailed after many good beverages) but on the trail by 9:30.
It was a perfect day for hiking and we quietly thought we might get lucky and the forecast might be turning in our favor. 76.2 miles to Table Rock State Park and the end of the trail.
The boys ready to go.
The trail is so well maintained and the views are great when you start to climb.
This trail gets over 2000' pretty quickly and that is higher than anything in Missouri. The Foothills trail goes to around 3500' at the top of Sassafras Mountain, the highest point in South Carolina
No need to cross any creeks as the Foothills Trail Association has many bridges, big and small.
And they love their steps! Later in the trail there are 420 of them in a row.
Since my last visit they have put in a lot of new signage at junctions and campsites.
More good views
You pop out next to Hwy 107 for the first time and now they even have a porta potty. Not sure if it is meant for hikers or just a road side convenience, but it sure was convenient!
Lunch stop.
The Foothills Trail is known for its abundant water falls
more nice bridges
Even in the winter, It is very lush with Rhododendrons and Mountain Laurel
After your initial walk through the woods, you join the Chattooga River. This is your companion for half the day today and tomorrow morning.
I did not remember just how strenuous this section was. You leave the river and go up and down several times over the next few miles. A couple of times to be honest I did not remember at all.
The day remained beautiful and walking next to, or just above the river, was great
It appears the Foothills Trail is trying to promote using just the bigger established campsites and I can see why, with the increased use it is best to keep the impact in singular locations. The campsites are big and nice and well marked. We made it to Simms Field Campsite, just 11.4 miles for the day. I had made 14.5 miles in 2014 but by the time we got here it was getting late in the afternoon, the sun was low and we were tired. We felt we could make up the mileage tomorrow.
This spot is right on the river and easy to walk out for water and makes for a great views
Down River
Up River
Set up listening to the river. A great first day.
Day 2
The next morning dawned and still ok. Got camp broken down and made sure to clean up any micro trash we could find to leave it better than we found it
Had time for some coffee and breakfast before trying to get on the trail before the rain.
Since we had not come as far as we wanted too, we still had to go up and around Round Top hill and back to the river for a bit. This is a pretty steep and narrow bit of trail. It started to rain off and on after about 15 minutes into our day and would rain all day!
New bridges and steps
You still do get great views of the river.
At mile 13.6 there is now a junction for Big Bend Falls. This was not here in 2014
We stayed on the Foothills Trail. As much as I tried I could not find my original camping spot from 2014. It was directly on the river, but I think it might have been decommissioned in favor of the larger multi person sites.
We arrived at the last campsite, on a beach, before you turn uphill around mile 15 and we waited for Joe, who has been having some issues with a bad knee, that needs to be replaced. By now it was raining more on than off and the temperatures were starting to fall a bit.
Cory waiting it out in the rain, under his umbrella
Joe rejoined in under 20 minutes and we were back walking to stay warm. the next marker is for Burrell Campground and Kings Creek Falls.
We did stop at the Falls to take the side trail, as this Falls is not to be missed
Kings Creek Falls
Nice for the rain to stop for just a bit.
After leaving Kings Creek Falls we stopped briefly at Burrell's Ford Access parking lot for lunch. Just as lunch was ending it started to rain hard.
Cory and Joe getting their rain gear and packs on after lunch
There are not many pictures to take after this point between Burrell's Ford Access and the Fish Hatchery Rd., as I put the phone away to protect it.
Fish Hatchery Road to Sloan Bridge is the next section. It is another section of relatively flat walking and in the rain it was just head down and moving on.
In Winter there is a nice view of Whiteside Mountain. This tells the tale of what we are doing. It is not so bad to be raining even if the temps are dropping but the views have gone. Visibility is no more than a hundred yards.
I did manage to walk right up on an armadillo. He seemed completely unconcerned as he rooted under a log. It wasn't until Cory walked up behind me that he looked up and then casually scampered up the hill
An interesting tree before Sloan Bridge Picnic Area.
Hiker's Peril Falls.
You have to stand on a bridge that swings a bit to get this picture.
I arrived at Sloan Bridge picnic area and about 10 minutes later so did Corey. It was 4:00 pm and it gets dark around 5:30. We have just under 3 miles to make it out campsite from here. Cory and I waited in the pouring rain for Joe, who is just 20 minutes behind, due to his knee and discussed what to do. We agreed we need to make our miles today (15.5 miles, but if you ask Joe it will be between 18 and 21 miles... 😂) and reach Round Mountain campsite. It has water and gets us back on track, so we can make a better decision in the morning. We know we will finish a bit in the dark tonight.
Cory and I do reach the Round Mountain turn off before dark, covering that 3 miles in just an hour, but by the time we get water and find the campsite (which was further down the trail than I remember) it is dark. It has been pouring and my rain jacket, which did not wet out in Scotland is soaked through. I had stayed drier by using my umbrella, but couldn't use it while getting water and setting up my hammock tarp. Cory has faired better and had stayed drier, but the rain was really coming down and Joe was somewhere behind us. We spent the next 30-40 minutes waiting tensely for Joe to appear. He did and got set up. We all are well versed in keeping our down and other nighttime gear dry and we were able to set up get changed and get warm and cozy in our hammocks.
Not much more was said that night as the rain on the tarps made it far to loud to communicate with each other. I managed a few snacks in my bag, but did not feel like making a full dinner from the hammock and the warmth of the sleeping bag and quilts soon made it easy to drift off to sleep.
Day 3
We had arranged, before we started with Andy, to bring us our resupply packages and meet us at Whitewater Falls parking lot this morning. Just before I went to sleep I had used my Inreach messenger to verify that we would meet him between 9:30 and 10 am.
The morning broke no better than yesterday. It was raining and at times, raining hard. Nothing is worse than getting out of your nice warm sleeping bags and clothes to put on wet clothes and stand in the rain. We did however, and I hit the trail around 8 am.
I needed to walk to get warm since my stuff was a bit soaked. I had put all that I dared in my sleeping bag to dry and warm up last night, but I was still damp. The rain did let up from time to time and I did get the camera out a bit.
There is a series of benches located on the trail, at Grassy Knob, that should have provided great views of the valley and hills below, but today, not so much
Coming down and walking up to the Whitewater Falls parking lot
So back were we started, drying a few things out waiting for the guys to come down. By the time I dried my shirt and gloves, Andy had arrived and so had Cory and Joe and they had already decided that with no views, the long term forecast for more rain all week, this was not the adventure that everyone wanted. Let's go eat and drink.
As long as we were here, let's go see the Falls.
That was easier said than done as they played hide and seek in the dense fog and mist.
In fact, before we turned to leave they disappeared altogether.
The photo on the left is what they looked liked in 2014 and the photo on the right is the best they looked today.
Day 3.5
Off the trail now, and still before noon, it was back to Andy's house to shower and change and do laundry. Once back together we went out to the town of Walhalla to have lunch and hit the grocery store for meat and the liquor stores for refreshments.
Lunch at Trailhead Tavern
Burgers and Beer
A trip to the local grocery store- We made the butcher's day!
We made the ladies at the liquor stores happy as well
It was a treat. While I don't do the hard stuff, there was plenty of beer and everyone agreed it was a tremendous meal
Day 4
Andy was off to work this morning and we were off to Brevard, North Carolina for a couple of days to play around in the Pisgah National Forest. Brevard is a great little town sitting just outside the National Forest with a very quaint and charming old downtown shopping district. Most importantly it sits squarely in some of the best beer breweries in the US and we intended to visit them all!
We started out at Cup and Saucer, a very nice coffee shop that make their own syrups for their lattes and cappuccinos. The breakfast sandwiches are made on homemade biscuits as well
Next stop was the outdoor store. D.D. Bullwinkel's Outdoors. Keeping with the theme of this modified trip, it even had a pub on the second floor
Then, since we are big kids we needed to stop by the famous toy store in town; O.P.Taylor's
This was a huge toy store with all kinds of neat stuff.
A few more window shopping stops along Main Street and it was time to head over to Ecusta Brewery. They have a new location just a bit outside of town and we were meeting some more of Cory's family that lives in the area for lunch and beers.
A little appetizer for spicy shrimp skewers to go with my flight of beers and I was set.
After lunch we headed into the Pisgah National Forest for some sightseeing. Our first stop was Looking Glass Falls.
Normally super crowded in the summer time, we were the only ones here on a drizzly day.
In case you were wondering, yes it has continued to rain.
After Looking Glass Falls we checked into our hotel (thanks Joe) and relaxed a bit before the big excursion to Sierra Nevada Brewery. I was not prepared for the size and scale of S.N.'s operation. They own a huge amount of land and the brewery complex is enormous.
As soon as you walk in you see some gorgeous copper brewing kettles
The beers on tap for tonight
The main dinning room and menu was not available tonight, they have been having problems with enough kitchen staff to work every night, but upstairs was open with bar food and live music.
The beers were very good and so was the music
Just as we were about to leave the hostess asked if we had taken the self guided tour... Why no we had not, so she showed us were it started and off we went.
First off was a reception area with fabulously comfortable chairs.
Then you walk down this loooong hallway to get to the brewery proper
On the right hand side an enormous brewing room with more copper kettles and brewing tanks. This also had signage with a brief summary of the brewing process in each tank
This room was functional but also a work of art!
Beautiful
Further down the hallway is a tasting bar and this chandelier made from beer bottles
The bar area for tastings is made out of barrel staves.
One of "quality assurance" rooms, (below). This is were they taste the beer and it's ingredients. Seems like a job I could get behind.
The canning (above) and bottling (below) area, capable of 900 bottles per minute. It was a super impressive tour.
The Sierra Nevada facility was very impressive
Day 5
We were up at a more leisurely pace today, as befits being on vacation. We headed back into the Pisgah National Forest to hit the visitors center when it opened at 9:30, to get some souvenirs. We then went up into the hills to visit Sliding Rock. This is a natural area where during the summer season you can slide down the natural rock face in the creek. Another spot that would be packed when in season but today we were alone.
When this area is open it has a lifeguard on duty. You can see the little lifeguard stand in the photo below
After this we headed up on the Blue Ridge Parkway. It is a 650+ mile road with outstanding views over the Appalachian Mountain Range, running from the Smoky Mountains in Tennessee to Waynesboro Virginia.
The weather when we reached the Parkway seems to have held for us just a bit.
The views up here are beautiful
We drove South for a while and then would turn back North
Looking Glass Rock appeared and disappeared in the approaching clouds
Right before our eyes the weather started to move in again.
Going back North trying to stay ahead of the weather
Went up to Mt Pisgah and the Pisgah Inn. The Mountain to Sea trail runs right through the parking lot here. The MST is a long distance hiking trail that runs from The Smoky Mountains (mountain part) to Cedar Island National Wildlife Refuge on the Atlantic Ocean (sea part) 1200 miles
We had to do some walking, so we went the 1.6 mile round trip to the Pisgah Fire Tower.
Joe walking up to the fire Tower area
Cory on the fire tower steps
We climbed up for the views?
I have really harped a lot on the weather in this blog, but it really was horrendous, to the point of almost comical
After finishing up on the Parkway we went back into Brevard as I wanted to pick up a few Christmas toys I saw at OP Taylor's and some lavender coffee syrup from Cup and Saucer and Joe wanted to do a bit of shopping as well. Of course, we had to stop at Brevard Brewing on Main Street for at least one beer. Their Octoberfest was not really to my liking and I should have tried their Blackberry Cider, but I was saving myself a bit for tonight.
After being done with everything downtown, it was time to meet with Cory's extended family again at Oskar Blues Brewery. I had actually been looking forward to this brewery as they have a few of my favorite beers.
A much more down to earth and manageable location considering how popular and how widely they are distributed in the US
Christmas Tree of Kegs
Outside Tap Room/Patio
Brewing Facility
My flight contained some of my favorites: The Ten-Fidy and the outstanding Death By Coconut.
However the sours; Ramble 83 and the BA 22 were really outstanding. These were the best beers I had in and around Brevard.
The food truck at Oskar Blues called the Chubwagon had one of the best burgers as well. Cory's entire extended family in the area joined us and there was about 15 total. It was a really nice evening.
Day 6
We have now caught up to our original itinerary. We would have finished the Foothills Trail today and be off to Asheville. Joe was kind enough to use his hotel points for beds for everyone in Brevard, so I returned the favor and did the same in Asheville. Today promised to be the epic pub crawl that we had anticipated after a successful hiking adventure. Now we were looking to cap off a half week of separate brewery visits with one single day long adventure on the streets of Asheville.
We got to Asheville around 11 am. Got all our rooms squared away.
I took the opportunity to get everything out of my pack and hung up to dry. I had washed my clothes but really didn't have anywhere to dry my hardware out.
We then headed downtown. Our first stop was Blue Ridge Hiking Company. An great outdoor shop owned by renowned long distance hiker, author and overall fantastic person Jennifer Pharr Davis. We bought a few things to support the shop and then walked down to our first stop, Wicked Weed's Funkatorium. A very upscale brewery with great food.
We watched the world cup match while having a flight and lunch
Made easy work of that!
Then it was down the street to Burial Brewing. Certainly the best reputation for beers in Asheville and that is saying something as Asheville is full of good breweries (having just left one)
Burial also seems to have a thing for Tom Selleck as his likeness is everywhere in the brewery. This is a giant mural on the side of their building (a bit disturbing)
However I can confidently report that the reports are true, this is the best beer in Asheville and one of the top breweries in the country.
Brewing area
This was Ferraris& Floral Fabrics- a sour, and The Mercy- and outstanding Porter. I also had to try I Hope This Is The Endgame, a 14% stout that could have ended the day for me right there!
We then somewhat walked to Green Man Brewing, were the Argentina vs the Netherlands World Cup game was going on.
I predicted then that the winner of that game would go to the finals
internet photo
They have a super nice facility but I did not care for the beer I ordered. It was the Mocha Mocha, a coffee stout, it was bitter and powdery.
It was then time to think about putting more food in our stomach's to continue on. We went over to Buxton Hall BBQ. However it was not open yet, but what was open was Catawba Brewing right next door, so while waiting for them to open we had a couple more beers! I had the Black Currant Smoothie Sour. It was excellent.
Catawba also has the 2nd best winning sign for the evening
Once done with our beers we scooted right over to Buxton Hall BBQ. I was not sure I could eat anything or at least not a lot. I was wrong! I had the 1/2 rack of ribs.
According to Cory now that dinner was over the more mature portion of the drinking had begun. Andy (remember Cory's brother and his partner Monica) had come to Asheville this evening for a Music Festival tomorrow, so they joined us at The Antidote, A distillery next to our original starting point of Wicked Weed.
They make very upscale cocktails (no beer)
I am having a very good Cosmopolitan and the Boys are having Manhattan's
Monica, Andy and Cory
Joe (below). Joe has been our friend for many years, but he came to the group with the trail name Gideon (from his years of being a preacher). On this trip he was overheard finishing a conversation with his girlfriend with the phrase "bye honey bunny." Well you can image, we pounced! Everyone knows a true trail name has to be given, so Joe is now and forever Honey Bunny.
Honey Bunny
After sophisticated drinks at The Antidote and a visit to their gift shop The Chemist, the guys are ready for cigars and bourbon. I am now way out of my league and just following along as a spectator. We go just up the street to Boomer's Bourbon and Cigar Bar.
I didn't even now there were places left you could smoke inside! 😅😎
It was fun to watch the guys enjoy themselves with a big fat cigar and an excellent bourbon.
Huge selection of Whiskey's to choice from at the Bar
Boomer's wins the #1 sign of the day for their restroom doors.
We do get a lift back to our car from Andy and Monica and it is safe return to the hotel. Just when I thought the evening was over, I get this photo on my phone (below) and they ring me and say that pizza has been delivered to their room.
Epilogue:
It took about 9 hours for everyone to get home safe and sound.
What great guys to vacation with!
Thanks for turning type 3 fun into a fantastic week.
Many thanks to Andy and Monica without their support we would not have gotten started or "rescued"
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