Chattooga/Foothills Trail - Burrells Ford to Big Bend Falls.

[abrightwell]

This past weekend a friend of mine and I decided to hike to some of the waterfalls along the Chattooga River. As it was his dog's first trip we kept the distance under 10 miles. It made for a great time. Below is a link to some of the pictures I took along the way.

This area of SC has got to be the most beautiful place I have ever been. I love this area and tend to spend the majority of my time "hanging" here than anywhere else. Much of the trail was right on the river and at some places required the use of a high water detour in order to continue. It had been raining the days leading up to this hike as well as the first night, so that trail was naturally slippery. I lost my footing a few times, rocks hurt. So we had to be very careful when going down a set of rocks or even root structures. We set up camp about two miles down the trail from Burrells Ford Campground. I am a little disappointed, however, by the amount of trash we found in the camp and along the trail leading up to the camp. We tried to pick up as much as we could, that part was really frustrating.

On Saturday we hiked down to Big Bend Falls. That was an incredible place to be. It is a VERY powerful fall in my opinion. You could feel it. The "spur" trail denoted as "rough" in the FTC guide wasn't what I considered to be a trail nor rough. It was more like a leap of faith... but it got me down to the river. I did have to drop my pack in order to make it down however. Once down there, however, it was worth everything it took to get there.

After returning to Burrells Ford, where we camped Saturday night, we made it up to King Creek Falls. It was about .5 miles from the campground. This was a magnificent waterfall. It was the perfect way to end the day. You can tell by the picture what I mean.

Oddly enough, we only saw one snake along the river all weekend. It was a smallish (18") moccasin that was more interested in getting away from us than living up to its reputation.

It was a good weekend. Some great scenery, enjoyable trail time and great hang opportunities. I'd definitely suggest this one for everyone.

http://picasaweb.google.com/adam.brightwell/June462010