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| Cold!! Foothills Trail next to Laurel Fork Creek |
WE, myself and I [ Jim couldn't join in the fun ] started this hike at the Hwy. 178 parking area at about 10:00am on a frozen Friday morning. My nose as red and shiny as the elbows of an old Santa Claus suit. The sun shining and laughing because there was no warmth in his breath blowing across the gravel parking lot and through the naked winter trees surrounding this bleak trailhead. A white pickup truck with GA tags silently waited the return of his master so they could seek the warmth of Georgia and shelter in the two car garage attached to a Colonial style house. My red Mazda hunched his shoulders against the cold and endured waiting my return. I stiffly removed my Crocs and slid my sock covered feet into the old worn hiking shoes, the left shoe is weary and torn but the right shoe is just weary. We've stirred up a lot of dust and scattered a bunch of leaves these pass few years. The imprint of this pair has been stamped in muddy creek bottoms, sandy ocean shores, the red clay of SC, and the rock covered trails twisting over the mountains and hills of the Appalachians. Two toned hiking pants with a quarter sized hole rubbed in a private place from hanging around my butt after a long hike on many a long trail. The shorts are light khaki, bleached in the sun and the zip off legs are darker only being attached in the cold weather months. My North Face fleece is old and shapeless and comfortable and as warm as the first time she was worn. The North Face daypack is as old as my hiking resume and still carries the same two Nalgene water bottles. Fresh Nature Valley granola bars and the basic survival gear fill the daypack along with an extra fleece, gloves and socks. I hang a whistle around my neck, secure my dirty white Tilley hat on my head, a happy smile on my face, a spring in my step, trekking pole in each hand and we are gone.
After hiking the entire length of the Foothills Trail this section has been voted "Best liked by me!" It starts with a steep set of steps to gain the ridge top and then the way is easy for a little bit. The elevation change will tie your thighs in a knot as you grab onto every breath you can reach. Up and down goes the trail, about six hundred feet up from the TH and then down about twelve hundred feet to the valley, of course it is more like a roller coaster ride then a trip and fall and roll down the side of a mountain.
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| Small sample of getting up! |
This is not the steepest climb but will give you an idea of what the trail is like. The only thing that came to my mind when I took this picture was
Climb, climb up sunshine mountain
Heavenly breezes BLOW;
Climb, climb up sunshine mountain
Faces all A GLOW.
Turn, turn from sin and doubting,
Look to God on HIGH,
Climb, climb up sunshine mountain
YOU AND I
Now any one who grew up in a Baptist church and went to Sunday school remembers these words. Really now you didn't even need to be Baptist, all Protestant groups sang this song. The last word is always loud!! You will be singing this all day. That is good , better then singing some of the songs we hear nowadays!
So I keep hiking in the cold biting air, but am getting warm so its time to shed a layer of clothes and stop sweating. Just like an old snake I start at the top and peal back the top layer looking all fresh and new, I strap the fleece on the side of the day pack and stuff the gloves in the pack with my hat.
Enjoying being outside and walking up and down the mountain as I slowly hike along the trail. Carefully, very carefully I descend down the wooden steps and arrive at the Laurel Fork Creek. A great hike following the creek and crossing back and forth over it on the bridges built way back when. Several trees fallen into the creek, many have been there for quite some time coated with moss and ice crystals. Small, big, and boulder size rocks impede the flow of water creating the unmistakable roar of water which fills the valley. We come to the Virginia Hawkins Falls and step our way down the hundred steps to the bottom.
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| Virginia Hawkins Falls |
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| Closer view of Falls |
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| Virginia Hawkins Falls |
How about that, another pretty SC waterfalls. I hung out here for a few minutes then returned back the way I had come and saw everything from the opposite perspective. As I was hiking high on the mountain side I remembered something a sales clerk in KY told me about the Foothills Trail. He said, he and some buddies came to SC to hike the trail, after hiking a couple days they started calling it the trail with no view.
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| Hazy Mountains |
I understood what he meant if he hiked when the leaves covered the trees, but during the winter time there is an impressive view through the trees all along the trail! I had time to meander back to the trail head and my waiting car, so I was in no hurry. The temp started to drop and I bundled back up feeling the cold wind chap by cheeks and tear up my eyes. The wind was just a blown' but did not sound like a freight train, more like the train pulling out of "Petticoat Junction", so I knew I was safe. The trees swayed and groaned, cracking and squeaking as they rubbed one another, fussing at the wind! Was a good day!
In the woods,
Turtle
