Foothills Trail round trip

[Braves#6]

I'm thinking about doing a round trip of the Foothills Trail, either late Sept or early Oct. Planning for twelve days. Does that sound reasonable? Any advice from anyone who might be familiar with that trail? Also, I don't see any resupply points. That's a lot of food to carry at the beginning. I'm open to suggestions. Let me have it. And thanks.

[10-K]

I've hiked it twice. 12 days would be easy - you could easily do it in 10 and if you're a fast hiker you could hike it in 6-7 days. My fastest hike one way was 3 days.

No resupply but you could setup a food cache at one of the road crossings.

[Hikerhead]

At one of the State Parks at either end, walk a little way in on the trail, out of site, and bury your food in a smell/water proof container. Be sure to go back and take it home with you at the end.

[g8trh8tr]

12 days sounds reasonable for an out and back on the FHT...there are plenty of places to hide a cache for resupply purposes...enjoy the hike.

[Drybones]

Just wondering... are doing an out and back to eliminate the need for a shuttle or to give you added distance?

[10-K]

Just wondering... are doing an out and back to eliminate the need for a shuttle or to give you added distance?

It would eliminate the need for a shuttle, sure. Start..................Get to the end, turn around............Back to start.

Double the distance.

[swofford]

there is a camp store at table mountain at the campground. you could buy stuff or maybe ask them to hold food for you.

[10-K]

That's not a bad idea really. The Ranger office/store would be a long walk from the trailhead though.

I think the store just has cokes and ice cream orsomething not really food.

[Bati]

I don't know about the security of the road crossings in the middle, but if you park there, you could hike to one end and back and then resupply before heading off to hike to the other end.

If your primary purpose for hiking it twice is to avoid a shuttle, there should be ways to arrange a shuttle by checking the website of the group that maintains the trail.

[chiefduffy]

Food caches are easily done at the road crossings. Also, there are lots of good shuttle options, I have used several. PM me for phone numbers if you need to.

[Mountain Maiden]

I'm thinking about doing a round trip of the Foothills Trail, either late Sept or early Oct. Planning for twelve days. Does that sound reasonable? Any advice from anyone who might be familiar with that trail? Also, I don't see any resupply points. That's a lot of food to carry at the beginning. I'm open to suggestions. Let me have it. And thanks.

RE: food/water/parking--sent u p m

[pcasebere]

Depending on when you're out there.. we might cross paths -I'll be hiking during the last week of September!

[SassyWindsor]

I'd spend part of a day putting out food caches. Lots of road crossings. You really only need a couple of spots. One, maybe two, caches somewhere in the middle that can be used twice and one at a terminus (Table Rock SP or Oconee SP). Get food from grocery store at home put in waterproof containers before getting to area. Don't count on buying stuff close to the trail. You're only talking about 150 miles or so of total trail but that is over 12 miles avg per day. The more caches the less weight you'll have to carry, I probably leave some water also.

[Braves#6]

Thanks folks, good info. I am doing the round trip to get the distance. And I need to break into the up and down stuff kinda slowly. I live in the Carolina Lowcountry, so I don't get any hill climbing. Thought these easier hills would be a nice start, then maybe move to the Pisgah Loop next. Also got a friend trying to get me up around Bristol, TN. Might not take but ten days, but I want to leave a little time to maybe hike the side trails. And maybe even catch a fish or two. Thanks for the offer Mountain Maiden, I'll be taking you up on that. As far as the food, think I'll do two caches. And I'll stop by the store and see how they feel about holding stuff for hikers. And I will be out there the last week of September and into October a little, but gotta be back for the MLB playoffs. Go Braves! Thanks again!

[10-K]

Thanks folks, good info. I am doing the round trip to get the distance. And I need to break into the up and down stuff kinda slowly. I live in the Carolina Lowcountry, so I don't get any hill climbing. Thought these easier hills would be a nice start, then maybe move to the Pisgah Loop next. Also got a friend trying to get me up around Bristol, TN. Might not take but ten days, but I want to leave a little time to maybe hike the side trails. And maybe even catch a fish or two. Thanks for the offer Mountain Maiden, I'll be taking you up on that. As far as the food, think I'll do two caches. And I'll stop by the store and see how they feel about holding stuff for hikers. And I will be out there the last week of September and into October a little, but gotta be back for the MLB playoffs. Go Braves! Thanks again!

Oconee to Tablerock is the easiest direction.

If you want to do the hardest half first to get it out of the way, start at Tablerock.