Bella and I drove up to Calderwood Lake, TN last weekend for a kayak camp adventure. I have seen a few references to the lake side campsites online, but never found a lot of details. Since the weather was great, we figured it was a good weekend to finally check it out. We parked and put our kayak in the water at Magazine Branch Boat Ramp. The parking lot had a sign which showed the campsites so I snapped a quick photo before hopping on the water.
The water was incredibly clear – it was so pretty!
Our first stop was Slickrock Creek (about ~1.1 miles from put in) – where campsite number 1 is located. We paddled up the little cove where the water spills in and found another family already camping there.
I noticed a few random bird houses along trees as we paddled along the lake and this pretty tree.
Around mile ~2.4, we came across campsite number 2. It looked like it would be hard to pull the kayak out of the water, but didn’t look impossible.
At mile ~2.8, we came across campsite 3. Like the previous campsite, it didn’t look like it would be very easy to get the boat out of the water.
The old tunnel is located across from campsite 3. We paddled over to check it out. The water was too high to paddle all of the way through, but we could see some light coming through.
Since campsite 2 and 3 looked a bit difficult, we decided to keep going to campsite 4 which is located around mile 3.9. It is located up a cove where a creek dumps into the lake. I imagine it was probably a cool site, but there were a lot of trees down across the cove that we couldn’t get pass due to the water level.
We started to paddle to campsite 5, but the headwind was very strong and decided it would be better to head back to campsite 3 so the next day we would have a short paddle out.
Getting the boat out of the water and gear up the hill at campsite 3 wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. I think the water level dropped some while we were paddling making it a bit easier to climb onto the rocks. We enjoyed margaritas, some delicious steaks, and mashed potatoes for dinner. I debated making a campfire, but I knew we weren’t going to stay up late (Bella even took a nap) and it was already so hot out!
The next morning was a quick paddle out (2.8ish miles). It started off sunny, but clouded up a bit.
Bella and I decided to tackle the Foothills Trail earlier this month – a 77 mile trail along the border of North and South Carolina. According to Backpacker Magazine, it is one of the top long trails in the US. I have hiked a few sections around the Laurel Fork and Whitewater regions, but most of the trail was unchartered territory for me. Since I had some extra PTO this year, I decided I would complete the trail start to finish.
My original plan was to hike the trail in 5 days/4 nights, but after not getting in as much mileage as I would have liked the first two days, it turned into a 6 days/5 nights trip. If you do this trail, I will warn you that the trail is constantly going up/down so getting in lots of miles each day may not be as easy as some other trails (or maybe I am just not as in shape as I used to be?).
I went back and forth about whether to start at Oconee State Park and hike east, or start at Table Rock and hike west. I settled on Table Rock so I could get the worst of the climbing done on the first day. Here is an overview of my trip:
Day 1: Table Rock State Park to Rock Creek Camp (Miles 0.0 to 10.4, Daily mileage: 10.4 miles)
Day 2: Rock Creep Camp to Laurel Fork Falls Camp (Miles 10.4 to 22.6, Daily mileage: 12.2 miles)
Day 3: Laurel Fork Falls to Bear Creek Camp (Miles 22.6 to 38.7, Daily mileage: 16.1 miles)
Day 4: Bear Camp Creek to East Fork Camp (Miles 38.7 to 53.0, Daily mileage: 14.3 miles)
Day 5: East Fork Camp to Licklog Campsite (Miles 53.0 to 67.2, Daily mileage: 14.2 miles)
Day 6: Licklog to Oconee State Park (Miles 67.2 to 76.2, Daily mileage: 9 miles)
Day 1: Table Rock State Park to Rock Creek Camp (Miles 0.0 to 10.4, Daily mileage: 10.4 miles)
My mom dropped us off at Table Rock State Park around 10 am. It was chilly getting out of the car, but once we were hiking, we quickly warmed up and started shedding layers. I had expected to see more people along the trail, but it seemed like we were the only ones out there. The first mile follows Carrick Creek which has a few small cascades and water slides. The trail eventually departed the creek and started ascending to Pinnacle Mountain.
Near the summit to Pinnacle Mountain, the trail opens up to a large rock face with views to the south. What a view! We enjoyed a short rest before continuing on.
Pinnacle Overlook
Shortly after the rock face, the trail splits. The Foothills Trails turns to the left, while those wanting to summit Pinnacle Mountain keep heading up. I was glad to skip the summit – we had already climbed up about 1600 feet! The trail then passes another rock face known as the Drawbar Cliffs which look more to the west. We didn’t stay too long as we still had many miles ahead of us.
Drawbar Cliffs Overlook
We made it to the Lighthouse campsite around 1:30 pm (3.5 hours of hiking). We took the opportunity to have some lunch and review the map… at this point I realized we were not moving very fast and that we were probably not going to make it to the Chimney Top Gap campsite on Day 1 (we had only gone 5 miles and Chimney was still 8.1 miles away!). I figured we still had about 5 hours of sunlight so we could still get some miles in, but probably not 8.
Creek crossing
Flowers
Cantrell Campsite
We made it to the Cantrell Campsite around 4 pm. At this point we were exhausted and I was ready to setup camp, but I was also disappointed that we had only completed 8 miles for the day instead of the 13 I had planned. There was a nice gentleman there that was setting up his camp. He had completed the trail back in September and was quite familiar with the sections. He told us the 1.1 miles from Cantrell campsite to Sassafras Mountain was pretty flat compared to what we had already done so we decided to press on to Sassafras.
View from Sassafras
SC/NC State line
We reached the summit of Sassafras around 4:45. There is a nice viewing area at the top with a full 365 degree view (fun fact: it is the highest mountain in the state of South Carolina). The sun was getting low in the sky so I knew we needed to hurry to find a campsite (camping is not allowed at the Sassafras summit). My guidebook showed a campsite about ~.7 miles alway, but I wasn’t sure about water (at this point, we were getting low). If there was no water there, we would need to keep going. We made it to the Rock Creek campsite and found a tiny tiny stream. It wasn’t much, but it would do!
Rock Creek Campsite
Tired puppy
Bella’s dinner of sweet potatoes, green beans, chicken and rice before being cooked
Day 2: Rock Creep Camp to Laurel Fork Falls Camp (Miles 10.4 to 22.6, Daily mileage: 12.2 miles)
We woke up fairly early and were able to hit the trail by 8:30. We made it across US 178 road crossing fairly early in the morning, but then things took a turn. The hike from US 178 to Virginia Hawkins was much tougher than I had anticipated. I am not sure if it was because we were still tired from the day before or what. We made it to Virginia Hawkins area around lunch time only to find that we had to take a detour around the falls because a fallen tree made the bridge above the falls impassable. The detour follows an old logging road and added extra mileage we had not anticipated, plus required some back tracking if you still wanted to go view the waterfall. We decided to skip the falls and not backtrack since I have seen it multiple times before (once with Daniel, and another time with just Bella).
We followed the creek down through Laurel Valley reaching the Laurel Fork campsite around 2:30. We were exhausted and my feet hurt so we decided to call it a day. The campsite was empty when we started setting up our tent, but 2 or 3 other groups of people arrived by night fall. The Laurel Fork area is a popular area for weekend hikers.
Day 3: Laurel Fork Falls to Bear Creek Camp (Miles 22.6 to 38.7, Daily mileage: 16.1 miles)
We once again got up early on Day 3 and were out of the campsite before any of our neighbors had awoken. We briefly stopped at the overlook of Laurel Fork Falls. If you ever visit the area, I would suggest coming in from the lake – only half of the falls is visible from the overlook. From Laurel Fork, we weaved in and out of a trail path and old logging roads. This section was not very exciting. What was also not very exciting was the climb up Heartbreak Ridge – so many steps! You climb up to the top of a ridge, only to come right back down. There must have been over a hundred steps!
At the bottom of Heartbreak Ridge (along the lake/Toxaway Creek) are some really cool campsites. We took a short break by the creek and I soaked my feet in the cold water. We then crossed the large suspension bridge that spans the Toxaway River as it spills into Lake Jocassee.
Toxaway Creek
Lake Jocassee
Toxaway River
The trail follows the shores of the lake for a mile or so. It then starts to depart the lake and climb up… and up… and up. It seemed to go up forever (maybe we were just extra tired from Heartbreak Ridge?)! The rest of the day was not too exciting – mostly just walking along more logging roads. There were a few short “trail” sections, but not many.
We had a quick lunch at Bear Gap Campsite but then back to walking along a logging road. We did eventually drop back down into the valley for a short bit to cross the Horsepasture River, but then it was back to a logging road again. We did come across a sign for the halfway point – YAY! We made it halfway!
Not far after the halfway point is the Bear Camp Creek campsite where we stopped for the night. One thing I must say is that all of the campsites along the Foothills are quite nice – almost all have benches and proper fire pits.
Day 4: Bear Camp Creek to East Fork Camp (Miles 38.7 to 53.0, Daily mileage: 14.3 miles)
The first stop of Day 4 was Hilliard Falls.
Somewhere between Hilliard Falls and the Thompson River we spotted a mama bear and her two cubs in the distance. We made some noise and they quickly scurried away. I wish I could have gotten a photo!
Just past the Thompson River crossing we passed another hiker who warned us about a bad blow down near Whitewater Falls. He was not kidding! It was quite tough to get around with my pack, but we managed to squeeze through.
Thompson River
Whitewater Corridor Region
We took a quick break at Whitewater River to filter some water before our climb to the falls overlook. The climb to the top was not easy, but I had expected it to be tougher. We snapped a few quick photos of the falls and then continued on.
Whitewater River
Whitewater Falls
From Whitewater Falls, the trail crossed Whitewater Road where it continued to climb up. There are a few benches at the top where we had a snack and caught glimpses of Lake Jocassee down below.
The rest of the day the trail winded through the woods with glimpses of mountains in the distance. We called it a day at the East Fork Camp which is just past Sloan’s Bridge along the Chattooga River.
Day 5: East Fork Camp to Licklog Campsite (Miles 53.0 to 67.2, Daily mileage: 14.2 miles)
We followed the Chattooga River for the majority of Day 5. There were some really cool campsites along the river that I would love to come back and stay at one day.
We ended up setting up camp in a large campsite near Licklog Falls.
Day 6: Licklog to Oconee State Park (Miles 67.2 to 76.2, Daily mileage: 9 miles)
We woke up early on our final day of hiking. We skipped breakfast so we could get on the trail faster. It was just light enough out that we didn’t need a headlamp when we started hiking. The final ~9 miles went by pretty quick as it was almost all downhill. We made it Oconee State Park around 10 am. The only photo I got for the day was Bella in front of the sign staring at my car not far away. I think she was ready to go home 🙂
We ended the hike with a stop in Cashiers where we stocked up on ice cream 🙂
Avery and I met Friday a few weeks back at at the Big Fat Gap trailhead in the Joyce Kilmer Wilderness area. It was pretty dark when we started hiking, but the trail wasn’t too bad with headlamps. We hiked about a mile or two along the Big Fat Gap trail to Slickrock Creek which is almost all downhill. Avery had wanted to stop at the campsites we passed near the start of the trail, but I knew the next day would be a long day and wanted to get a bit more mileage under our belts Friday. We setup camp once we reached the creek.
Saturday morning we cooked breakfast… which was interesting. I had a read a book earlier in the week about making pancakes while hiking. All you had to do was bring pancake mix, mix with water, and coat the pan with olive oil or butter. I wish I could say it was that simple… it ended up being a giant mess. Edible mess. But a mess. I don’t think we will be trying that again.
Old railroad part
Once we managed to clean up breakfast and break down camp, we hid our bags in the bushes and hiked downstream to Wildcat Falls. We had to cross SlickRock creek once or twice to get there – it was definitely a bit slick!
We returned back to camp around 11ish, had a quick snack, and headed up the trail towards Naked Ground. The first mile or two was fairly easy. We reached the point where the trail diverted from the creek and started its ascent. We knew we had a lot of work ahead of us and decided to go ahead and have lunch and top off our water.
The trail from Slickrock Creek up to Naked Ground was hard. Not only did we have to gain over 2,000 feet in elevation, we had to climb over a hundred trees. I wish I could I say I was exaggerating, but I really think it was a hundred. You would climb over one tree and could see at least 2-3 more trees ahead of you. Hurricane Irma came through a few weeks before and I guess that caused so many trees to fall? I would not recommend the trail to anyone until some serious trail maintenance has taken place. It was brutal.
Finally we reached Naked Ground. There was a nice campsite which was very appealing, but we decided to push on to Hangover. It was around dusk when we finally reached Hangover – just in time for the sunset!
The sunrise the next morning wasn’t so bad either!
We packed up camp Sunday morning and headed back to the car. It was a quick couple miles of downhill – thank goodness! If we had to go up more uphill, I probably would not have made it!
Bella and I decided to check out Max Patch a few weekends back. We picked up some BBQ, beer, and a book and headed out on our adventure. The weather was simply amazing. We found an awesome spot and setup camp late in the afternoon, and then hung out/napped.
The view from the top of Max Patch is simply breath taking. You have a full 360 degree view.
Bella and I watched the sunset. I think she may have enjoyed it more than me!
Bella and I spent an afternoon hiking around Gorges State Park. As always, it was very crowded, but we managed to grab a couple of photos without people.
A friend and I camped in Pisgah a few weekends back. It was dark when we arrived. We spent Friday night at the top of Sam’s Knob. It was dark when we arrived, but the view in the morning was gorgeous! So many flowers blooming!
Saturday morning we hiked back to the car to stock up on water and food for the day. From the car, we hopped on the Art Loeb trail and hiked to Shining Rock.
From Shining Rock, we hiked a few miles towards Cold Mountain before turning back. We setup camp for the night on top of Black Balsam.
I was hoping for a cool sunset, but a bunch of clouds started moving in around dinner time. I started to get worried it was going to rain, but it passed over.
Although the evening was uneventful, the morning sunrise was quite the opposite!
Schoolhouse Falls is a short easy hike near Lake Toxaway. I have probably done this hike a hundred times (I am not kidding – my parents started taking me here when I was little). This is probably not the first time you have seen photos of this waterfall on my site, and probably won’t be the last either.
We drove from Atlanta to the Smoky Mountains Friday evening. We parked our cars at the Twentymile Trailhead and hiked to campsite 93. We had to use our headlamps as it was well past 9 pm when we started hiking.
From campsite 93, we took the Twentymile Trail to the Shuckstack Fire Tower. I will warn you – this is mostly uphill so be prepared!
The floor inside the tower was not in the best condition and was a bit scary to walk on.
I stayed on the stairs but still managed to grab one or two good photos.Â
From Shuckstack, we hiked north on the Appalachian Trail. We ran into a lot of north bound hikers just starting their journey.Â
We finally reached the summit of Gregory Bald late in the afternoon. It was pretty brown at the summit. I have heard it is gorgeous in May/June when all of the Azaleas start blooming. Guess we will have to come back then 🙂
Saturday night we camped at campsite 13. There were two other groups. We all setup in our own corner and kept to ourselves. The next morning, we woke to find ourselves surrounded by fog. It drizzled a little through the nice, but not too bad.
The hike from campsite 13 to Twentymile was almost all downhill. We made it back to the cars quicker than I expected. The weather cleared up by the time we reached the valley. There were a few creek crossings – all of which had a small log bridge so we could keep our shoes on.
