Foothills Trail Section

The Foothills Trail—a 76-mile backcountry route connecting Oconee State Park to Table Rock State Park along the Blue Ridge escarpment—traverses some of its most spectacular terrain through Gorges State Park. This six-mile out-and-back section samples the trail's character through the Jocassee Gorges watershed, crossing multiple creek drainages and ascending to ridge overlooks with views into the Whitewater River gorge—one of the deepest gorges in the eastern United States at nearly 2,000 feet depth.

The Foothills Trail corridor through Gorges supports Appalachian birding gems including Louisiana waterthrushes in every creek, cerulean warblers on the ridge slopes in spring migration, and breeding populations of black-throated green warblers and dark-eyed juncos at the higher elevations. The creek crossings access habitat for Eastern hellbender salamanders, and the trail follows Toxaway Creek in sections through spectacular sandstone gorge terrain. Several unnamed waterfalls and cascades are encountered along the route, fed by the gorge's extraordinary rainfall. Day hiking this section provides a compelling preview of the full 76-mile through-route, which traverses the entire Blue Ridge escarpment of South Carolina in a continuous wilderness traverse requiring five to seven days.