Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Table Rock to Eastatoe Gorge

I just got back from a two night hike from Table Rock State Park to Eastatoe Gorge via the Foothills Trail. This was a group hike coordinated by the SC State Parks program. We were blessed with great views and fantastic weather the entire weekend. The temperature never dipped below 45 F and the skies were clear all three days.

We started out at Table Rock State Park around 9AM Friday morning. We only planned to hike 9 miles each day so I was looking forward to taking time to enjoy the views and relaxing in camp both evenings.

Most of the leaves were gone but several of the large white oaks still were showing a lot of color.



Great vistas from just below Pinnacle mountain.


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The first night we camped at the Cantrell Homestead. There are still remnants of the old dry stack chimney at this site and there's plenty of room to spread out. Water is only a few hundred feet down the trail making this a great way-point on the FHT. Here's a photo of my MLD Grace Duo Tarp and Serenity bug tent.



One of the unique things at the Cantrell site are the stone recliners around the fire ring. They're a great way to cook dinner, enjoy good company and warm up by the fire.



We camped the second night at the Eastatoe Creek Gorge which is about a 9 mile hike from the Cantrell site. The Eastatoe Creek runs right by the camping area.



Just down from the main camping area is an impressive narrows. You lose the sense of scale in this video unfortunately. The narrows drop around 40ft in a 20 yard run that is never more than a few feet wide. Powerful!


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More great fall color along the FHT.

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