The Foothills Trail

I've a feeling we're not in Florida anymore.

April and I are thru-hiking The Foothills Trail next week.

We expect to spend four relatively comfortable nights in a tent and one frigid night with morning temperatures in the teens!

She is a teacher and will be on spring break during her birthday week. After the logistics of getting to and from the trail, we will have nine days to complete the roughly 77-mile hike that begins in South Carolina, winds north into North Carolina, and ends at Table Rock State Park back in South Carolina.

It seems easy, but thank goodness we have nine days. On Monday, April’s doctor gave her 100% clearance to go hiking after she broke her foot about six weeks ago! She did need to buy a special athletic ankle brace, but we have plenty of time.

The weather for the week looks good, except for that one freezing morning and a little rain.

I’m packed and ready to go, except for a doctor’s appointment tomorrow to get my “don’t die today” blood pressure pills. April is finishing her day jobs, and I have witnessed that she has almost all her gear in her backpack.

On Friday, we plan to buy trail food and then stop at an REI store in Athens, Georgia, to pick up final supplies and real backpacking meals.

Since the weather could be tough for hiking on day 3, we are loading up a bear canister with extra food and hiding it near the trail's halfway point. We’ll be able to resupply without needing a ride into town.

I’ll drop an Apple AirTag in the bear canister so we can track the bear if it steals the food cache. The AirTag might also help if we arrive at the site after dark.

On this hike, I’ll do my best to keep my InReach powered on so anyone interested in our hike can follow our adventure.

I won’t be posting photos during the hike. I’m taking my new Kodak Ektar H35 camera loaded with Tri-X 400 B&W film on this trek! It could take weeks to see the images.

How fun is that?

One year ago today, I started the Appalachian Trail with my niece (trail name “Sparky”) on her thru-hike from Georgia to Maine. She finished the nearly 2,200-mile journey in August 2023. April and I plan to follow in her footsteps on our thru-hike beginning in February 2025. Also, interestingly, Sparky will be hiking a different trail just a few miles North of The Foothills Trail next week.

As I wrote on this website's Coming Soon page, hiking must be in the family's blood. Adventure is also in our blood, and April has a website about that!