South Carolina trails · Foothills

Foothills

A 8.7-mile out-and-back in South Carolina, with 940 ft of climbing. Reaches Medlin Mountain and other summit/waterfall destinations. Managed by the U.S. Forest Service.

Open in the interactive map →

Length

8.7 mi

Elevation gain

940 ft

Difficulty

Expert

Max grade

33%

Steepest mile

+439 ft

Tread at ≥10% grade

2.6 mi

Shape

out-and-back

Managed by

U.S. Forest Service

Elevation profile

The climbing is spread fairly evenly along the route. It gives back about 1,146 ft along the way, so it rolls rather than climbing steadily.

3-D terrain

USGS 3DEP ELEVATION × ESRI WORLD IMAGERY · VERTICAL ×1.5

Reaches

Medlin Mountain (summit)
Spoonauger Falls (waterfall)

Heads up

Stream ford: expect at least one unbridged crossing.

Getting there

CHATTOOGA HIKING TRAIL access. About 1 h 14 min drive (39 mi, 3 of them unpaved) from Clemson. 34.96717, -83.12067 · directions

Daylight at the trailhead

On October 14, 2026 — the day this page was generated — first light reaches this trailhead at 7:11 a.m., the sun rises at 7:37 a.m. and sets at 6:59 p.m., and the last usable light fades about 7:24 p.m. (EDT) — 11 h 22 min of daylight. At about 2.7 mph plus 30 minutes per 1,000 feet of climbing, the 17.4-mile round trip takes roughly 7 h 22 min, so leaving the trailhead at sunrise puts you back around 2:59 p.m. — 4 h 00 min before sunset.

Loop options

KING CREEK TRAIL + FOOTHILLS + BURRELLS FORD CAMPGROUND — 0.9 mi loop, 154 ft gain

Across the border

Continues into GA as Foothills/Chattooga Trail — view on the map
Continues into GA as Chattooga Hiking Trail — view on the map
Continues into NC as FOOTHILLS — view on the map