Hiking South Carolina's Foothills Trail

Update: I would not recommend this guide any more unless it is updated. FTC has made changes to the trail, and there are better resources out there, especially digital ones. Their own guide has also improved.I just used this guide for my thru-hike, though it would be equally helpful for anyone wishing to do a day or section hike of the Trail. It's very well-organized, with not only thru-hiking walkthroughs for either direction but also a bunch of great day hikes, or short overnights. The mileages and descriptions were accurate and helped greatly in budgeting time. I have looked at the "official" guide the FTC puts out, and this one is much nicer for actually carrying in a pocket. If I had to choose one, I'd take this one, hands-down.If I were to make any improvements to this, they'd be the following minor ones:--some of the spur trails mentioned don't have distances listed, so it's hard to know if that waterfall off the main trail is 0.2 or 2 miles away (not all of the trail signs have this info either). If there's something you're interested in seeing off-trail, definitely research the distances elsewhere before you go.--it would be nice if there were some very basic topo information on the maps. There is an approximate profile as part of the graphic design of each section's title, but I'd prefer some contour lines and/or some markers on the profile for the different waypoints.--the book has a great form factor for putting in your pocket, though I almost wish it were spiral-bound so you could take out pages you don't need on a specific trip or so you could leave it open to the page you're hiking on.

So far the best companion for Foothills, I don't even carry an extra map. Book is so small it fits inside my side cargo pant pocket, put it inside a zip bag and forget is even there. Have take 2 trips using only this book to plan and navigate, a lot off value information on it hope the AT came with a book like this that have all mayor roads entries with coordinates and a brief characteristic of area ( if it said careful small cars, please do) , and by the way the coordinates to some parking places are a little tricky but not by a lot ,coordinate wise is on the money, just make sure you are not on private property, normally parking lot is beside trail entry, and coordinates in goggle map could be a little wider. Definitely recommend this book, it have small maps inside, that's really all you need unless you really want every detail, otherwise use it go out there fallow the leave no trace and enjoy.....

I came to Amazon to save some money because I thought the official guidebook was a tad too expensive. And I'm glad I did!I just completed the 3-day "Crown Jewel" hike, and this guide was essential to the experience. Not only was it well-written and informative, the maps were very detailed and easy to follow. Scott did a great job at pointing out the spots worth going to and which spots were to be proceeded with caution.I have a couple minor complaints. The first being the final day of the 3-Day hike. I felt it wasn't detailed enough. The guide mentions some vague checkpoints like "bridge with a stream", but the bridge he was referring to was actually the 3rd bridge. So we thought we had met the checkpoint twice before actually getting there. The problem was really that we didn't know what the author considered a "bridge". The second complaint was that I felt a word of caution would have been helpful after hiking around Lake Jocassee. The guide told us to turn away from the lake and head uphill, but the severity of that hill was almost as bad as Heartbreak Ridge. Since a warning was given for Heartbreak Ridge, we weren't expecting something so strenuous, and that hill seemed to *never* end.That said, I don't want this review to come off as one long complaint. Overall, the guide was EXCELLENT, and I'd recommend it to anyone. Scott really seems to know his stuff, and the fact that he's a technical writer definitely showed. It was easy to follow and very helpful! My wife and I even picked our specific hike based on his recommendation.I don't know how this guide compares to the official one from the Foothills Trail Association, but I can't imagine the official one is much better. This guide is a great way to save some money and attack the Foothills Trail head-on!