Foothills Trail in Spring?

[Dalton Cooper]

Hey all! To celebrate my 24th birthday, a friend and I are doing the Foothills Trail in South Carolina in a few weeks. Has anyone done that hike in mid-April? I’m curious for what to expect with seasonal stuff like weather, bugs, flowers, water, etc. Two biggest questions I have at this point are should I bring the bugnet for my Warbonnet and are 2 liter water bottles enough?

Spring in the south is beautiful but unfortunately I haven’t lived here long enough/spent enough time hiking upstate SC to have a super-great sense of that.

[Matt]

I have spent many of my mid-Aprils in the north Georgia/South Carolina mountains.  Bugs are not likely to be much of a problem.  And neither should water sources.  Two, liter bottles will be plenty for the day.  You might only want more capacity for cooking at night if you are not camped by a source.

As for your other wonderings, flowers may just be beginning to pop out in some places.  Weather can be all over the place … dry and warm, to cold and wet, and everything in between.  April can be a real topsy-turvey month in the mountains.  Oh yeah, take sunscreen!  If the leaves haven’t popped, you can really get toasted.

Happy Trails.   The Foothills is a good one!

[Bill in Roswell]

Mid April in the Piedmont is start of tick season. 3000 ft and higher not a problem. Smart AT hikers spray clothes and gear with permithrin. Spray your skin with Picaridin (doesn’t numb your lips or melt plastic). Ticks are bad once leaves are out which started already. Within 2 weeks leaves will be full below 2000 feet elev.

 

[Dalton Cooper]

I did discover permetherin last spring and it’s amazing – thank you for reminding me about that since I totally forgot! Ticks are annoying but at least they aren’t carrying Lymes Disease in the south (in theory, anywho – last rumor I heard was that LD made its way down to Virginia). Have not yet tried picaridin (use lemon eucalyptis oil or nothing at all) but have heard enough good things about it that I’m open to giving it a go – was actually going to get some before a hiking trip this weekend.

Unrelated to my original questions but is it just me or are Southern mosquitos not as aggressive as the ones up in the Northeast and Pacific Northwest? Even though the season’s longer and there are more six-legged friends, I don’t think I’ve yet to experience anything worse than North Cascades NP swarms – those things are vicious (honorable mentions go to the bugs of the Adirondacks and literally anywhere in Vermont/New Hampshire).

[Brad Rogers]

Mosquitos are existent nearly year round, but they are not the same vicious breeds you see some places (that seem to have shorter seasons) .

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