Sasquatch crosses a wooden footbridge

His hunger must be fed

Day 3, Jackie's Branch Campsite to Bearcamp Creek Campsite

Wednesday, October 5, 2022

Maybe it was Frederick the Great who first said, "An army marches on its stomach." Many people claim the quote comes from Napoleon Bonaparte. It doesn't matter much who was the first to say the phrase, but I can tell you that the same thing is true about thru-hikers. We can't go far without getting enough to eat.

Weather Mostly sunny and warm, with temperatures from the mid-40s to mid-70s
Trail Conditions Many steep ups and downs, most with stairs or steps; long sections on old forest roads
Today's Miles 16.5 miles
Trip Miles 38.9 miles

I've referred to hiker hunger many times, a condition that usually happens after hiking for several weeks. Your body can't seem to get enough calories. No matter how much you eat, you crave more.

Hiker hunger never happens on the second day of a hike. Nevertheless, I was so hungry yesterday I needed to stop for lunch before catching up with Polecat and Sasquatch. The same thing happened to me today.

Polecat walks along a trail

I've been trying to wake up with enough time to complete breakfast and morning camp chores before Sasquatch and Polecat are ready to leave.

I got up a little too early yesterday morning, so I set my alarm last night 10 minutes later. That turned out to be about right. Sasquatch was ready a little earlier than Polecat and me and started a short time before us. We began hiking at 7:45 a.m.

A smooth footpath

We didn't get far down the trail before sunlight began to filter through the trees. The day warmed up quickly. Starting a big climb as soon as we left our campsite added to that warmth, and I didn't get far before needing to stop and remove my jacket.

The trail leaves a logging road

The trail was much like yesterday and the day before, frequently switching between single-trail footpaths and former logging roads. The old roads were always easier to walk because they made the elevation changes much more gentle.

I've gotten used to switching between single-track and logging roads. Whenever a trail changes to a single-track, I know a steep ascent or descent will likely happen soon. The only difference for this trail is that anything steep will include a set of steps.

The trail enters Gorges State Park

After walking nearly two hours, the trail crossed from South Carolina into North Carolina and entered Gorges State Park. The state purchased the land for this 7,709-acre park from Duke Energy Corporation in 1999.

The park was part of large tracts of land bought by Duke in the 1940s and 1950s that the power company intended to use for hydropower projects, some of which were never developed. Before Duke owned it, much of the land was used by Singer Sewing Machine Company to supply lumber for sewing machine tables.

Lake Jocassee

There was a lot to see on the walk through the park. First were views of an inlet of Lake Jocassee. The lake was created in 1973 when Duke Energy built a 385-foot tall, 1,750-foot wide dam in South Carolina. It impounds the waters of four rivers and several creeks.

The trail followed the lakeshore for 2.4 miles around the inlet where the Toxaway River and some of those creeks flowed into the lake.

Rock Creek

Rock Creek was the first of the streams to cross as I walked around the lake's inlet. A small footbridge was here, though it wasn't necessary. The creek had plenty of rocks to hop across.

Two-tenths of a mile from the bridge were several of the steps I mentioned. These took me up the side of a ridge. Then after continuing a half-mile along the ridge above the lakeshore, the trail descended more steps to where it again followed the shoreline.

I met a hiker named Papa along the way. He told me he had section-hiked the AT and a few other trails.

A bridge crosses Toxaway Creek

When I arrived at the next bridge, which crossed Toxaway Creek, I noticed some picnic tables nearby. They were in campsites that dotted the area.

No one was camping at any site, so I chose a table to stop for a short snack break. Before leaving, I collected and filtered water from the creek.

A bridge crosses Toxaway River

The bridge over the creek and the next bridge, which went over the Toxaway River, were suspension bridges. The name "Toxaway" is said to be derived from a Cherokee word that means "land of the red bird."

Roughly five miles upstream from the bridge is Lake Toxaway, another manmade lake. This one has a much longer history than Lake Jocassee.

Lake Toxaway was created by an industrialist and entrepreneur named J. Francis Hayes. He moved to western North Carolina in 1890 and soon began building hotels. One was on the top of Mount Toxaway. The lake was formed when Hayes built a 500-foot earthen dam to create an attraction for hotel guests.

Then in July 1916, most of western North Carolina was drenched by 10 days of rain. It came from two hurricanes that moved inland, one just days after the other. A third hurricane made landfall in the following month, bringing at least 20 more inches of rain to the area. So much rainfall in a short time was too much for Lake Toxaway's dam to hold. It gave way, unleashing five billion gallons of water.

The lake was drained. The resulting torrent flushed downstream, taking trees, rocks, and everything else in its path. Remarkably, the land below the lake was mostly uninhabited and there were no human casualties. A local legend says only a blind mule died in the flood.

The lake remained empty until 1961 when the dam was rebuilt for a golf community project.

The trail follows the shoreline of Lake Jocassee

After crossing to the other side of the river, a long climb on wooden steps led me up another ridge. The section along the ridge didn't go far before more steps took me back to the water level.

Then after crossing another creek that flowed into Lake Jocassee, the trail turned away from the lake and began following another old logging road. This was the start of a climb of 700 feet in 1.1 miles.

The trail passes through a thicket of rhododendrons

From the top of the climb, the trail continued for the next mile and a half with several small ups and downs. There were no views of the lake through the lush forest.

The time was now past 1 p.m. Though I was starting to get hungry, I didn't want to stop walking. I figured Sasquatch and Polecat wouldn't be far ahead and were probably waiting for me.

Finally at 1:45, I couldn't wait any longer. I still hadn't caught up to them, but my hunger could no longer be ignored. I stopped when I saw a log to sit on and ate my lunch there. The spot was a short distance before the trail left Gorges State Park and entered Toxaway Game Land.

Polecat and Sasquatch wait for Gravity

Polecat and Sasquatch were still waiting for me when I arrived at a campsite about 15 minutes after I finished my lunch. Perhaps I could have waited until then to eat, but I was famished and didn't regret stopping.

It was good for me to catch up with them, though. We were able to discuss where to stop for the night. Bearcamp Creek Campsite looked like our best option because it was near a stream. The other sites before it were dry.

Polecat and Sasquatch walk ahead

At this point, Bearcamp Creek Campsite was a little more than five miles away. I kept up with Sasquatch and Polecat for the whole distance.

We stopped when Polecat was stung by a yellow jacket. Though painful, it wasn't unexpected because yellow jackets often make their underground nests where the ground is bare, such as on a footpath.

I've been stung many times by a yellow jacket while hiking, and once or twice by several at a time. Nearly all of these happened around this time in the fall. Yellow jackets are especially aggressive in defending their nest now because their queens are mating and preparing for winter.

Sasquatch crosses the Horsepasture River

We crossed a bridge over the Horsepasture River at 4:15 p.m. This was another stream that flowed into Lake Jocassee.

Carrasan Power Company had been granted preliminary approval in the mid-1980s to reroute this river's flow for a hydroelectric power plant. Doing this would require destroying a large waterfall. Local residents organized a campaign to fight the project and succeeded in derailing it.

Horsepasture River

In 1986, 4.2 miles of the river upstream from the lake were designated a national wild and scenic river.

No one knows for sure how the Horsepasture got its name. There is more than one explanation. Both involve a place where local settlers hid their horses. One story claims the horses were hidden from Union soldiers during the Civil War, and the other says they were hidden from Cherokee Indians.

What we do know is the Civil War story was discredited when researchers found land records referring to a location called "Horse Pasture" that predated the war by nearly a half-century.

Steps lead around a giant boulder

The trail took us over several more bridges. We also went up and down more staircases. One set of stairs went past a giant boulder. A railing forced us to stay awkwardly and unnecessarily close to the boulder as we walked by.

late purple asters

I didn't expect to see many wildflowers this time of year, which turned out to be mostly true. Some late purple asters appeared in several spots along the trail this afternoon. They were the first wildflowers I had noticed so far on this hike.

Although it was a little too early for leaves to begin changing colors, hints of yellows and reds could be seen on a few trees.

A sign marks the halfway point of the Foothills Trail

Less than a mile before arriving at our campsite, we passed a sign marking the halfway point of the Foothills Trail. We had walked 38.1 miles so far and would have another 38.1 miles if we intended to go all the way to the FHT's western terminus in Oconoee State Park.

We won't be doing that, however. Instead, we will hike about 30 miles to a connector trail that will lead us to the start of the Blue Ridge Bartram Trail.

The last trail section before reaching a campsite

The last stretch to our campsite went along a nearly flat former logging road. I noticed some bear scat on the trail just before the campsite.

When we reached the campsite at 5:30 p.m., a hiker was already there and set for the night. Two more hikers showed up a short time later but didn't stay. Then two women arrived and set up their tents near us. Two men came into the campsite a few minutes later. Fortunately, there was plenty of space for all of us.

I ate a leftover snack bar along with my dinner. Even though I didn't have hiker hunger today, I realized I need to be more mindful of how many calories I consume.

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