FNO Takes you to the state of: South Carolina
 
Where are you (park, forest, etc.)- Jocassee Gorges Natural Area

Nearest town (s)-  Greenville, SC and Asheville, NC

How long is this hike- You have a number of options. Most commonly just a half-day hike.

Miles-  5 miles roundtrip, but on the much larger Foothills Trail

On your personal toughness scale: 4. A little bit of elevation gives it a 4, but I believe I was encountered by a bingo club on the way down. And by that I mean I think it was a retirement community outing. And by that I mean that almost any athletic ability can pull this off as long as they take their time.

Tell Us About It-

Sassafras Mountain is the largest peak in South Carolina, topping out at a height 3553 feet. From my tenure on the east coast this is substantial, but the workout is put into perspective once you get to the summit. At the forested summit you can view the tallest mountains on the east coast (6000'+) a little further north in North Carolina. However this is a good test climb before you try for a larger peak.

To get here it is a pretty simple 45 minute ride north from Greenville. You have the option of stopping anywhere along the 77 mile foothills trail and making your trek to the mountain. However the most common route is stopping about 3 miles short near an area known as Chimneytop Gap. As you drive the windy road up towards Sassafras you will encounter a trailhead on both sides of the road. One is going west towards the lakes region, and the other side is going east towards Table Rock State Park.
 
You go east towards Table Rock and there is a gradual 2.5 mile climb to the top. The summit is 1900' above you at this point, but the incline is pretty forgiving. Your climb is mostly under the cover of trees until you reach a spine in an adjacent mountain. This area was clear cut back in the 70's and as unnatural as it feels, a lot of sunlight soaks this area. It seems as the first successional species are starting to mature, but it adds a strange bright twist to the hike.

After this area its a relatively easy mile hike to the summit. Sassafras Mountain is on the eastern continental divide. So one side of the mountain drains to the Gulf of Mexico and the other side drains to the Atlantic. Also Sassafras serves as a border between North and South Carolina. I learned this all at the summit given an opportune plaque next to a memorial bench.

Unfortunately that was about as exciting as the summit got. However I decided to explore the other path coming up and I stumbled upon a lookout. Little did I know that this whole route was drive-able. So really if you're not up for the challenge you can still enjoy the rewards via automobile. And you can park 20 feet from this lookout. As you probably hear often "the view made it all worth it". This was actually the first time I saw the lakes that separate South Carolina from Georgia from a mountain. For a fall day this was a nice choice for a day hike.

See any wildlife? Lizards and snakes. Only fitting for the south.

Would you recommend? Yes I would recommend. I am waiting for one of these posts to say "No, that rather sucked". But really this was a cool hike. It wasn't my favorite hike because you are in the tree line 99% of the time, but as I mentioned the lookout was well worth the workout.

Trail Tuesdays is a new weekly segment of Father Nature Outdoors. We realized that we have friends and colleagues all across the country so why not take advantage of their knowledge, and hear some fun stories in the process. If you would like to contribute to Trail Tuesdays yourself just go to the “Contact Us” page and let us know. In return we will reward you with a free FNO microfiber headband. We get to hear some awesome stories and in return we’re rewarding you just to go get some fresh air! That’s a win-win in our book.

FNO Takes you to the state of: Alaska
 
Where are you (park, forest, etc.)- Chugach State Park

Nearest town (s)-  About a twenty minute drive to the trailhead from downtown Anchorage, AK

How long is this hike- Mid- full day hike with the possibility of camping in a few very unique and special spots, but overnight would not be needed

Miles-  From Rabbit Lake round trip is probably about 14-15 miles  
             From Falls Creek 9 miles roundtrip

On your personal toughness scale: From both trail heads I would give this about an 8 with the route from Falls Creek being a tad bit easier.

Ok so for South Suicide peak,  I can not stress this enough you need to have a good idea what you are doing on this peak, because things can go south very quick.

Sitting at 5,005ft the peak is nestled back at Rabbit and Mchugh lake. From some spots in the city you can spot it and it may look a lot bigger than it sounds but most people tend to forget that Anchorage sits 100ft above sea level so there is still a lot of elevation gain on this peak.  Depending on which route you take it has its ups and downs.  If you decide to drive down the Seward highway to Falls Creek trail head things go up quick.  You will gain a lot of elevation within the first couple miles but it will even out back into the valley before the approach to the peak. I have done this route and it is nice getting a lot of the elevation out of the way first. 

 Now on this last climb I started at the Rabbit Lake trailhead.  From the gate to the lake is 5 miles and from there you will see the massive twin peaks ahead of you.  From here is where it will get interesting and you will test your ability.  There is not a trail from here up like on the falls creek approach, so you have to find what is easiest and where you have the least chance of falling to your death.  From the lake I hiked about another mile down to upper Mchugh lake and found and area where I could shoot up to the ridge.  Now this is no easy task because you're looking at about close to a thousand feet of elevation in probably about a half mile so it gets very steep.  One loose foot hold and it will be a long fall down.  From here you will follow the ridge all the way up to the peak, but with that said- watch your foot steps.  On the ridge there are big drops on either side.  The climb up to the peak is not to bad, quite a bit of scrambling but nothing technical.  Once you are standing on top it makes everything worth it and you can really soak it in.  

Now for the route down-
This part is interesting, if you took the Falls Creek route you are set, just follow the trail you came up.  Probably the best route back to Rabbit Lake is to hike down the north side of the peak into windy gap and try to find an area of scree that makes it easy, but moving along the rocks down to this area can be interesting.  Once you make the trek down its an easy 5-6 miles back to the parking lot to live and see another day.

Wildlife-  At one point on the ridge I was able to look down on a group of dall sheep, so that reassures you that you are pretty high up.

How cool was it? On a scale of how awesome it is I would say anywhere from 8-10. It definitely is a trek back but once again please know what youre doing, dont be that guy that needs to get lifted off the mountain.

So who is the author? Zach Miley. Mr. Miley is a good friend to FNO. Father Nature Outdoors has a number of athletic and ambitious supporters, but its fair to say Zach is one to set the bar in these qualities. So if Zach tells you something is sketchy I think its fair to heed his advice. With that said we look forward to more hikes from Zach. Living in Anchorage he has access to some of the coolest hikes in the country.

Trail Tuesdays is a new weekly segment of Father Nature Outdoors. We realized that we have friends and colleagues all across the country so why not take advantage of their knowledge, and hear some fun stories in the process. If you would like to contribute to Trail Tuesdays yourself just go to the “Contact Us” page and let us know. In return we will reward you with a free FNO microfiber headband. We get to hear some awesome stories and in return we’re rewarding you just to go get some fresh air! That’s a win-win in our book...

FNO Takes you to the state of: South Carolina
 
Where are you (park, forest, etc.)- Table Rock State Park

Nearest town (s)- Greenville, SC

How long is this hike- Day trek, good half-day

Miles- 7 miles round trip

 On your toughness scale (1 easiest, 10 toughest)-  7. Being in good shape can only help on this hike. It is by no means restricting (I think a Pomeranian passed me on the way up), but it is one of the tougher hikes in the state.

Tell us about it- Besides my mosey around Paris Mountain State Park just in my backyard, this was my first hike in the state of South Carolina. For one of my first hikes here I was impressed. Coming from the D.C. area you have to drive a solid two hours to see any type of large hill that will give you a decent view. Therefore when I found this 3000'+ hill only 30 minutes away I was pretty thrilled. 

The start of this hike is awesome. You are greeted at the trailhead by a number of smoothly cascading waterfalls.

After you are teased with the idea that maybe this hike will be this casual the entire time, you are quickly brought to reality. You are given about a quarter mile where you trek alongside the stream and then you start climbing. You do not stop climbing much for the next mile and a half. About 1.5 miles going up the side of Table Rock you come to a small shelter with an overlook of the piedmont. While this is a cool view, it is trumped by the view from the summit so I won't spoil it here.

About 2-2.5 miles up things start to level off. That's when you realize that you're really about 1 mile west of the true summit of table rock. So then comes the next mile hike along the ridge that takes you up another couple hundred feet. You reach the sign marking "Summit of Table Rock" before you reach the views. Continue only another 1000 ft or so further down the trail and you come to the balds of Table Rock State Park.

These so called balds drop off over 1000 feet to give a lucky hiker a view of the more level country to the south. Table Rock State Park is the start of the "Blue Wall" where the piedmont begins to meet the Blue Ridge Mountains.

When I first hiked Table Rock I thought this area was the end of the trail. Then I saw a group of college-aged kids pop out of the trees behind me. They came from the other direction. Curious I decided to go that way. Little did I know that another few hundred feet down the trail you had an even better view to the northeast.

Understandably I was warned prior to my adventure not to stray too far from the trail. Well this next area explained the rationale behind the warning.

A few deaths have been recorded at Table Rock given visitors testing their luck too close to the edges. The guys pictured above are about as far as you would want to attempt. I rested at the top, ate some fruit, and enjoyed the weather up there. It's amazing how much a 30 minute drive and just a little bit of altitude can change the weather.

After a little relaxing I made my way back down Table Rock in about half the time it took to climb up. Overall, quite the enjoyable day.

See any wildlife? I am starting to wonder how much exists in this state.

Would you recommend? I would recommend this as one of my favorite hikes in the state so far. It's challenging enough so it is a good workout for the day, and it provides probably the 2nd best views I have seen so far in the state (Caesars Head State Park is taking the win).

Trail Tuesdays is a new weekly segment of Father Nature Outdoors. We realized that we have friends and colleagues all across the country so why not take advantage of their knowledge, and hear some fun stories in the process. If you would like to contribute to Trail Tuesdays yourself just go to the “Contact Us” page and let us know. In return we will reward you with a free FNO microfiber headband. We get to hear some awesome stories and in return we’re rewarding you just to go get some fresh air! That’s a win-win in our book.

Given a lead from a FNO fan we were directed to the YouTube sensation that is Andrew Ucles. Ucles is a 25 year old Australian student who studies Environmental Science and Wildlife management. Anything normal about his lifestyle seems to stop there.

Apparently in his free time he has managed to wrangle nearly every dangerous animal in Australia (and now Africa). His YouTube videos capture his exploits. For a little taste see the video below:

At first we saw this and couldn't believe it was real. But of course we had to keep watching. The more we watched, the more we were shocked by this guy. The fact that he has made it to 25 without being maimed by some of these animals is surprising in itself.

He is attempting to "connect with nature" and display the "delicate balance in our ecosystems". His techniques aren't so delicate but he is definitely starting to catch attention.  If you enjoyed the first video, take a gander at how he devises to snag a few rabbits from underground. This is how you use the food chain to your advantage.

And that lady and gentleman is Andrew Ucles.

Because Mother Nature can be a pain.

This week FNO takes you to the state of: New York

Where are you (park, forest, etc.)- The parking for Mount Baker is on the edge of Moody Pond, about a 20 minute drive Northwest of Lake Placid.

Nearest town (s)- Lake Placid, NY

How long is this hike- Day, overnight, backpack – The hike up Mount Baker is a simple afternoon hike. Not meant to be very strenuous, or an all day affair, but rather another remarkable viewpoint of the Adirondack area.

Miles- Approximately 1.8 miles

On your toughness scale (1 easiest, 10 toughest): 5

Tell us about it

So you’re in the midst of a road trip through the great Northeast. At this point in time, you’ve already navigated the trails surrounding Lake George, driven up Whiteface mountain, and of course taken a cruise on the historically rich Lake Placid. On the way to bigger and better things, you stop just a short ride Northwest of Lake Placid near Lake Saranac at Moody Pond. There is no parking lot, and most likely the residents of the neighborhood you have to drive through to get to Moody Pond will be walking their dogs or jogging around your car. Nonetheless, on the back right corner of the pond is the beginning of the trail that leads to the top of Mount Baker. 
 
The trail itself starts off much like any other trail, mostly level with cover from the maturing, overarching trees. Approximately .8 miles in, the trail starts a steady decline that continues for the remainder of the hike.  Be warned; if it is raining, or has rained the night before, the trail can be rather difficult given the amount of large rocks, and increasingly steep incline. So what makes this trail worthy or a Trail Tuesday slot?! Well, the view. If you're not exactly a seasoned veteran hiker, but you’re looking to experience those life reflecting views that most people only see in photographs, this is one of those trails. An hour later (20 minutes give or take) you’ll be at the top of Mount Baker, and you’ll see something along the lines of this….

See any wildlife?- Unfortunately, No. At least nothing past regular birds and squirrels.

Would you recommend? Yes.

How about according to the FNO scale-  I am giving this hike a 7, because of its seclusion, and the unexpected view/reward at the end of your hard work.

Tell us a little about yourself: Alex Crofoot. Has been hockey player, proud owner of all Apple products and a tuxedo cat.

Trail Tuesdays is a new weekly segment of Father Nature Outdoors. We realized that we have friends and colleagues all across the country so why not take advantage of their knowledge, and hear some fun stories in the process. If you would like to contribute to Trail Tuesdays yourself just go to the “Contact Us” page and let us know. In return we will reward you with a free FNO microfiber headband. We get to hear some awesome stories and in return we’re rewarding you just to go get some fresh air! That’s a win-win in our book.