In the morning, we spent some time looking over our guidebook and we added up the miles remaining until the Bad Creek Access point. We realized that we had about 22 1/2 miles to get to our car, and just enough food for 1 1/2 days. It didn't take us long to realize that we HAD to get to the car by the end of Wednesday or we would run out of food. In order to do that, we needed to get close to 11 miles in today. Tuesday, Day 4 of our Foothills Trail hike began with a slow but steady climb away from our campsite, which was just after the Laurel Fork access to Lake Jocassee. The slope of this climb was not as steep as some others that we had encountered on previous days, and allowed us the chance to warm up before the tough climbs. At about 3 miles into the day, the trail quickly plummeted 600' to the edge of Lake Jocassee. At times the trail was so steep down that we felt like we were going to slide down the mountain; The last 1/4 mile was practically straight down the mountain, ending at the lake.

Shortly after meeting the lake and following to the north, we came to the Rock Creek campground. We saw for the first time, the large group of hikers that were ahead of us on the previous day. We reached the campsite at about 11, and the group of 6 guys looked like they had just woken up after a long night around the campfire. After a quick water stop at Rock Creek, we decided to press on for another mile before lunch. Immediately after crossing Rock Creek, the trail switches back to the left, then immediately to the right. The next 1/2 mile is rough... the trail climbs 500' mostly on stairs, and after a very short level stretch, drops back to the lake, again mostly on stairs. Who ever built 500 stairs into the side of the mountain must be mad! On the descent back to the lake, there is a bench part way down, and it is a great place to catch your breath and enjoy the view of the lake.

Just before Toxaway Creek, we came to several very nice designated campsites along the lake. We decided to stop at one campsite with a picnic table and a beautiful view out across the lake. This was a great place to stop for lunch, except for the cold, brisk wind coming in from the lake.

After our lunch break, we pressed on and quickly came to the large bridge that crosses the Toxaway River. This 225' bridge is the largest suspension bridge on the whole Foothills Trail, and really is a remarkable sight. Just as we were about to step on the bridge, a solo hiker came up behind us and caught us by surprise. It turns out, he was the 1st (and the fastest) of the hikers that were camping at Rock Creek. Little did we know that we would be hiking for the rest of today and tomorrow with these guys.

The rest of the day was not very eventful. We followed the lake for an enjoyable mile and a half, and then climbed away from the lake after the Canebreak boat access. This climb was not steep, but rather a long, and seemingly never ending 600' elevation change. The rest of the guys from the Rock Creek campground passed us while we took a quick break, and we spent the rest of the day passing them.

We finally wandered into the campsite at Bear Gap at about 4:30, having hiked for 10 1/2 miles. We were totally spent for the day, but we were surprised to find that solo hiker sitting at the campsite taking a snack. Our hearts sank, thinking that he had claimed the campsite for his group, so we quickly asked if he was planning to stay. When he answered that he was just taking a break, waiting for his friends, we felt a huge relief that we could unpack and setup camp

We started making our dinner while the rest of the group filed into camp. We overheard their conversations about one of their group that was struggling with sickness, and they started debating if they should end their hike here for the night. We kept our fingers crossed that they would press on, but felt sorry for their sick friend. In the end, the sick hiker finally caught up with the rest, and agreed that he felt well enough to go another couple miles to their campsite.

So, we hiked 10.6 miles on the day, leaving 11.8 miles for Wednesday. Today was our longest day so far, but tomorrow would be another mile longer. With only enough food to last until lunch tomorrow, we HAD to complete the hike. From the guidebook it looked like we only had 2 or 3 climbs left and the remaining hike should be just like the hike today. For the 1st time, we realized that we had developed a couple blisters, so we had to spend a little time pampering our feet. We went to bed, again listening to the weather radio and praying that tomorrow we  would make it to the car!