March 24, 2026
Foothills/Chattooga River Trails Pigpen & Licklog Falls and Beyond
near Mountain Rest, SC
Another "just-right" day for a hike with partly sunny skies and temperatures in the 40's to 50's. The trails were in very good condition showing recent clearing of a significant number of blowdowns throughout the hike. Surprisingly, the only location which had not been cleared was the area in front of the Pigpen Falls, the view of which which was heavily blocked by two large hardwoods . Although you cannot easily scramble down to the base of Licklog Falls, the views from the trail were better than in the past. There were not many wild flowers along the first two-thirds of the trail,. However, we did find a fair number of varieties in bloom as we hiked closer to the Chattooga River in the later third of the hike. The Chattooga River was quite beautiful and we enjoyed out lunch on a rock in the middle of the river just below a set of rapids. This hike was bit longer than I expected, but still was an easy to moderately difficult, out-and-back hike.
Today's Hikers: Terre Pratt, Don Pratt, Ken Kellerman & Toby, Edwin Pruitt, Londa Sprinkle, Alicia Morris, Lynn Hotle, Paige Watson & Toby, Bobbie Broussard & Toby, Jenny Bell & Mike Bell.
The route
8.3 mi · 991 ft climbing · 4h 29m out, 3h 59m walking · 2.1 mph moving
Elevation
Hover over the profile to see the elevation and steepness. Your position will be shown on the map.
- Steepness
- Gentle under 5%
- Moderate 5–10%
- Steep 10–15%
- Very steep over 15%
23 photos are shown on the map where they were taken — click one to see it full size.
Photos (23)
A view of the Chattooga River just above our lunch spot. Today's hikers (L-R) Back: Terre, Don, Ken & Cutie Pie, Edwin, Londa, Alicia, Lynn, Paige & Bear; (Front): Mike, Jenny, Toby & Bobbie. Getting started on a well maintained trail. As you can see there is lots of fresh debris that has been cut and moved off the trail. We're headed the right way. First stop is Pigpen Falls, but we were surprised by the amount of blowdown around the falls. It's going to take some time to clear the two very large trees lying across the area in front of the Pigpen Falls. Hey, but at least the bridge across Pigpen Branch is still there and cleared. The view of Licklog Falls is better than usual, but its not possible to easily get down to the base of the falls. Does this guy really know where he is going? A view of Licklog Falls from the east side of the branch as we continue on to the Chattahoochee River. First wildflowers of the day. Top: Robin's plantain & Bottom: Halberd-leaved Violet Too late for us. First views of the Chattooga River. A small, but still nice Jack-in-the-pulpit. The Trillium is not quite in bloom yet. More wildflowers with Phlox (L), Bluet (UR) & Star Chickweed (LR). More views of the Chattooga at our lunch stop. A great lunch spot out on the river. Ken (L) and Don (R) checking out the Chattooga River. Our trail-dogs, Cutie Pie (L), Toby (UR), and Bear (LR) are hungry too. A rather curious large fungus growing on this tree. Headed back from a really nice hike.