Hiking the foothill trails

“I finally got to go hiking on some of the foothill trails yesterday. Got to the parking lot at Laurel valley rd. due west of Pickens, SC. Gemini and I set out a little late not realizeing how far the drive was from Columbia SC. Starting at 1:15pm we hiked towards Laurel Falls ... but since we didn't have the time to hike all of the 8 miles one was we hiked the almost 5 miles to Laurel Fork falls and then turned back. The first 3 miles in to the fall was very barron..tons of leaves and the trees were far apart...we did see some wild turkies in flight..and even startled one and only heard it in one part of the underbush. Just when me and my friend were thinking we really disliked this trail after all the stories we heard about it being so beautiful we hit a new area...and wow it was wonderful.
The growth became more, and the trail was shadowed by the growth.. more rock formation and cooler near the upcoming creek. We had about 2 more miles to reach the falls... and we were truly enjoying the new area. Now we knew what everyone was talking about. We had 5 bridges to cross one made out of an old log and the then converted with side rails. The falls were breath taking..eventhough we didnt' get to the large falls called Laurel falls we plan on a return visit soon. Gemini and I hiked for 5.5 hours covering 10 miles not a bad day hike at all..”