Palmetto Trail

The Palmetto Trail is South Carolina’s first cross-state recreational trail. It is designed as an easy to moderate hiking and mountain-biking trail. When complete, the more than four-hundred-mile mountains-to the-sea trail will link Oconee State Park, near Walhalla, with the Intracoastal Waterway at Buck Hall Recreation Area, near Awendaw. Enthusiasts may choose to hike or bike the entire trail or accomplish one or two “passages” at a time.

Along the Palmetto Trail users visit South Carolina’s forests, parks, historic sites, wildlife refuges, the State House, a military base, and a variety of private and corporate lands. Highlights of the trail include open vistas of the Intracoastal Waterway, Lake Moultrie, the Wateree River, and landscapes ranging from rolling farmlands to mountaintops. There are waterfalls, boardwalks, historic sites, small towns, and barbeque restaurants. Hikers and bikers may see ospreys, eagles, deer, turkeys, alligators, and a variety of warblers, herons, snakes, turtles, butterflies, dragonflies, trees, and wildflowers.

The vision for the Palmetto Trail began in 1994 through the efforts of the nonprofit Palmetto Conservation Foundation, working with the South Carolina Department of Parks, Recreation, and Tourism. The trail is supported by the General Assembly, numerous public and private landowners and land managers, and corporate and private contributions. Trail construction has been aided by the many land managers, the AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps, the South Carolina National Guard, Santee Cooper, Boy Scouts of America, and many volunteer groups and individuals.

Lambert, Yon, Jim Schmid, and Oliver Buckles. The Palmetto Trail Lowcountry Guide. Columbia, S.C.: Palmetto Conservation Foundation, 2000.