Having frequented Paris Mountain State Park a lot for almost 8 years and now living in very close proximity to it, the trails are very familiar to us. However, I consistently hear friends and acquaintances share confusion about which trails to take or what goes where. I think any unfamiliar trail area can feel that way. So, I want to dedicate a few blog posts over the next several months to our favorite trails and loops at Paris Mountain. We are always trying to get people to try trail running/hiking and excited to hear about friends who are wanting to get outside more, so hopefully this will take one obstacle (the where should I go? conundrum) out of the way and help make it more accessible.
First up, is one of our favorite all-around trails, Sulphur Springs a 3.8ish mile loop trail. It is definitely not the easiest trail, but it is beautiful and varied. There is decent elevation gain in either direction, but that means you get a significant downhill both ways as well.
Getting Here: The best spot to start this trail is from the Picnic Shelters 5&6 parking area. These shelters are located around 2 miles from the park entrance. Sulphur Springs trail is a loop with one end of the trailhead located near the creek in the parking area and the other end located directly across the street from the parking area and picnic shelters. I would recommend starting on the hike-only section of the trail that is closest to the bridge and the shelters. It winds along the stream about a half mile before reaching Mountain Lake, a smallish body of water with great reflections of leaves and sky and an old rocky dam that creates a small waterfall. This is a nice turnaround point if you don’t feel like tackling the whole loop.
Final ascent to Mountain Lake
Mountain Lake
If you decide to continue, you’ll go along the rocky side of the lake and continue to cross a couple of streams and gain some decent elevation. This is the toughest part of the trail, but it is really lovely and you can hear the rushing creek all along the way and see it tumbling down in lots of different places. Once you get to the top, you’ll dead end into a wider trail and turn right to continue down Sulphur Springs. If you go left, you are taking another little trail called Fire Tower. It’s not super long so if you wanted to add on a bit (about .8 miles round trip), you could. It’s an out-and-back trail so you come to a dead end at the top of it, turn around and continue down Sulphur Springs.
This part of the trail is wide and gently downhill, a wonderful respite after the climb you’ve just completed. Take it all the way down to an upper parking lot which you will cross to continue the trail. This can be a little confusing the first time, but it is marked and if you know it’s coming, it’s no big deal. Once you’ve gotten on this final stretch, you have a lot of swooping switchbacks that propel you down the mountain and back to your starting point. You will come down a final small hill that throws you out beside the road across from the parking area where you began. You’ve just completed an awesome workout!
Upper Sulphur Springs Trail near the final descent
Good to Know: The Sulphur Springs Trail has portions of it (roughly the first half as I described it) that are hike-only. This means there shouldn’t be any mountain bikers to watch out for; however, when you come to the top of the mountain and head back down you should watch out for bikers as they can come up pretty quickly on the descending switchbacks. Also, be sure to take water on this trail particularly in the summer or if hiking. The distance is not super long, but as mentioned the elevation change is not insignificant.
Where to Eat: If you need some refueling, I’d recommend our go-to post-run meal: pizza. There are some great options around, but one of our current favorites is Swamp Pizza. They use local ingredients, delicious scratch made dough, and a brick oven to create some of the best pizza in Greenville.
Keep looking for adventure far and nigh!
A couple of weeks ago we went on one of my favorite South Carolina runs of all time. My ideal run is challenging, but not demoralizing, extremely beautiful and interesting all along the way with plenty of variety and an incredible destination that helps pull you along and tempts you further. Also, it’s within a reasonable distance (no more than an hour or so) of decent pizza so you have hope instead of despair as your bloodsugar begins to crash and you realize you’re very underprepared in the snack department. :) This had all of that! It was magnificent.
The run wove along Laurel Creek, which trips and plunges over the rocks, criss-crossing the Foothills Trail until it gushes off a cliff at the end. It culminates with an 80 foot high waterfall plunging into Lake Jocassee, the pristine mountain lake in 
Good to Know: There really wasn’t much cell phone service in this area, so be prepared for that, take a buddy, and tell someone your plans. Bring water and snacks and wear good shoes with traction even if you’re not running. There is a decent amount of elevation change over the course of the run and some places are quite steep but it is well worth the effort!
This scenario played out multiple times, but ironically, by the end of every run on this trail, we would always forget that the first half was somewhat challenging and log the run away as basically flat and pretty easy. Then we would come back to it months later and wonder how we ever arrived at that conclusion–until the massive gradual downhill hit again, boosted our energy, and supplied so many endorphins that once again we forgot that we climbed uphill for more than 4-5 miles.
Over the past few years, my husband and I have run, hiked, camped, and explored this area in multiple directions. I will be sharing several adventures from this place, but I had to begin with our most recent new discovery: The Rim of the Gap trail. I have seen this intriguing trail name on the map since we began coming to Jones Gap; however, that interest was tempered by some things we heard early on about its high level of difficulty, several bear sightings, and its closure during the winter because of ice accumulation. The rumors made it feel ominous, intimidating, out of our league and far more wild than your average South Carolina state park. So on this rather muggy May day, we were not expecting to just take a little jog on this crazy beast of trail, but that is exactly what ended up happening.
Far and Nigh 