Table Rock State Park Visitors Center — Attraction in Pickens

Wanted to hike, and this was a great place for it. Stopped at visitor center across the street next to the lake, and the staff was super friendly, had maps, and great advice. Across the main road is the camp sites, a lake to swim in, concessions, and trailhead.

There is a building with bathrooms and a little store at Trailhead. You are required to sign in with info about you in case you don't come back. There was a disclaimer that if you don't do this and they have to rescue you ($$on you for rescue), they were actually doing a rescue when we arrived. At the trailhead is a bunch of info and important was 3L of water a person for hard trails. We brought that and drank it all (July 3 80-90 degrees).

We did tablerock trail, 3.6 miles each way. It's a tough trail, lots of climbing (about 2000ft elevation). Now we saw some young guys running it, older people and kids doing it, but I am in decent shape and it was tough (and I am sore today!) When you get to the top (elevation wise), it's marked with a sign but the trail keeps going. Back down for a while to a rock overlook. Follow to right for a view of a large lake. Great accomplishment.

On the way back, we saw a copperhead on the trail that we almost stepped on.

The waterfalls at the beginning are really nice and all in the first mile, so if you want, just see those and turn around. The first waterfall is great for a photo op!

The trails are NOT handicap accessible. Also, I brought food, a first aid kit, Chem lights, flashlights, Swiss army knife, emergency blanket, etc, in case we got stuck out there. I can only imagine if you need rescue it will involve a lot of resources and take lots of time. While I wanted to be prepared, we did see a lot of people along the way but you never know!

When we got back, we stripped the sweaty shirts and floated in the lake for a while. Wonderful reward! Bring a complete change of clothes and towels with you!

I love outdoor adventures, and this was an...

Lake view is so peaceful. I loved chilling sitting in the visitor center’s rock chair by the lake at night just enjoy the breeze and the lake view. Primitive campsites are okay, but only potable water access nearby is their water pump near pit toilet. And despite minutes of priming, the water is still full of rust flakes. I wouldn’t even like to wash hands with it. But the visitor center opens 8-6 every day and they have fresh water for drink and cleaning so that helps. Other than the water source, I’d say this place is...

Took my pupper for an outing to Table Rock yesterday and we had a blast. He is a 10 month old Bernese so a very big boy and we did the Carrick Creak trail. His first real hike and we are definitely doing more!! My only caveat is the trail difficulty is a bit harder than represented by the staff. So plan for deep stairs and slippery rocks to cross over some of the creek. Nothing major if you are steady on your feet but for someone with mobility issues make sure...