Oconee State Park: Lake and Wormy Chestnut Trails (Blog Hike #254)

Trails: Lake and Wormy Chestnut Trails

Hike Location: Oconee State Park

Geographic Location: north of Walhalla, SC (34.86696, -83.10389)

Length: 1.3 miles

Difficulty: 2/10 (Easy)

Dates Hiked: October 2008, April 2014

Overview: A short hike with nice forest and lake views.

Park Information: https://southcarolinaparks.com/oconee
Hike Route Map: https://www.mappedometer.com/?maproute=943070
Photo Highlight:

Directions to the trailhead: From Walhalla, follow the directions in the previous hike to Oconee State Park.  At the first intersection, instead of bearing right and heading for the Foothills Trail, bear left and head for the park office.  Park in the large blacktop parking area between the park office and the lake.  The trail starts by the lake.

The hike: For my general comments on Oconee State Park, see the Tamassee Knob Trail blog entry.  While the other trails in the park offer longer trips into the park’s backcountry, this trail offers a short, easy walk in the park’s front country.  I had to hike the other trails in this park alone, but my mother and I were able to enjoy this one together.

Wormy Chestnut Trail trailhead near park lake

          From the parking lot, head downhill toward the lake and look for a wooden sign that says “Chestnut Trail;” it is located just beyond the picnic shelter to the left of the parking lot and the adjacent sand volleyball court.  As the arrow on the sign indicates, you should turn left and begin the Lake Trail with the lake on your right.  On the cool late October evening we hiked the trail, some colorful trees adorned the opposite side of the lake.

Hiking along the lakeshore

            0.3 miles into the hike, after passing another picnic area, the signed Chestnut Trail exits to the left.  Turn left to leave the lakeshore and begin the Wormy Chestnut Trail.  While chestnut trees would have once been common in this area, you will not find any large ones along this trail today, as almost all of them succumbed to the chestnut blight many years ago.

            The trail climbs moderately away from the lake, and soon the park road comes into view.  At 0.5 miles, the trail climbs a steep bank to intersect the road.  Angle right on the road and head for a small blacktop parking area straight ahead.  The Wormy Chestnut Trail continues on the left side of the road at the parking area.  Of course, you could use this parking area as an alternate starting point for this trail.

Climbing away from the lake

            The Wormy Chestnut Trail north of the park road forms a loop; we chose to turn right and hike the loop counterclockwise, using the trail straight ahead as the return route.  The yellow blazes you see here are for the cross-state Palmetto Trail, not the Wormy Chestnut Trail.  After about 300 feet of level walking, the trail uses an interesting stone dam to cross a small stream.  On the other side of the dam, the Palmetto Trail exits right while the Chestnut Trail, now unmarked, heads left through some young forest beside the stream.

Palmetto Trail blaze on Wormy Chestnut Trail

            At 0.7 miles, the trail crosses the creek on a footbridge and begins heading over the only hill on this hike.  A clearing at the top of the hill offers no views, and traffic can be heard on SR 107 through the trees to your right.  Ignore a side trail that exits right and continue straight, quickly descending back to the park road to close the loop.  Retrace your steps 0.2 miles downhill to intersect the Lake Trail, thus ending the Wormy Chestnut Trail. If time and energy permits, you can turn left and hike the rest of the Lake Trail, which as its name implies forms a loop around the lake.  Since darkness was closing fast on us and the Lake Trail never leaves the developed area of the park, we chose to turn right and retrace our steps back to the park office parking lot and complete the hike.