How We Found It: It’s a prominent feature in a small South Carolina town called Fort Mill, a few minutes south of Charlotte.
Date and Distance Hiked:
3/25/12, 12-14 miles
6/9/12, 7 miles
Find the Trailhead: Lots of entry points; see the Leroy Springs website.
Map: Free maps at the main trailheads. Allow time for unintended detours because trails are NOT well marked, and the map isn’t great either.
Bathroom Situation: Park facilities at many of the trailheads.
Fees (How Much/Where): $3 per hiker. Drop cash into envelopes at the main trailheads with a tear-off stub to carry with you as a receipt.
Our Route: We did the Blue Star from the Leroy Springs Complex to a car we left at Lake Haigler (on the side of the lake opposite the picnic area), with many detours due to silly trail map and confusing trail marking.
What Nobody Told Us: The trail is very poorly marked, and the map is so confusing that it can actually do more harm than good sometimes because it contradicts trail markings. Our hike in March took four hours because of wrong turns. On our second try in June, what looked to be a longer route on the map took 2.5 hours, with almost no detours because we knew where we were going this time.
Bring cash for trail fees. You can bypass trail fees by becoming a Friend of the Greenway, but do this to support the greenway and not for cost savings, because while a hike is $3, individual membership is $65 annually.
Hike Highlights:
• Railroad bridges and other urban features like old road beds that remind you that this land has had many reincarnations.
• Great, bouncy suspension bridges.
• A sense of being in the middle of nowhere even though you’re in the middle of Fort Mill, SC.
• Meadows with horses and other farm animals as you near the Dairy Barn area.
• Historic cabins around the Dairy Barn with interpretive signs describing Fort Mill settler history.
Blue Ridge Dayhiking 