Does anybody know what the running is like in Hilton Head, SC? The family is thinking of taking a vacation there in the spring and I'd love to hear some input. Any nice trails/grass to run on?
Does anybody know what the running is like in Hilton Head, SC? The family is thinking of taking a vacation there in the spring and I'd love to hear some input. Any nice trails/grass to run on?
Isn't that where the runner was killed by an airplane while running on the beach?
I guess I'll avoid the beach then. Any other suggestions?
You can run around on the island, but it's kind of boring. There's a pretty nice place just off the island to the north. Looking at the maps, I guess it's the Pinckney Wildlife Refuge. It's not a huge place, but you can definitely get an 8 miler in without too much repetition, and the surfaces are mostly unpaved from what I remember. Hope this helps.
I was there 2 years ago and ran every day, either 1) on the beach( great...... flat and hard enough, plus delightful to run that last half mile or so barefoot, just below the water line, carrying your shoes), or 2) on the golf courses. I'm sure they do not want runners on the golf courses but if you are somewhat low profile about it you probably won't get approached and asked to leave. Just stick to the rough and avoid the Clubhouses. I had no problem.
I ran about 85 miles there during a week vacation a couple years ago. It's a great place to run. I mainly stayed in our resort, Sea Pines, which had tons of shaded bike paths. The soft trails there had snakes and were too windy for fast running.
If you're in Sea Pines, the shaded trails are beautiful. I strongly recommend them.
Thanks for all the suggestions. A quick question about the bike paths - are they all paved? Is there grass/dirt on the side that you could run on?
I'm looking to get off of the pavement after a long winter of high mileage.
if you visit Savannah, which I'd highly recommend you do (probably a much more interesting place to visit than Hilton Head), you can run over the Talmadge Bridge (best early in the morning), around Daffin Park (dirt shoulder, 1.5 miles), and 12M away, on the way to Tybee Island (the nearest beach to Savannah), there is a 6M dirt trail (rails to trails) that is great for training.
The bike paths were all paved, yeah. There are generally trees on the grass, so you can't run beside the path.
The only decent soft trails consist of a 3/4 mile stretch by the horse stables. or the beach, of course.
Where will you be staying? It costs $5 to get into sea pines. They wont even let you run through the gate. The big guy with glasses is a prick. Lived there for a couple years and just recently moved to Bluffton. (right off the island).