Swamp Rabbit Trail

The trail carries one of the best names in the country, and there is a real story behind it. In the late 1800s a rail line was built up this valley, chartered in 1888 and eventually running as the Greenville and Northern Railway between Greenville and the Jones Gap area near River Falls. The track was laid quickly and cheaply through the low, swampy ground along the upper Reedy River, and it was rough.

Passengers said the little train jolted and bounced over the poorly ballasted rails as it crossed the wet bottomland, hopping along like the swamp rabbits that live in those marshy banks. The nickname stuck: the Swamp Rabbit. For a century the line hauled freight and passengers up the valley, and Travelers Rest, an old stagecoach stop that had long served travelers heading into the mountains, thrived as a station on it.

By the 1980s and 1990s the mills closed, the storefronts emptied, and the railroad's day was done. Rather than let the corridor vanish, Greenville County began converting the abandoned railbed into a trail, and the Swamp Rabbit Trail opened in 2009, reviving both the old route and, eventually, the towns along it.

The northern hub of the trail is Travelers Rest, a small town that had faded with the mills and was reborn by the greenway running through its heart. Today its main street has cafes, bike shops, and gathering spots built around trail traffic, and parks like Trailblazer Park and Gateway Park give riders a place to start, stretch, and refuel. It is one of the clearest examples anywhere of a rail-trail bringing a struggling town back to life.

Heading south, the path runs beside the Reedy River, past farm fields and through the leafy campus of Furman University, whose lake and gardens make a scenic detour. Closer to the city it links a chain of parks and neighborhoods, following the river as it winds toward downtown.

The southern payoff is Falls Park on the Reedy, where the trail delivers you to the waterfall in the middle of Greenville and its graceful curved pedestrian bridge, one of the most photographed spots in the state. Being able to ride from a small mountain-foothills town straight into a downtown waterfall, all on a flat, car-free path, is what makes the Swamp Rabbit the pride of the Upstate.

You do not need to do the whole thing. The network stretches well over twenty miles, but it is broken up by parks and access points, so the smart move is to pick a segment. A classic outing is the stretch between Travelers Rest and downtown Greenville, but a shorter walk from any of the trailhead parks gives you the flavor just as well.

The surface is paved and nearly level the whole way, which makes it welcoming for casual cyclists, families with strollers, runners, and skaters alike. It is a shared path, though, so keep to the right, call out or ring a bell when you pass, and expect it to be busy on nice weekends.

Bikes are easy to rent in Travelers Rest and Greenville if you did not bring your own, and both ends have plenty of parking, restrooms, and places to eat. Bring water for the open stretches, start early on hot days, and give yourself time to stop at the river, the campus, and the falls along the way.

The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.