Gaff Point hiking trail. Located on the south side of Hirtle’s Beach. This fun little beach I discovered, of course, while scrolling through facebook. A friend had made a post about a secret beach located on the Gaff Point hiking trail. So I rounded up some friends and away we went for the day.
The trail head starts at the south side of Hirtle’s beach. Eventually the sand ends and you are walking on beach rock. There is a trail that leads up off the beach and onto the edge of a private residence. They are kind enough to allow you to walk through instead of trying to hike over the roughest part of the rocks area. Be sure to close the gate when you leave because they have horses that are sometimes out in the pasture.
Once you come to the end of the beach you will see signs that show you where the trail starts. The total hike is about 1.5 hours around the point. The fun part is trying to find the path that leads to the secret beach. We did not realize, but we passed the trail on the first attempt at finding it. We could see the beach from another point along the trail, so we circled back. The main trail is well groomed and marked. At about 1/2 hour in you can see a few different paths that break off from the main path. These are the trails that lead to the secret beach.
Once we circled back, there were a few different options to choose from. I think we got lucky… because I did feel like we were going in circles before finally we came out to the edge with the rope that leads down to the beach.
It was a beautiful hot and sunny day when we went. Hiking through parts of the trail was extremely hot. It was a nice relief to get down to the beach. The rope is thick and easy to use to get down and back up.
I have hiked this trail twice, but only found the secret beach once. The beach was rough the day we were there. The shore line gets deep fast. The cliff edges have small amounts of water that trickle down like little water falls. It is very magical. I would love to spend the day here. Hike down with a picnic, and hang out.
I recommend this hike. The shoreline is rugged and the views are beautiful. I would class the hike as an easy to moderate hike.
Maritime beach blogger 