We hiked the Cooper River trail from its trailhead to the Pete Lake trailhead, logging 9.7 miles and about 1100 feet of elevation gain. By the way, a lot of that gain, more than 400ft, occurs before the Owy campground, so either my fitbit is off (maybe by 200 ft is not uncommon) or the elevation gain of 400ft listed for this hike is an underestimate of a few hundred feet. This is not a big deal for most--it's not hard elevation gain, but it's more than you might be expecting. One of us was trying to avoid steep ups and downs due to a healing injury and it turned out to not be a problem since the ups and downs were short and spread out.
The trail was in good condition. There were a few muddy spots, a few small water crossings, and one big downed tree (with a gadzillion branches that you can't climb over or under) on the section of the trail between the Owy campground and the Pete Lake trailhead--you can take the road for this section instead, like we did. There is an outhouse at the Pete Lake trailhead, we didn't see any others on the trail, including at the Owy campground but I'm sure they had restroom facilities of some kind there.
The river was gorgeous when you could see it, and the Vanilla Leaf and Bunchberry were in impressive bloom. Various other wildflowers were blooming here and there as well. The bugs were not a problem in the morning, but by late afternoon they began to get a little pesky. The hike was mostly shaded from the much direct sun but despite this it is a very open and bright trail, giving you all the sunshine in the best way without roasting you on the trail.
This is a great trail to start you off on your hiking season!
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