GNHA HIKING CLUB

Welcome to the largest and most active hiking club in Upstate South Carolina. The Greenville Natural History Association (GNHA) has more than 800 members who day hike and backpack across the Blue Ridge Mountains of Upstate South Carolina and Western North Carolina.

It's easy to join GNHA, but it does take three steps to complete registration because our Meetup group has a $5 annual membership fee which will be changing to $10 annually starting January 1, 2026. The membership fee isn’t paid on Meetup. (Don’t worry. We’ll walk you through it.)

For the safety of our hike leaders and members, we have created a set of requirements that new members must complete to begin hiking with us. Be sure to follow these steps:

• Request to join the club on Meetup with a profile that includes your first and last name as well as a face-forward, individual profile image. This ensures everyone on a group hike knows who they’re attending an event with–including you.
• If you do not want to include your last name in your profile because of privacy concerns, we will allow you to create a profile with the first letter of your last name. However, it’s possible that an existing member may already have a profile with your first name and last name initial. If that’s the case, you will be asked to include an extra letter or your full last name so that we can identify you from other hikers.
• Once you join our club on Meetup, we will contact you to complete the payment process. You'll have the option to choose a one- or two-year membership starting at $5 per year ($10 per year starting January 1, 2026). Keep in mind that it may take up to a week to process your membership.

Once you’ve followed these steps, you can begin hiking. Be sure to review our hike rating system to identify the best hike for your fitness level. For our most strenuous hikes, you will need to contact the hike leader before joining the hike.

We also encourage you to review our safety guidelines. No pets or children under 14 are allowed on club hikes.

We are our club policies and disclaimers concerning pictures, videos, and personal contact:

- Photo Release: By attending GNHA activities, you consent to being photographed or video recorded. Images may be used in social media, websites, our meetup platform, newsletters, or other club-related publications. If you do NOT wish to appear in photos or videos, please notify anyone in your group taking pictures.

- Personal Contact: GNHA is an organization dedicated to facilitating hiking-related education and group activities. Any personal contact or interaction between members outside of official club events is an individual choice, and thereby neither connected to nor endorsed by the club or its organizers.