It’s day 1 of the hiking challenge and our first hike is in the bag.
I signed Radar and myself up for the 2019 Palmetto Challenge a couple weeks ago and today was the start of the challenge. Basically, the Palmetto Conservation Foundation (the folks who administer the Palmetto Trail) is sponsoring Palmetto Challenge to “inspire teams to hike or bike as many miles as possible between March 11 and April 28”. So “We” signed up. I wasn’t sure at first if Radar’s miles would count with mine, or really how the miles would be counted in the teams. Then I received a confirmation email last week with all the rules and etc. information. The best line in it was “Teams that have registered a dog as their team mate will be counting the mileage done by the dog during the week the same as a human partner.” Woot woot, Radar’s as good as a human! He’ll be so happy to hear.
We did our first hike for record today at Givhans Ferry State Park (more on this park later). In some parts of our area the leaves and flowers are starting to pop. The park however was really still in it’s winter colors with very little signs of spring. And despite a recent rain last night, every thing had a light yellow pollen tint, which is typical for us this time of year. I was hoping to see more green and spring colors today but I know their coming. Anyway, the weather was great as we headed out. We started with the River Bluff Trail, then rolled over on to the Old Loop Trail, and finally making our way back to where we left the car, just ahead of the rain, covering just over 7.4 miles.
Radar normally talks me in to going with him for a walk either around the farm or for a couple miles down the road at least several times a week. For this challenge, I knew we needed more miles, so I started a list of local hikes to draw from as well. Somewhere on my list is an overnight trip on the Palmetto Trail. Unfortunately, I think we’ll be able to burn up the available local trails pretty quickly and may need to do some new trails in the up-state. But this Givhans hike was first on the list. Beginning next week you will be able to follow team progress here. It was nice to get out in the woods walking and I’m looking forward to more hikes with my team mate.
Givhans Ferry State Park (123′) | County Rd S-18-30 |Ridgeville | Dorchester, SC | 11 March 2019 | 7.4 miles | 163′ gain | Moderate
#
2 Pingbacks