Just a quick aside. It’s been a busy first half of the year and the time has just gone by way too fast. I’m working on a several projects right now, a couple with work and at home. So the year has whizzed by. I’ve also recently had a woman’s group reach out to me, wanting a guided hiking or backpacking trip some time this fall. This sounds like a great opportunity to get out and explore. We’re still way early in planning, I’ve provided a list of possible weekend trips. I’m just waiting to hear back on the kinds of trip they are interested it. This would be a really awesome event if it all comes together. I haven’t had a really good escape to the woods this year yet so I’m looking forward to hiking this fall. I need a trip Radar can come camping with me. My next scheduled outing with my volunteer group will be to Lake Moultrie next month. Small boat sailing is on the agenda and a little lake time in August might just hit the spot.
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I’m heading out this weekend for a backpacking hike in the foothills of upstate South Carolina. I’m leading a small mixed experience group of hikers on this trip. One common question of new hikers is “What do I need to pack?” My answer is usually far from black and white. Specific gear recommendations can be very personal and individualized. I’ve seen people walk in to an outfitter and buy “everything” (from pack to socks everything) new all at once and I’ve seen people stuff what they have in a duffle they and hike the weekend. The bottom line is everyone is a little different and the same gear doesn’t work for everyone. I tell people to look around, shop around, find the things you like and try it out. Hiking or backpacking gear doesn’t need to be the latest top of the line. You need to be comfortable with your gear and it needs to perform for you when you need it to work.
I’ve been working on my gear list for years now. A little here and there. I’ll try something for a while, change it out, try something new. Generally I look for more efficient or lighter as I go. The most recent change up is with my pack. I’ve moved off my external frame to try out an internal frame. The plus of my new pack is it’s half the weight of my old, The con so far is I’ve had to take a whole new approach with organizing my gear in a top loading pack. I’ll probably come back to this later in the year. But for now, this is my basic packing list for 2021. Feel free to take a look and leave a comment.
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The Lake Marion Passage is a 35.9 section of the Palmetto Trail, South Carolina’s long trail. I’ve hiked a few miles of the lower part of this trail in 2019 (Santee/Hwy 301 to Jacks Creek) before I started working full time again that year. I’ve also backpacked north on the High Hills of Santee Passage dozens of times over the years with my volunteer organizations.
On this day, Radar and I decided to hike the Lake Marion Passage from the Northern end for a few hours. With snacks and water for both of us in my day pack, we headed out South bound from the Mill Creek County Park Trail Head. Our section of trail was in fair to good condition and it was a great hike. It felt good to be out in the woods again. This section doesn’t appear to heavily traveled and we were by ourselves the whole time. The weather was great and cool enough the bugs weren’t an issue. As it’s spring everything was green. After heading out from the trailhead, we hiked in to the woods along the trail a little over a mile before we came across a long boardwalk/foot bridge over the swamp.
Lake Marion Passage – Foot bridge across the swampLake Marion Passage Wild Flowers
I think Radar picked up the swamp smell before we saw the bridge. He took off, bounding towards the swamp – until he started sinking in the soft mud. realizing the error of his ways, he high-tailed it back to the trail where I was laughing for him. After crossing the swamp via the designated foot bridge, the trail follows the land contour for about a mile, with cut forest on the East side and low ground and swamp canopy on the West. We picked a good turn around point where a dirt access road intersected the trail. Hopefully soon I’ll be back to hike more.
Lake Marion Passage water break
When hiking with a K-9 buddy, it’s important to include a snack and water dish in your day hike gear. I use a small collapsible bowl and carry extra water to share. On this trip I brought a small amount of his regular dog food for a his snack. After a short water and snack break at our turn around spot we headed back the way we had come. This time, Radar took the foot bridge over the swamp. But only about halfway. I guess he figured “Bridges – who needs them when you have the sweet cool savory wetness of the swamp?” and over the side he jumped. Swimming, chest deep, in to the cool mud to the other side of the swamp. Sigh. He couldn’t have been more happier.
Lake Marion Passage – a perfectly good foot bridgeLake Marion Passage – Swamp puppy
We didn’t have any real problems on this portion of the passage. While scenic, the Lake Marion Passage does have some broken sections. Be prepared to work around some issues if you hike the whole passage. Coming out of the town of Santee, there’s a 3 mile section which uses the old 301 bridge. The bridge was closed by SCDOT “indefinitely” in 2017. The only current work around is to catch a ride on I-95 over the lake. Old River Road bridge over the Halfway Swamp has been washed out long enough for the trail to be rerouted along local roads. And depending on the lake levels, some of the trail along the lake shores may be underwater or very soggy.
Hiking Lake Marion Passage trail with Radar
Overall, this was a great in and out 5 miles round trip hike. I’m looking forward to picking up this trail where we left off.
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Last year, for reasons we’ll not discuss, the Palmetto Trail folks didn’t have an annual hiking challenge. Well this year they are making up for it with a get-21-hike-in-10-months challenge. Oh and the hike need to be on the Palmetto Trail. So I signed up for a fresh hiking start for the new year with the 2021 Palmetto Trail Challenge.
The Palmetto Trail is South Carolina’s long trail. When finished it will run about 500 miles from the mountains to the ocean. Of the currently open sections I’ve completed about a third of the passages so far. Some passages I’ve hiked a dozen times, most only once.
After a year of being trapped inside, I’m looking forward to finding my hiking boots and getting them a bit dirty again. I’ve already completed some sections of Palmetto trail and am hoping to use this challenge to motivation me to stitch in some new sections. But this years tasking will be a bit challenging with my full time job and volunteer schedule. I’ll need a plan to hit those 21 trails in 10 months.
Southeastern Montana is a weird mix of wide open plains, constrained by fences, huge rolling hills, with sparse stands of pines. I am impressed with the scale of the wilderness here. This little corner of Montana feels like it’s a big cattle state. There are fences for cattle everywhere, there are even cattle crossing gates or guards getting on and off the interstate. Even the buffalo are fenced in. The deer and antelope may play but it’s not a free range world anymore. Welcome to Montana.
Landing in the great state of Montana was with a bit of apprehension as the temperatures had dropped and were running below zero our first couple days. Neither of us were ready or prepared for the early morning negative degree temperatures. Who in their right mind would think -7 degrees would be somewhere people would like to live?
Day 1 in Montana – Super Cold!
A little back story is probably due here. My brother is an avid hunter and this year was able to pull a long awaited Elk tag in Montana and had asked me along for the journey. This is actually the third (see An Elk-tastic Adventure) such adventure my brother and I have done. I drove up and met my brother in Virginia where we flew out to Montana. On our first day out in the woods was an every-layer-you-could-wear kind of day. Fortunately, for me at least, the temps over the next week rose to a way more tolerable level with lows running in the low 20’s and 30’s.
Over the course of the next 10 days, our daily routine typical consisted of awake at 5 am, packing gear, making lunches, and get ready for the day, on the road by 6 am. With a quick breakfast sandwich and coffee, we would travel to an area to explore. In the morning, we would hike in (and often up too), hike out, return to vehicle, find an area to explore for the evening, return to home base and repeat.
Mountains of Montana
After several days of coming up empty handed, we picked up a “hot tip” from another hunter so we thought we would give it a go. This particular day started as most, with an early morning wake-up, pack up, on the road, and into the woods all in the dark. We’re about halfway through our trip at this point and the hot-tip indicated elk may be hiding in the basin on the other side a tough hike up and over more tough terrain. The route in was described as just over a mile and a half in, but it came with 1500 feet of evaluation gain. Logic indicating if it’s hard to get to, that’s where they elk will be. So off we headed.
The weather was still cold as we hiked partly up an old logging road in to the pine woods. As we slowly made our way up the snow covered trail of the old road, we were even successful in jumping a few deer. This told me we were stealthy enough to get close, we weren’t making too much noise, and if there were deer, maybe there would be elk. We saw lots of track crossing our path, but not much more after the deer. The old logging road passed through the forest to open hillside, the snow and road faded on the high side of the forest, giving way to a game trail at a fence line. We followed the well traveled game trail, continuing up and over another hill as the day warmed. The game trail eventually lead to a rock peak.
We ate a lunch here under the large tree near the ridge.
We had started hiking from around 7100 feet and went up to about 8600 feet. As a short hike goes this sounds easy but it took us a few hours to reach our peak. The peak looked over a basin as promised, with more and more peaks continuing after it. The view in to and across the basin from the peak was awesome, there was just one thing missing. Elk. This particular basin, like the vast majority of the areas we explored in Montana, while promising, was void of game. We sat on the ground under the large pine near the ridge, ate our lunch, and contemplated the ways of nature before we headed back out and down the way we had come.
On one of our treks out to the wilds, we were able to do one of the neatest things, at least from my perspective. We were working an area west of Lima and we were able to hike out far enough to set foot on some hiking trails leading to the Continental Divide Trail (CDT). The CDT is one of Americas long trails running 3100 miles from Mexico to Canada along the Rocky mountains. While I’m still section hiking the Appalachian Trail, being able to step out on to part of the CDT was huge motivation to keep on hiking. It’s one thing to be tromping around in the Montana wilderness, it’s another to walk along a trail you know runs across the country from bottom to top. It’s a little hard to explain the difference here, but just walking along the hiking trail for even a few hundred yards, made the trip worthwhile for me.
For almost two weeks, we hiked up and down seemingly countless trails, bushwhacking across hill and mountain sides, stalking, standing, siting, waiting, up early, home late, looking very hard for the elusive elk we had traveled so far to tag, all to no avail. For the last hunt day of our trip, we had followed another “hot tip,” (law enforcement had to close one of the interstate roads to allow a heard of elk cross) wo we had been working this valley area. We had selected a promising river basin area we suspected the elk were traveling to and from. Up and in the field early again, we crept our way in, hunkered down and waited. After the sun was up, we stalked around a bit, but to no avail. By lunch we were back at the car and ready to head back to the hotel and pack up for our flight home the next morning.
As fortune would have it, we had just pulled on to the interstate, traveling east, when we spotted the elk. not just one or two elk. not a dozen elk. But a whole herd of elk, maybe herds of elk. Possibly all the elk in Montana (probably not but it looked like it). There were between 200 to 300 elk, sitting safe in the middle of a private field, eating clover, sunning themselves, watching the world go by, not a half mile from the interstate.
All the Elk in one place, in the open.
We pulled off the road and were both laughing. The elk knew what was going on, they knew where it was safe to hangout and enjoy the day, waiting for dark. We watched the hundreds of elk lounging safely in the field for while, then we headed back to the motel to pack for our flight the next day back to Norfolk. With no elk.
Mt. Mitchell (6684′) & Waterrock Knob (6292′) are in the bag. This was as much an impromptu therapy couple days as much as anything else. It felt good to get out and go (highly recommended).
I had read about the southern sixer’s and decided to go out and try to bag a couple. Unfortunately, I had some pesky obligations for Monday (work), so I had to box in my plans down to driving up Saturday to North Carolina from Dorchester, South Carolina, hike a couple peaks, and then drive home on Sunday.
Normally I like to do a whole lot more planning when I’m heading in to somewhere new. This time I pretty much just hit the road, I had not really scope out the trails, or much of anything else, so I didn’t know what to expect when I arrived at the trail heads. This worked against me a little where I had wanted maybe a little more trail time and hit another peak or two, but the unknown added to the sense of adventure too. It ended up with me really not too sure where to pick up some of the trails to another nearby peak until it was too late in the day. This was still a really good trip. What I did know is Mt. Mitchell is the highest peak east of the Mississippi, I figured I would go there first.
I basically just took my backpack (just in case), a change of clothes, some dog stuff an hit the road with Radar as my co-pilot. It felt like I had loaded more stuff for Radar than me, but I think I’m just a better packer than he is. Radar (with the help of Mr. Garmin) was able to expertly navigate us from the house all the way to the Mt. Mitchell visitor center parking lot without missing a turn.
Radar is concerned about my level of planning
The trip up from south Carolina up to Mt. Mitchell was pretty uneventful, for a 5+ hour drive. Radar and I got to the Mt. Mitchell visitor center parking lot around mid afternoon. The visitor center was amazingly nice with ample parking. We geared up and headed out and up the mountain. Because of my lack of extensive trip planning, I really didn’t have a good idea how far it was to the summit, I found the hike from the visitor center parking lot summit trail head to the summit was incredibly difficult (just kidding, it was surprisingly easy!). The trail to the summit is actually paved and is an easy short walk for most people. The air was cool and a nice refreshing change from the heat in the low-country.
Radar and I submitted Mt. Mitchell about a quarter after 3 in the afternoon, on July 20th. The summit on this day was in the clouds, so visibility was pretty socked in – not really a whole lot to see. But then the view was not the prime reason I had come.
Summit of Mount Mitchell
I did not know this until I got to the summit (must remember to planning more), but Mt. Mitchell is named after Elisha Mitchell. He died on the mountain in 1857, trying to prove the elevation of this mountain. His remains are buried on the summit still. Mountain graves and memorials are not uncommon, I’ve seen a number while hiking over the years. I often stop and think about the person behind the plaque. What events in their life brought to where they ended up. I leave a stone to let them know they are not forgotten. I again left a small stone. This time; the name of a cousin of mine was engraved on the stone.
Several years ago I sadly lost a cousin and I had made a small memorial stone for him. In the back of my mind, I wanted to leave it on a tall mountain somewhere. I had brought this stone with me on this trip. It seemed fitting, so I left my stone on this high mountain, 6684 feet above sea level, discreetly near the summit of the highest peak East of the Mississippi River. Radar and I returned to our car and headed down and west along the Blue Ridge Parkway, towards Ashville, for the night.
We stayed in a pet friendly independent motel (which shall remain nameless – unless you ask) on the edge of Ashville. I had selected it on the internet strictly based on price. Radar took one look at the motel room, then me, and pleaded with me not to leave him there alone when I went for dinner. I couldn’t blame him. So we both headed out for some Mexican at restaurant with an outdoor patio. When we returned to the motel we took turns sleeping. I gotta say, they tried, it really wasn’t too bad, and it was an experience, but I likely will not schedule a return there anytime in the near future.
Anyway, Sunday we were up and out early. We had to head home but I wanted to try to bag a couple more peaks, if we could. Back on the Blue Ridge Parkway, we continued heading west from Ashville, towards Waterrock Knob. One of our high points on the way, was being able to claim standing on the highest park of the Blue Ridge Parkway.
The highest road elevation along the Blue Ridge Parkway
By the time we got to the Waterrock Knob visitor parking area, I knew we would be pressed for adventure time. There was supposed to be a trail at Waterrock Knob which ran across three or four peaks there. Unfortunately again, my (lack of) high level, detailed, planning would catch up with me. This peak also had an amazingly nice visitor center (they even let Radar inside) and nice parking. However, unlike Mt Mitchell, the trail to the summit of Waterrock Knob was not such an easy hike. The trail to the summit, while fairly short, just under a mile, it was a steep up hill climb. It felt good to work a little for the hike up.
Radar leading on the trail to Waterrock Knob
Like Mount Mitchell, the peak was also clouded in so the view was limited to the inside of the clouds. We hung out at the peak a little catching my breath. I tried to pick up the trail to the next peak, but really didn’t know where to go. With a limited time schedule and really not knowing the trails held me back from getting likely hopelessly lost that day. So we just explored the peak a little. Hidden in the grass and almost covered with dirt, we were able to locate the benchmark. With this as the days accomplishment, I felt good about heading back down. I told Radar next time he needs to research this trail stuff a bit more. During our decent we located a couple more trails which were likely candidates for some future hikes, but for now, we were done. It was time to head back home.
View from Waterrock Knob
Waterrock Knob Visitor Parking
Radar after hiking up Waterrock Knob
Radar surprisingly slept almost the entire way back home. It was nice to get out and back up to the mountains. Being on the trail even for just a little while, helps put things back in place. Over all, a very therapeutic and worthwhile trip.
It was raining when I started writing this post and it fits the mood. It’s been a bit busy in a lot of ways this past month for me and I’ve fallen behind my goal of more frequent postings.
I’ve had a few setbacks recently, which really do nothing to help in the writing category. Most notably, was the cancellation of our annual backpacking trip. Again. This is the second year in a row it’s been cancelled. I was really hoping to get some time in hiking a section of the Appalachian Trail, however there was some “dangerous” weather conditions forecast for our planned hike period. It would have made for a big fubar to bring new hikers into a week of really crappy, and potentially dangerous, weather, so discretion won out. But I feel like I should have gone anyway, even solo. My hindsight is way better than my foresight.
I had an idea and had applied for a federal grant to research a “save the world,” but I never heard back. I don’t think it was taken seriously by the big government givers away of money because I’m not affiliated with any major institutions of “higher” learning. Oh well. On an unrelated side note, if anyone is interested in crowd-sourcing atmospheric carbon capture using existing commercial building infrastructure, just let me know.
I also started teaching night classes again for the summer, which I do enjoy. Coupled with trying to set some sort of weekly gym-fitness routine, I was keeping busy. This was going well for the most part, but somehow still felt more like a place holder than anything else. Nice, but not hitting on all cylinders. So I went poking a stick in the bushes looking for some kind of a new job to explore. Besides, I felt a bit of positive cash flow would be nice for a change. Anyway, long story-short, I have just started working a new job. I’m grateful for the opportunity, yet I have a sense of being somewhat constrained by draft now. Unfortunately this may mean I loose out on an epic Utah trip this fall with my brother. We’ll see how everything shakes out.
Just because I seem to like trying new things, I’ve been bouncing around the idea of starting up a podcast too, but have held off. I have started listening to some really great sets, and they piqued my interest from the story telling perspective. I need to spend some time focusing on the direction(s) I want to take this. For now I think I’ll move this idea into the “future projects” file, maybe for when the rain stops.
We Completed the 2019 Palmetto Challenge and I figured I would give you a quick update on how we did.
Backstory: In March, Radar and I signed up for the 2019 Palmetto Challenge and I was very pleased to learn I could include his mileage with mine for this event. I had set a pretty arbitrary personal goal 200 miles for the seven week challenge.
How we did: We came in third place of the two member teams! We logged just over 298 combined miles together, which is almost a hundred miles more than my original goal. I only counted the miles where both Radar and I actually hiked together.
What we did: Together, Radar and I hiked just over;
7 miles of the Givhans Ferry State Park trails,
6 miles of the Congaree National Park trails,
10 miles of the Palmetto Trail,
and 139 miles of other local trails and around our neighborhood.
What I learned: The rules indicated you did not have to hike together, even if you were in a team. You could just gather the individual team members mileage and combine it for a weekly team total. The rules also did not limit you to just the outdoors and trails, you could count steps at work, at home, etc., basically you could count steps from the time you got up in the morning to the time you went to bed.
As we’re now in to full blown summer, remember to stay hydrated!
If you don’t get enough water, your body simply can’t perform as well and you could end up with heat related illness such as heat stress or heat stroke. Using a hydration bladder is way better than just bottled water. When people relying on just bottled water, they tend to wait until they are thirsty to get their water out and drink, then they gulp water. If you feel thirsty, your body is already becoming dehydrated. When using a hydration bladder you can sip continuously, greatly leveling out your water in-take and making staying hydrated easier. If you are sweating while hiking or working in the summer heat, remember you are dumping electrolytes too. You need to replenish them. Munching on salty snack as you hike helps keep both your energy levels up and replaces electrolytes you may be sweating out.
Carry plenty of water and a few snacks. Remember your pack will get lighter as the day wears on.
Radar and I hit the boardwalks of the Congaree National Park as part of our Palmetto Challenge and we were not disappointed. The last time I had visited the Congaree swamp area, it was the Congaree Swamp National Monument. There was just a basic visitor center, a few hundred feet of boardwalk, and an open field designated for camping. Congress did a great thing in 2003 when they re-designated the monument as the Congaree National Park.
Many improvements have been made as a result of the national park (NP) designation. The campsites have been upgraded to actual real designated camp sites with central latrines. There is paved parking and a new, much larger, visitor center which explains the history and importance of the entire Congaree basin. It’s here you can also pick up the map and narrative for the Self-guided Boardwalk Tour, which Radar and I did at the start of our walk. The best part of the the park improvements are expansion of the boardwalks and trails. There are almost two and a half miles of boardwalks with dozens of miles of foot trails winding deep through the rich swamp.
On the day of our visit, the weather was perfect. The trees were in their spring green and their high 130 foot canopy providing wonderful shade and a cool breeze. The river water however was elevated at just over 8 feet, and as part of the natural flood cycle, almost all of the low trails were underwater including a portion of the low boardwalk. We walked the low boardwalk out about a half mile to where the flooding waters took over. We stood at the waters edge and watched the water slowly making it’s way through the trees around us. It was kind of magical to be able to stand in the middle of a flooded, flowing swamp. We backtracked and followed the elevated boardwalk out to Weston Lake and then a little past where one of the trails intersected the boardwalk. The floodwaters prevented us from looping any of the trails this day, but we had a great time exploring anyway.
This park offers some great opportunities to explore a rare old growth forest, either afoot or afloat. You can hike deep in to the park on the River & Kingsnake trails. if you like paddling, you can take some amazing float trips through the swamp via canoe or kayak on Cedar Creeks and along the Congaree River itself. My first couple canoe trips in South Carolina were centered around the Congaree River and Swamp. My family and I canoed a very memorable 48 miles of the Congaree River, camping in the wilderness on the banks of the Congaree Park (National Monument at the time). The following month, I led a weekend canoe trek with my scout troop starting on Cedar Creek in the swamp and making our way out on to the Congaree River, again camping in the wilderness. Both trips were adventures in exploration of a wilderness not likely to be found anywhere else.
Conagree NP Weston Lake
As the largest remaining tract of old-growth bottom-land hardwood forest in North America, the Congaree National Park is a must-visit if you ever find yourself in the area.
Congaree National Park (120′) | SC 48 (Bluff Road) | Richland Co. | Hopkins, SC | 16 April 2019 | 6 miles | 106′ gain | Easy
Favorite Time of year: Spring and fall for camping.
Things to Know: Check the water levels prior to going, you can call or check the river gauges here. Please speak to a park ranger before setting a geocache.
Camping: You need a prepaid reservation for front-country campgrounds, you can make reservations through Recreation.gov or by calling 1-877-444-6777. Back-country camping is allowed please the the Camping page of the NP site for details.
Pet friendly: Pets allowed in most outdoor areas but must be physical restraint or on a leash not longer than six feet. Be respectful of others on the boardwalks.
Getting There: Congaree NP is in the midlands of South Carolina, just South of Columbia about 30 miles, East of I-26 and South of I-77, just off Old Bluff Road. It’s about an hours drive from the Charleston area.
