Every Bit The Journey

The journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step, and this is mine.

Montana Mountains

Tag: StatePark

2019 Palmetto Challenge

He doesn’t know yet …

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On March 3, 2019

In 2019 Palmetto Challenge, Hiking & Camping in South Carolina, SC State Parks, Travel

I signed us up for the 2019 Palmetto Trail Challenge and Radar is going to be my plus one. He just doesn’t know it yet.

This 48 day event is hosted by the Palmetto Conservation Foundation (PCF) and is intended to inspire teams to hike or bike as many miles as possible between March 11 and April 28 “on the state’s trails, greenways, sidewalks, and hallways” (yes, they said hallways).

This is great motivation to get out and hike more. I needed some trail time to help me prepare for this summer’s Appalachian Trail section hike with our volunteer group this summer. I’ve been doing fair amount of daily walking (along with other fitness stuff) around the neighborhood, but I want to get out more and see some of the local trails too. The challenge sounds kind of open ended if it includes “hallways” but I intend to use the challenge to close some of the trail section gaps I have in the Palmetto Trail, as well as hit the local trails around me. For Radar, he loves taking walks and hikes with me. He regularly walks with me in the neighborhood and we have done a couple day hikes in state parks like Lee and Croft, he has been a really great trail partner. With this challenge I hope to include at least one overnighter with him. I fully expect to work him (and me) up to both our longer hikes and our first over night camping experience. This should be a great learning experience for both of us. I’m excited for him. He just doesn’t know it yet but he’ll be excited too.

Radar sporting his Ruffwear day pack
Radar Radar sporting his Ruffwear day pack

So, whats a challenge without a goal? I’m going to put 200 miles on the table as our goal. We’ll see. I thing it’s obtainable with enough stretch to be motivating. But I’m not including any hallways.

Each week the teams send in their prior week total mileage, it gets recorded and displayed on the PCF website to help motivate the other teams. It seems last years participants hiked 8,000 mikes. If you are interested in taking up the challenge, then March 4th (noon) is the last day to register!

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Good News for South Carolina State Parks!

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On February 20, 2019

In Canoe, Hiking & Camping in South Carolina, SC State Parks, Travel

But why isn’t this it’s own news story?

In today’s local paper, it was reported state tourism is at record levels “marking six years of consecutive record-breaking growth for the state’s visitor industry” according to the Post and Courier. Buried about half way through the article was a couple paragraphs indicating the state park system has “become almost entirely self-sufficient.”

Traveling across the country, I’ve often camped at parks. They are a welcome change from the commercial overcrowded main-stream lodging options. I love state and federal parks, there is so much hidden beauty and history in them. When I first moved to South Carolina over twenty years ago, it was readily apparent the states parks were under funded and under maintained. Kind of like a well worn deck of playing cards, a bit worn around the edges. Heck, some were out right in horrible shape. Colleton State Park was little more than a gate with a dirt road to the river front. Today it’s a little gem in the South Carolina crown of park jewels. This rise from the dust didn’t happen overnight and improvements across the state seem to be ongoing. A lot of hard work by dedicated park rangers have elevated each park from dependency to independence.

Having a park system which is paying their own way is a huge plus-up for the state. With over $30 million in park revenue last year they are just about paying their own way now and still improving. The powers that be are to be commended for the long hard trail to self-sufficiency they have been hiking. Support your local parks system, Come Out & Play!

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