We returned to the Cape Trail at Santee Coastal Reserve, again. Groundhog Day? No. Was there anything new to see? Yes, always. At the parking area, my neighbor Brantley and I were the first arrivals, on this second day after the Cape Trail and its expanse of impoundments were open again to the public after […]
Rutledge Road was the last leg of the journey to the kayak launch. After Hampton Plantation, the road passed through the Germantown community before changing to dirt, and traversing Francis Marion National Forest and White Oak Forestry. Entering the swamp, I crossed the bridge over Wambaw Creek, and prepared for launching at the small landing.
We motored slowly along the edge of the island, looking for a suitable landing place. There was no dock, and the bluff along the North Santee River was steep in places and thickly grown over. We considered fallen trees as possibilities, but looking further a tiny beach seemed the best option. I stepped off the
Santee Delta drop off Read More »
It doesn’t take long walking on the Cape Trail to encounter birds. A group of whistling ducks congregated in the first wetland crossed. After passing through some cypress swamp and cattail marshes, the path left the upland and continued along a dike between wetlands.
Of the many miles of trails/roads to walk at Santee Coastal Reserve, there was no better place to begin than the path to the Washo Reserve. The entrance was right across from the parking area next to the primitive camping site; a kiosk provided maps and info. (See Santee Coastal Reserve Trail map.) The sky
A walk through Washo and Ormand Hall Read More »
A slender ribbon of water separates the Intracoastal Waterway at the South Island Ferry from Cat Island. The original stream must have been slim before the dredging of the Estherville Minim Creek Canal in 1903. On this day, an astronomical high tide had overflowed the ICW pushing the water twenty yards up the boat launch
I headed out from the parking lot at Hampton Plantation State Historic Site away from a main attraction – the plantation mansion. The trail had a new sign – Enslaved Community Trail, but was a familiar path. I was the only visitor at Hampton at that time of the day, and was greeted by the
A walk at Hampton Plantation Read More »
The entrance to the Cape Trail at Santee Coastal Reserve passed through an area of machines: tractors, a trackhoe, trucks, boats, and a trunk (water control structure) waiting to be installed. The path ahead would travel over miles of dikes. These machines have allowed SCDNR staff to mow, repair and maintain those miles of banks.
From the small parking area off Mazyck Road in Santee Coastal Reserve, the walk began on one of the unpaved forest roads, Eldorado. A mixed pine and hardwood forest flanked the roadway lined with live oaks. One prominent live oak had a broad base with huge bulges along the ground, and further down the road
Eldorado and Big Well Read More »
There were four crossings along the twenty miles of county highway between Greenville and Spartanburg. Enoree, South Tyger, Middle Tyger, and North Tyger: all rivers flowing together to form one.
River of many names Read More »
On April 9 I traveled to the Smokies for a week of camping and hiking. I learned later in the week that the Reverend Jane Green Wineglass passed away on that Sunday at the.age of 89. Jane was the fifth individual whom I interviewed for the Voices of the Santee Delta oral history project.
In Memory of Jane Wineglass Read More »
These were no two traditional canoeists – Nathaniel Holmes Bishop and Joshua Slocum. Adventurous voyagers, but cut from different cloth. Here is their story with a Murphy Island connection I wrote for the January/February 2016 issue of South Carolina Wildlife: Tale of the two great canoeists.
Tale of the two great canoeists Read More »
