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
The tops of pines were beginning to sway and even dance at mid-morning, the bright greens contrasting with the cerulean skies generated by the high pressure system camped over the Southeast.
My driveway needed pruning, so I tackled the task during a light rain in the early morning. The year’s growth had reached in from the sides and overhead, and the rain sodden branches reduced the opening of this living tunnel.
Along the driveway Read More »
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 »
We often plan hikes with a destination in mind: a highlight in a loop trail, a waterfall, an overlook from a high prominence, giant trees, a distinctive natural feature.
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 »
The muffled drumbeat was insistent on New Year’s Eve morning, the surf sound on the distant barrier island calling me toward the landing. On this daily ritual of going to a place with vistas to the east and south, I turned off on a wooded path and took a brief look at the old Andersonville
I stepped onto the public dock on Bull Island at 8:30, briefly talking to Wayne Tucker. He had spent the past two days working on the island, and was waiting for his boat ride back to the mainland and out of the cold. My relative warmth was a function of what awaited me on the
The closing of businesses resulting from the pandemic included the Audubon Center at Beidler Forest in Harleyville, SC. The 1,763-acre virgin swamp forest is part of Four Holes Swamp. After it’s reopening In October, I made the drive up I-26 for a visit.
