Lake Conestee Nature Park

Today, I visited Lake Conestee Nature Park, a 400 acre park located a few miles south of Greenville, South Carolina.


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I parked at the parking area on Spanco Drive, then walked back to take in Conestee Mill. Conestee Mill is up for sale, and no trespassing signs surround the property. This mill dates from about 1890 according to the Conestee Foundation's history of the property.


I walked back to the street to take a photo of a mural depicting the history of the mill I had glimpsed on the way in.

I also found a historical sign attached to the building.
I also managed to find a spot in the fence between the barbed wires where I could get a good photo of the Conestee Lake dam.
The lake has been filling in with upstream sediment for many years now. Most of the lake looks like a swampy wetland these days.
One of the signs at the trailhead warn park guests to not enter the water. Here's why:
Yep, contaminated. Eww!

I did keep a lookout for wild animals with some look. I spotted this bird:
I felt sorry for the poor thing walking around in that contaminated muck.

On one of the boardwalks, I spotted this colorful critter. The photo is a bit blurry, sorry.
I also encountered the longest earthworm I've ever seen crawling across the pavement.
The last critter I spotted was this not-so-feral feline guarding a home adjacent to the trail.
I walked back to my car, and drove the short distance to the (current) southern end of the Swamp Rabbit Trail. I had visited the northern end a few months ago, and thought I'd visit the southern end while I was in the area. Unfortunately, no parking was available so I had to scrub that idea. Drat.

Now that the weather in the area is becoming tolerable again, I'll be getting out more often. Whether that's good or bad news I'll leave up to you.

Update 08/27/12: I should have consulted the primary source, the Greenville Recreation Department's maps collection, before making the trip.  Then I would have known I was already hiking the southern end of the Swamp Rabbit Trail. D'oh!

Comments

  1. AnonymousAugust 25, 2012 at 1:29 PM

    Spanco Dr is the southern end of the Swamp Rabbitt Trail. You could have walked 4 miles north to Mauldin Rd and Parkins Mill.

    ReplyDelete
  2. MarkAugust 27, 2012 at 10:35 AM

    I relied on OpenStreetMap, but I should have consulted the official greenvillerec.com site instead. It turns out I DID hike the southern end of the Swamp Rabbit Trail afterall.

    ReplyDelete

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