Mark's Photo Travels

I took an extra day off this week so I could go on an adventure. After considering some ideas, the one that stuck was a visit to the Saluda Mountains Passage of the Palmetto Trail. This part of the trail is located along the North Carolina-South Carolina border on the northern fringe of Greenville Watershed land. The trail opened in 2012 The idea of hiking on land, off limits and undisturbed since the late 1950s when the city of Greenville forcibly acquired the land for its watershed, appealed to me. I had no intention of hiking the whole trail. The part I was interested in was the Talisman Camp to Saluda Gap segment. The Old State Road, also known as Saluda Mountain Road and Saluda Gap Road, passed through Poinsett Bridge , through Merrittsville (now underwater) and Chestnut Springs, near Poinsett's Spring, and up through the Saluda Gap into North Carolina. This trip presented a perfect opportunity to visit the Saluda Gap, view an area forbidden until 2012, and see some hist

During a brief pause in the persistent rains last Sunday, I ventured out to visit three milestones along U.S. 29 and S.C. 129. Rather than take the shorter, direct route to the milestones along current U.S. 29, I went through Greer, Duncan, and Lyman on the old route of U.S. 29, now Poinsett Street (S.C. 290), Spartanburg Road, and Old Spartanburg Highway to see what old country stores, service stations, and anything else I found interesting. While in Lyman, I stopped by the site of the Lyman Mill to see what was left. Turns out the answer is "not much" except this husk of a building. I took a detour off Old Spartanburg Highway into the mill village of Startex to visit the remains of the mill that closed in 1998. The two smoke stacks still remain... and also the mill office, but it's boarded up and for sale. The old truss bridge across the Middle Tyger River is now closed and has been replaced by the modern concrete bridge I stood on to take this p

With clear skies and cool weather, for once I picked a perfect time last week to take a vacation to visit some waterfalls. This time I chose to visit Moonshine Falls and Confusion Falls, two waterfalls near each other in the Mountain Bridge Wilderness Area in northern Greenville County near Caesars Head. Of the  four possible ways to get there , the one that appealed to me was the route from Caesars Head State Park where I could enjoy the fall view from the overlook before heading out. This route, one way, is about 4 miles according to OsmAnd+, one of my navigation apps I used to guide me to the falls. This route is downhill toward the waterfall, making it uphill on the way back. But first, the Caesars Head overlook. I took a quick tour of Devil's Kitchen, the namesake rock formation, before turning my attention to the overlook. I walked down the highway to meet up with Naturaland Trust Trail #14. Along the way, I walked by The Mountain House , once an Esso St