Glassy Mountain Heritage Preserve

With 2019's endless summer finally gone for the year and cooler less humid weather firmly established, I finally felt able to venture outdoors. I have some long hikes planned for this weekend, so I wanted something that wouldn't tax me too much. Glassy Mountain Heritage Preserve fit my needs perfectly.

Glassy Mountain Heritage Preserve is a 65 acre nature preserve located on Glassy Mountain in Pickens County, SC, not to be confused with a mountain of the same name one county west in Greenville County. The South Carolina Department of Natural Resources acquired the property in 1990. One official trail winds around the mountain up to the summit, but I also found a few unofficial trails leading to several overlooks.

Glassy Mountain is an example of a monadnock, an isolated mountain rising above the foothills of the Upstate of South Carolina. Paris Mountain in Greenville County is another example of a monadnock. Paris Mountain also has hiking trails (courtesy of the state park), the summit is also covered with communication towers and a fire tower, but unlike Glassy Mountain no hiking trails that lead to the summit.

The trailhead is about 100 feet or so past the intersection of South Glassy Mountain Road and Glassy Mountain Church Road. I pulled off the side of the road just past the trailhead. I had the place to myself, at least for now.

The trail gradually winds its way up the mountain. I came across some views early on, but they were obscured by trees.

As the trail winds up from the south to the north facing part of the mountain, the views became much clearer. I could easily see the country down below and the mountains off in the distance, including the good ole Table Rock.

Another viewpoint, another wide panarama:

Unfortunately, the graffiti at this overlook was terrible.

Blech.

I also noticed what I thought was a hawk wheeling around.

On closer examination later, it's could tell this one and the others that soon joined the party were actually buzzards:

I counted over 12 when I left this overlook.

Now that I had visited every overlook I knew of, and a few I didn't, I decided to head to the summit. Along the way, I came across this  geodetic marker. I always like finding these things:

At and near the summit is a great place for communication towers, and the summit of Glassy Mountain is no exception. Even this disused fire tower is adorned with antennas:

I also noticed I was no longer alone. A few cars were parked and a few more were arriving. All the people I saw headed for the overlook I just left.

I headed down the road from the summit to my car back at the trailhead. But then I noticed one more overlook. Add one more I didn't know about beforehand. I could just barely see some buildings in Greenville, but they didn't show up well the photo I took. This panorama pointing toward Paris Mountain fared better, even if the horizon line isn't straight.

I headed down the mountain to my car, then I headed over to North Glassy Mountain Road. I figured I'd be able to get a good view of the mountain itself. I was right, but there really wasn't a good place to pull off. I took photos from a few different vantage points, but I wanted a clear view and I didn't find a place that met that requirement and be able to get out of my car.

Glassy Mountain Heritage Preserve was an interesting place to visit. The trail is only moderate to strenuous when approaching the summit, so I did at least get something of a much needed workout. I saw some litter as usual, but it was the amount of graffiti that really disappointed me. I'd like to think people are better than this but that's clearly not true.

My photo album from this trip, Glassy Mountain Heritage Preserve - Oct 2019, is on Google Photos. The trail to the summit is relatively short, as far as my usual hikes go, but the view of the mountains was fantastic. I'll try to get back here sometime.