Mark's Photo Travels

With some extra free time this week thanks to the holiday, I went up to northern Greenville County for some adventures. Tracing the Swamp Rabbit - December 2013 edition First I stopped by McCarson Road in Riverview  to investigate a possible trestle ruin I had spotted sometime back on Google Earth. Turns out it wasn't a trestle ruin at all, but a storage tank of some kind. But below it, I found a cutting heading toward the Middle Saluda River, an area previously explored . This matched up well with my map of the Swamp Rabbit. Nice. The path of the railroad crossed McCarson Road heading south toward Cleveland. Rainbow Falls The bulk of my time this day was hiking to and from Rainbow Falls. Rainbow Falls is located on property of Camp Greenville, but it also accessible from Jones Gap State Park . To get there, follow Jones Gap Trail (blazed blue), then follow Rainbow Falls Trail (blazed red) to the waterfall. This part of Jones Gap Trail is rocky and wet with a few i...

Back in May 2012 , I traced the long abandoned portion of the Swamp Rabbit Railroad from where the Swamp Rabbit Trail currently ends just north of Travelers Rest then up to the River Falls area. Sunset forced an end to my trip before I felt the job was done, so I went back a few days ago to see what else I could find. But this time I was not alone. +Ed Clem , aka the  Duck Hunter  joined me on this adventure. We've been chatting over the internet for a few months now, so it was nice to finally have a chance to meet him in person. We settled on meeting at the U.S. Post Office in Cleveland, SC on US 276/SC 11 to start our adventure since it's within walking distance of some trestle remnants. Our adventure covers the northern area, long abandoned, of the Swamp Rabbit Railroad: View Abandoned Railroad: Greenville and Northern (Swamp Rabbit) in a larger map Update 1/7/2014 : The map above has been superceded by a Google Maps Lite version . The biggest difference is in ...

Today's Travelers Rest Tribune shows a short article and a photo about Echo Valley and the Swamp Rabbit from the March 31, 1966 Travelers Rest Sun .

Update: Follow this link  to list all entries in what became a series. The  Swamp Rabbit Trail , the successful rails-to-trail conversion, currently extends from downtown Greenville to Travelers Rest with plans to extend the trail southward to Fountain Inn. The Greenville County Recreational Department is seeking support for a project to extend the northern end of the trail up to Slater-Marietta. The Swamp Rabbit Trail closely follows the route of the  Greenville & Northern railroad , better known as the Swamp Rabbit Railroad, from downtown Greenville to just north of Travelers Rest matching where the railroad had ended since the mid-1950s. However, as late as 1921 , the railroad ended at River Falls, near Jones Gap, and as late as 1933 in Marietta. This part of the railroad route isn't plotted on any modern maps, being abandoned long ago, making me interested in learning more about the route the Swamp Rabbit railroad took to from Travelers Rest to River F...