Mark's Photo Travels

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...

The Eva Russel Chandler Heritage Preserve is a heritage preserve located off Persimmon Ridge Road near Cleveland, SC. The heritage preserve is home to certain rare plants, the ruins of a homestead, and a waterfall, but what really brings me here this visit is the prospect of continuing my search for the ruins of moonshine stills. Slickum Creek, also called Persimmon Branch, flows through the preserve down through Wildcat Wayside Park, then into the South Saluda River. I had already searched Slickum Creek up to one waterfall short of Heritage Falls , and now I'm back to explore further upstream. I parked out of the way of the red gate: then walked around the gate down the trail part of which was once an old dirt road. I started at the same waterfall where I left off last time. I bushwacked my way up to the base of Heritage Falls where I already knew some ruins were located. I actually found more ruins than I expected. I found this barrel and a still furnace I alr...