Mark's Photo Travels

Last August I visited the Blue Wall Preserve , located just west of Lake Lanier in northeast Greenville County, to explore the preserve and its two waterfalls. The Blue Wall Passage of the Palmetto Trail runs from the Foothills Equestrian Nature Center (FENCE) in Polk County, North Carolina to Vaughns Gap, Greenville County, South Carolina. At Vaughns Gap, the Palmetto Trail transitions to the Poinsett Reservoir Passage that continues on to the Orchard Lake Campground in Henderson County, North Carolina. Last year, my visit to the Blue Wall Preserve inspired me to make another trip here to hike this section of the Palmetto Trail up to Vaughns Gap. I wanted to do that last year, but for whatever reason it didn't happen. Last Friday was cloudy with a few sprinkles and a breezy north to north east wind. Not a perfect day for a hike, but plenty good enough. The parking area for this section of the Palmetto Trail is the same as the one for the Blue Wall Preserve. The distance ...

Recently, officials with the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources  announced the opening of a new Wildlife Management Area, the 1757 acre Tall Pines Wildlife Management Area located in northern Greenville County. The area is now open for hunting, fishing, and hiking. Part of new WMA runs along the South Saluda River, with one parking access off Moody Bridge Road  near Tall Pines Lake. The South Carolina DNR has produced a helpful PDF map of the WMA. While I was adding  the area to OpenStreetMap , I could see some some lakes, disused agricultural fields, old logging roads that all looked interesting, but not a high priority to visit. That changed when I examined a topo map from 1961, and found an old church and a cemetery located in the new WMA. A recent satellite view showed nothing there but trees... which made me highly curious to know what, if anything, remained. Last Wednesday, I met up with Tom Taylor at the Moody Bridge Road access area t...