Mark's Photo Travels

My goodness, another month has come and is almost gone! Time for a report on my hikes during January 2020. I went on five hikes this month. I had more planned, but rain forced some hikes to be canceled or rescheduled. Dupont State Forest - High Falls and Triple Falls The first Saturday of January I went with a great group up to Dupont State Forest. During the visit we visited High Falls and Triple Falls. High Falls was really throwing off some spray this day. High Falls was throwing off so much spray, I had trouble keeping my lens dry! The sun was at a perfect angle to backlight the waterfall. A few clouds would have been nice. Fortunately, I'd find better conditions at Triple Falls. The water here was also up, but the clouds moved in helping to even out the light. I'm not much on black and white photography, but I also liked how the black and white version turned out! We made it as far as High Falls Bridge... ...before turning around to hike back to t...

Hospital Rock Trail is a strenuous 4.4 mile trek from Jones Gap State Park  to Falls Creek Falls on Falls Creek where the trail becomes Falls Creek Falls Trail . I've hiked in Jones Gap State Park several times before, but this time I planned to visit Buckeye Falls and Hospital Rock, two places I've never visited before, and both on Hospital Rock Trail. Hospital Rock Trail begins near the old fish hatchery a short distance beyond a foot bridge over the Middle Saluda River. The Cleveland Fish Hatchery , South Carolina's first state owned fish hatchery, was built in 1931 by the South Carolina DNR and operated until 1963. Part of the hatchery has been restored for educational purposes. What interested me was a map showing where the other parts of the fish hatchery were located. I believe the waterwheel casing shown on the map was here, behind a decaying split rail fence: Vegetation eliminated any chance of taking a clear photo of the masonry. As I hea...