Mark's Photo Travels

With temperatures falling, it's a perfect time get out and explore. This week, I took an extra day off to explore Camp Buckhorn and North Lake in  Paris Mountain State Park , located a few miles north of Greenville, SC. I parked at the trailhead for Brissy Ridge Trail, a 2.4 mile loop trail around Brissy Ridge. I started out at the end of the parking lot and descended down a steep series of switchbacks and tree roots serving as natural steps. I found just one area along this part of the trail where I could show off the fall colors. The trail eventually  intersects with the road leading to Camp Buckhorn. I left the trail at the intersection and followed the road up the short distance to the camp. A trail from the road leads to a platform... ...where there isn't much to see. A bit beyond is Buckhorn Creek. I backtracked to the road where another trail follows the shoreline of Buckhorn Lake to the lodge. The lodge was unoccupied, thank goodness.  I cou...

Today, I went back to the summit on Paris Mountain to find some stone steps. In On the summit of Paris Mountain , Tom commented: Right after you turn onto Tower Road, just at the first bend there is an old set of stone steps. I think this is part of the grounds for the Altamont Hotel. Tower Road didn't go up to the summit as it does now, as this snippet from the 1935 USGS quad map over Paris Mountain confirms. Snippet from 1935 USGS map Tower Road was extended to the summit sometime between the 1935 USGS map and this 1959 USGS quad map. Snippet from 1959 USGS quad map Visitors must have reached the hotel some other way. Those steps may have been on a path providing one way to reach the hotel. I didn't notice those steps off Tower Road the first time when I went up in my car because those tight turns demand attention. I went back today once the clouds thinned enough for the sun to peek out. Sure enough, at the first bend is an old set of stone steps. Steps...

Altamont Hotel circa 1895 [ source ] I had a day off Monday and, in response to a suggestion from Tom Taylor at RandomConnections,  I went up to the summit of Paris Mountain to look for any ruins from the old Altamont Hotel. Large towers filled with antennas and surrounded by razor wire fences now stand on the area where the hotel once stood, so my chances of finding hotel ruins were tiny. The summit features a nice view of the surrounding area, however, making the trip worthwhile for that reason alone. The Altamont Hotel (also known as the Paris Mountain Hotel) was built in 1889, but was sold 8 years later in 1898 to Reverend N. J. Holmes. N. J. Holmes repurposed the hotel to serve as the home of the new Altamont Bible and Missionary Institute, with later name changes to Holmes Bible and Missionary Institute and to Holmes Bible College. The hotel would become vacant when the institute moved away to Columbia, then Atlanta, then to the city of Greenville. The institute s...