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 ...

The newest extension to the Swamp Rabbit Trail opened to the public on July 22nd with a ceremony and media coverage by WSPA , TR Tribune , among others. This new extension runs from the parking area near Grandview Memorial Gardens to Tate Road as shown here on this map: I took advantage of the abnormally cool and pleasant weather to explore this new section yesterday. With a paved trail and no sharp rises or falls, I was able to walk the distance rather quickly. I only saw a few bikers and no hikers today. I took in sights I normally can't when driving up U.S. 276, just a few feet away. The trail turns away from U.S. 276 near Rock Quarry Road, closely matching the old railroad right-of-way. The trail then passes over a small creek. A short distance later the trail ends at Tate Road. The "for now..." on the sign means more expansion toward Slater-Marietta is being planned for an undetermined future time . The old railroad right-of-way continues...

Recently, I went on an excursion to Pickens County to hike portions of the railroad bed left behind by the Appalachian Lumber Company railroad. The Appalachian Lumber Company was a short lived logging company (1927-1929) with a railroad track from Town Creek to its lumber mill up in Jocassee Gorges. A flood in 1929 wiped out the company's railroad track in the Jocassee Gorges area which soon forced the company to declare bankruptcy in June 1929. Most of the rails have long since been salvaged, but a few were left behind. But first, I stopped at SC 186 at the Saluda River to take a photo of Old Earls Bridge , a historic steel truss bridge spanning the Saluda River a few hundred yards downstream of the current concrete one. Or at least it was. The bridge is gone, only the abutments remained. My second stop was the Town Creek Park in the city of Pickens, SC. The park is home to the Playground of Promise, a popular playground if my visit was any indication, and to Town Creek...