Keowee-Toxaway State Park

Keowee-Toxaway State Park
Plus Palmetto Trail, Eastatoe Passage
2019 Hiking week 16



This past Easter weekend, I was able to visit Keowee-Toxaway State Park. It is on Lake Keowee near the Eastatoe Creek. Last year, I was able to visit this park with my mom and we kayaked part of the lake and up the river. The lake kayaking was difficult but the river section was nice. 

This year, we stayed with my family at the cabin that is in the park. There’s only one cabin in this state park and it is on the lake. It’s a nice, two story cabin with 3 bedrooms, 2 1/2 bathrooms, a double porch, and its own boat dock. The cabin was renovated in the past few years and I was impressed by it. I definitely would like to go back, especially for a weekend with some kayaks. Also, the park is free. It's nice to have free access to the lake.
Cabin

This past weekend, the weather was not cooperating for much outdoor activity. Friday we had some strong storms and Saturday was colder with off and on showers. Saturday morning, we braved the cold and rain and hiked part of the Palmetto Trail that goes through Keowee-Toxaway park. This section is called the Eastatoe Passage, and it covers almost 5 miles. We started at the park on the Natural Bridge trail. The Natural Bridge trail is a loop in the park that takes you over a natural stone bridge. We took the section that the Palmetto Trail follows, which was about half a mile. From there, the trail branches off and continues along Highway 11. Unfortunately, because of the heavy rains, we were not able to go as far along the trail as I had wanted. There is a section where the trail crosses a creek. I assume that normally, it is an easy walk over some rocks, but when we got there, the water was rushing and it didn’t look safe to cross.


I was disappointed that we couldn’t continue but we had other things to do that day so we decided to head back. 
Along the way, there were a lot of wildflowers and beautiful sights. Pink trillium, wild violets, fringed bluestar, and Carolina allspice. Sorry, I can't identify the pink flower in the middle. Also, we saw what we think is wild ginger (the heart shaped leaves). But we didn’t check underneath the plant to see if it had any of it’s “little brown jugs”. Nearby was also flowering doghobble. There were a lot of rhododendron and mountain laurel in the area, I think the hike would be really pretty in the next month or two. 



Even though we weren’t able to see as much as I wanted to, it was still a nice hike that I would like to return to. In the area, you can also visit Table Rock State Park, Devil’s Fork State Park (on Lake Jocassee), Oconee Station (also where Station Creek Falls are), and Oconee State Park. I tried to visit Devil’s Fork on Friday but with the heavy rain and flooding, part of the road has washed out. It seems like they now have a detour if you want to visit there. 

Where have you visited lately? 

Location: Keowee Toxaway State Park, 108 Residence Dr, Sunset, SC 29685, USA

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Going Greek

Well, it's one of my favorite times of the year in Columbia. Football season, fall and...the Greek Festival! If you live in the area and haven't been, you need to make it a point to go. It's a great festival with lots of great food and some real friendly people. Now, disclaimer, it gets crowded! They usually take up one block with booths, games, entertainment stages, and food vendors so every free space there is can be filled with people. I recommend going during one of the off-times. Like take a late lunch or an early dinner. Or even an early lunch. They're open from 10 am - 10 pm Thursday through Saturday. They also have Sunday hours. But while you're there, try and make it a point to tour their church. It was just built in the last couple of years and they are always working on adding new artwork. It's beautiful. You can sit there and study all of the Greek Ikons and learn about the history of each painting. Greek Festivals are great family activities and I ...
Read more

Charleston Area State Parks

Image
2019 Hiking Week 41 Charles Towne Landing Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! It’s been quite the year traveling all over the state and seeing all that South Carolina has to offer. We didn’t anticipate at the beginning of this year that we would visit all of the South Carolina State parks but we finished and received our certificate! We ended our state park visits with Charleston area parks. We stayed in the area and visited Edisto , Colleton, Givhan’s Ferry, and Charles Towne Landing . We had previously visited Colonial Dorchester State Park on a day trip.  Edisto Beach State Park covers a large part of Edisto Island. There is an inland section with trails, camping, a boat dock, and nature center, as well as a beach section of the park. It was pretty cold when we visited but still beautiful. Edisto is one of the barrier islands that is remote and takes awhile to get there. It’s about an hour’s drive from Charleston. We’ve stayed there a couple times and it’s one of...
Read more

Battle of Rivers Bridge State Historic Site

Image
2020 Hiking Post 4 You might remember how last May, we visited the  Battle of Rivers Bridge State Historic Site . Recently, we returned there so we could explore the park more. This site is the only SC State Park where Confederate soldiers fought Sherman's troops as he made his way from Savannah to Columbia. There is a short trail (less than a mile) that takes you around the battleground and shows you the battle and what conditions were like at the time. There are still earthen rifle pits and other embankments that the soldiers built. Lots of informational signs along the way. Rifle pit mounds Retreat Trail There's also another trail that marks the route that the soldiers took as they retreated and a cemetery that has the dead from the battle. The park is free and has good visuals of how the battle took place and who was involved in it. There is also a community center and some neat events that take place throughout the year that show you what life wa...
Read more