Guide to Getting Away from the Sunnyside Traveler

Hiking 2019 week 28 Devil’s Fork State Park is on Lake Jocassee, in the mountains of South Carolina. If you’re looking for a place to cool off, I recommend this lake. It’s one of the prettiest lakes in South Carolina. Lake Jocassee doesn’t have much development. Most of the shoreline is prohibited from development. Also, the park is one of the few access points to the lake. So the boat traffic is pretty low compared to nearby Lakes Keowee and Hartwell. Because of the cold water temperatures and the location of the lake, the water is very clear and blue. It’s refreshing on a hot day.  There are many ways to enjoy Devil’s Fork State Park and Lake Jocassee. The park has campgrounds, a boat ramp, a swimming area, and paddle rentals. There are also trails in the park for hiking. Recently, we rented a tandem kayak and set off from the park along the shoreline. There were quite a few others on paddle boards and kayaks too. We found a couple of places along the way that had beach ...

2019 Hiking week 27 I'm excited to share with you a new place this week. Swan Lake Iris Gardens is a free park in the City of Sumter. Sumter is only about an hour's drive east of Columbia and has a cute, recently renovated downtown area. Just west of downtown is the Swan Lake Iris Gardens. It's a large park that was made out of a cypress swamp. There is a walking path around a small lake where eight different species of swans live. Some of these swans were brought here as early as the 1930's. The park is known for its iris that bloom in the spring. I had hoped to visit this past spring to see them but didn't make it out. There are various educational opportunities while walking around the lake, like a "Talking Tree Trail", which teaches you about the various trees, and a butterfly garden. There's even a braille garden and a chocolate garden (plants that are chocolate varieties, not made of chocolate!). This past weekend, we brought our l...

2019 Hiking Week 26 Chester State Park & Musgrove Mill State Historic Site Horseshoe Falls at Musgrove Mill As I mentioned before, I enjoy little day trips around the area to see new places. The best is when you get there by back roads. One Sunday afternoon, we decided to take a short trip up north of Columbia on Highway 321 to Chester State Park . The park is about an hour's drive from Columbia, outside of the town of Chester. We were pleasantly surprised by the park. It has a nice sized lake that has no motor boats on it. You can rent kayaks and other small boats to go out on the lake or you can fish from the long boardwalk they have crossing a section of the lake. Fishing Bridge There are gathering spaces, campgrounds, and playgrounds for people to use. They also have a disc golf course . It was a pretty quiet park, especially for a Sunday in the summer. Most of the people we saw were fishing. There are also a couple of trails around the lake. ...

2019 Hiking Week 25 After spending the 4th of July holiday at the beach, we decided to hop over to Barnwell State Park on our way back from Savannah. At the town of Fairfax, we headed over though Allendale and Barnwell to the park. Barnwell State Park reminded us of some of the other small town parks like Aiken and Lake Warren State Parks . They usually have a pond or lake for fishing and swimming, picnic and other gathering spaces, and campgrounds. There was a group having a picnic and grilling when we visited. Also, the park was having an educational snake demonstration while we were there. They also have some nice cabins in the park. Admission to the park is free. While driving to the park, we passed through the town of Barnwell. It looked like a neat town with grand old buildings and homes. I hope to return to explore some more. After we left Barnwell State Park, we drove through Blackville. As we were driving we remembered hearing about " God's Acre Healing ...

2019 Hiking Week 24 6 months into this South Carolina adventure and still so many places to share with you! We recently visited Aiken State Park and Redcliffe Plantation State Historic Site. They are about 30 minutes apart on either side of Aiken. The Aiken Park Office has a nice space to relax. Aiken State Park is about an hour's drive from downtown Columbia. It's a large park with over 1000 acres. Features of the park are fishing ponds, the Edisto River, and a swimming area. There are also campsites and a 3 mile hiking trail. Even though it costs $2.00 per person to enter the park, there have not been a lot of improvements to the facilities. I was interested to see that the park was the second state park built in South Carolina. I can see how this would be a great place for people in the area to retreat to. I am especially interested to return and possibly kayak the Edisto River. You can rent canoes from the park for $20 to do the almost 2 mile river trail. The Edi...