Guide to Getting Away from the Sunnyside Traveler

2019 Hiking Week 38 Croft State Park is over 7,000 acres outside of Spartanburg. It is a huge state park with trails for hiking, mountain biking, and horseback riding. There are also two lakes and many campsites, including a stable for horses. Entry is $2.00 per person. Bridge across the creek. We recently visited Croft State Park to hike a section of the Palmetto Trail. The trail covers over 12 miles, mostly in the park with a small section just north of the park entrance. We hiked the small section at the south of the park which crosses the Fairforest Creek and joins up with some of the mountain bike trails for about a mile. We added an extra loop around and enjoyed the fall leaves. While visiting, we found out that this area was originally settled by some farming families, then was converted into a training ground for the army in the early 1900's. It was opened as a state park in 1949. While we were hiking along the creek, we noticed some stacked stones and oth...

2019 Hiking Week 37 Table Rock Mountain Table Rock State Park is probably one of the most distinctive state parks in South Carolina. It is named after the iconic Table Rock mountain that is located in the park. The park is popular for hiking, camping, water activities, and gathering together with friends and family. The park is 30 miles from Greenville, 30 miles from Clemson, and the closest town, Pickens, is about 12 miles away. It costs $5.00 per adult for entrance. Easter 2018 I’ve visited Table Rock many times over the years. Our family has celebrated Easter and Thanksgiving at some of their shelters. It’s a pretty large park with lots of room. This past weekend, I attended the Women’s Outdoor Weekend, hosted by Palmetto Conservation Foundation. There were around 30 ladies attending, and we had class offerings on backpacking, kayaking, hiking, camping, and wilderness survival. I signed up for one day and attended the wilderness survival classes. We went through a fir...

2019 Hiking Week 36 Hope you are enjoying the winter weather we are having! It seems like in South Carolina we just skipped fall and went straight into winter. But don't let the cold weather stop you from going outside! This past weekend we visited King's Mountain State Park , about 2 hours from Columbia, outside of York, and on the border of North Carolina. It was a cold day but the sun was bright and the fall leaves were abundant. Kings Mountain State Park is a large park that is next to Kings Mountain National Military Park . It is the site of a Revolutionary War battle victory for the Americans. The park is over 6000 square miles and has a lot of long trails for visitors. Some trails are accessible for horseback riding. There is also a campground and options for back country camping, even with your horse. There's a nice lake and a replica of an 1800's farm house. The cost for admission is $2.00 per person. When trying to decide what trail we would hike, ...

2019 Hiking Week 35 The Savannah River runs along the southern border between South Carolina and Georgia for over 300 miles. Many lakes have been formed along this river through man-made dams. There are 6 South Carolina state parks along the Savannah River. From west to east, these parks are Lake Hartwell State Park, Sadlers Creek State Park, Calhoun Falls State Park, Hickory Knob State Resort, Baker Creek State Park, and Hamilton Branch State Park. We’ve finally visited all of them, so I thought I would share them in one (long) post. Since all of these parks are located along lakes and the river, they all are primarily parks for people to access the water and enjoy camping and fishing in these natural spaces.  Lake Hartwell State Park Lake Hartwell State Park is just off of I-85 on the South Carolina/Georgia border. The lake is a large, popular lake in the upstate of South Carolina and it covers 680 acres. The park primarily gives people access to the lake, as we...