Guide to Getting Away from the Sunnyside Traveler

Since the South Carolina State Parks have reopened on May 1, the parks have a limited number of visitors they can have there at one time. So far, each weekend, about 10 or more parks reach their capacity by noon. I've been keeping an eye on the parks to see which ones are the most popular and fill up the fastest. I thought I would share with you some of the fun but lesser known parks. Just be sure to check the state park facebook page to see the latest announcements. First, though, I should tell you the parks that are busiest and have the most restrictions. Edisto Beach State Park is only open to campers and those staying overnight (until May 11). No day visitors. Jones Gap State Park has a lot of restrictions on visitors. On the weekends, you have to purchase a parking pass before arriving. Other popular parks that are filling up on the weekends before noon: Paris Mountain, Caesars Head, Keowee-Toxaway, Table Rock, Kings Mountain, Landsford Canal, and Musgrove Mill. Basicall...

2020 Hiking Post 2 I mentioned previously that even though we've been to all of the South Carolina State Parks, there were a few that we wanted to return to. One of these was Woods Bay State Park . This small park is near the town of Olanta, east of Sumter and just east of I-95. The park is surrounding what is called a Carolina Bay. Carolina bays are elliptical depressions in the coastal area of the Mid-Atlantic. Local author Tom Poland has a new book out about the Carolina Bays that I'm excited to check out. From the description of his book: " The best definition of these features are "temporary, isolated freshwater wetlands," variously described as "high or flatwater ponds, wet weather lakes, or vernal pools," often identified more accurately as "pocosins," and they are ecological wonders, full of all manner of amphibians and reptiles, insects and birds, wildlife and plants--many of them exotic and rare. What also defines them is th...

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 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 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...

2019 Hiking Week 22 One of my favorite back roads drives in South Carolina is Highway 321, from Columbia to Hardeeville. We take this highway whenever we go to Savannah. Even though I've grown up in a time when interstates are ubiquitous and everyone wants to get where they're going as soon as possible, there were times when my parents took me on back roads drives and weekend explorations. I remember some Sundays, after church, driving out to have lunch in Prosperity and exploring the towns around Lake Murray. These days, we turn to the highways of South Carolina whenever we can, especially when we expect traffic to be heavy on the interstates. Lately, I have enjoyed seeing these small towns that I usually only see as names on a map or an exit sign. You'll remember when we visited Lake Wateree, we also went through the town of Great Falls. Now I have a picture of the town when I see that name. Years ago, when travelling to Savannah, we started getting off the inter...

2019 Hiking week 18 This weekend was pretty busy so I didn't get a chance to go hike anywhere. But last weekend, besides walking the Three Rivers Greenway , we also visited the Lake Wateree State Park . We had never been to this state park and I had never been to Lake Wateree (that I remember). The lake is about 40 miles north of downtown Columbia. It's a popular place for people in the area to boat and cool off in the summer. Some also have lake homes in the area. Lake Wateree State Park is primarily a place for people to camp and be on the lake. There's a small nature trail and a playground area but not much else. Admission is $2.00 per person which is paid at a collection post. There is a nice drive to the park which cuts across the lake. It was a pretty view and we even spotted a turtle trying to cross the road. Or maybe he was just warming up in the sunshine. But it's a nice park that I imagine gets pretty busy during peak boating times. It would be nice to...

2019 Hiking Week 14 Congaree National Park A few miles outside of downtown Columbia is South Carolina’s only national park, Congaree National Park. The park is over 15,000 acres and is a floodplain and "the largest intact expanse of old growth bottomland hardwood forest remaining in the southeastern United States" (from their website). It is a great park to check out if you are in the Columbia area. There are many things to do year round here. But I wouldn’t recommend summer, since the mosquitoes  can get pretty bad. Another great thing about Congaree is that it is free!  This past weekend we did some hiking in the park. We arrived around 11:00 a.m. and it was already pretty busy. The parking lot was even more packed when we left around 1:30 p.m., so I recommend getting there early. Not just for parking but to have the best chance of spotting wildlife.  The main trail is a raised boardwalk loop that takes you out to Weston Lake. This is the most popula...

2019 Hiking week 7 Sesquicentennial State Park After a couple of nice weekends with adventurous hikes, this weekend was a bummer. Overcast, rainy, and dreary is the theme currently, with no end in sight. Saturday we got up the motivation to head out to Sesquicentennial State Park . Sesquicentennial is the closest state park to Columbia and is close to the interstate and Highway 1. The park was opened in 1937 for The Sesquicentennial of Columbia. It is centered around a lake with acres of woods. There are a few trails but not as many as some state parks. The longer one is about 3.5 miles, with a couple of side mountain bike trails. We hiked the lake loop trail that is about 2 miles and is a nice walk. We took a side trail to see the spillway from the lake. This area is Spillway part of the Gills Creek watershed, which connects to the Gills Creek that we crossed when walking the Palmetto Trail through Columbia. This watershed was one of the locations of more significant floodi...

2019 SC Hiking Week 4 Poinsett State Park CCC Spillway and historic mill ruins. To celebrate a weekend where we had no rain, we traveled to Poinsett State Park , outside of Sumter. Only about an hour’s drive from Columbia. I was looking forward to visiting this park since I had seen some of the pictures on the website and it looked pretty. They also call this area “the mountains of the midlands” which I wanted to see if it lived up to that. I have to say that it was a really nice park. Bonus was that there was also a section of the Palmetto Trail that joined other trails in this park. And they have no entrance fees!  Driving out to the park, it was neat to see all the older large homes on Hwy 261. I find it fascinating that 150+ years ago, this area was a place where influential South Carolina families built large plantations and homes. Last year we were able to visit Kensington Mansion with Historic Columbia where we learned a lot about the history of the area....