Guide to Getting Away from the Sunnyside Traveler

Well this post doesn't really fall under my usual categories. We're into our second full week of working from home and the first week of the Columbia shut-down orders. It's amazing how quickly life can change so drastically. I just found out this weekend that they are cancelling our Master Naturalist class this year. We will have the option to take it next spring but I am pretty sad about this. I was really looking forward to learning and sharing my knowledge with you. Watching people posting online about exploring their neighborhoods and backyards and seeing signs of spring all around, I thought I would share with you some of the sights we saw recently walking on the Timmerman Trail . I took a bunch of pictures and am using them to help myself identify and learn plants and animals. Thankfully, we received our books for the Master Naturalist class so we have been using them to learn the names of the plants we find. Crab-apple tree Wisteria (non-native, invasive spec...

MN Week 1 Camp Discovery - Blythewood Not during our class but peach trees are starting to bloom! This past week, I began the Midlands Master Naturalist Program with the South Carolina Wildlife Federation and Clemson University.  “The Midlands Master Naturalist course is part of a statewide Master Naturalist Program coordinated by Clemson University.  The mission of the program is to create a corps of citizen volunteers well-trained in the fundamentals of natural history, nature interpretation, and the interface of humans and nature in order to empower them to contribute their time and talents to responsible, science-based environmental stewardship.  The Midlands course is hosted by the SCWF and taught by experts in the fields of natural history, botany, biology, forestry, and geology.” (from their website) I have heard about this program for a few years. Both of my parents participated in the Upstate class and have stayed involved with the program. Clas...

2020 Hiking Post 5 As a Gamecock fan, it can be hard to admit it but there are some nice spots for outdoor activities in Clemson. Since the school and town are located in the foothills of the mountains and there are many lakes in the area, trails and water activities are everywhere. Trail Map Just outside of the town of Clemson, is the Clemson Experimental Forest.   It is over 17,000 acres with miles of trails for hiking and mountain biking. It also borders part of Lake Hartwell. Many of the trails are mixed use but I had heard about a trail to a waterfall that was for hiking only. The Waldrop Stone Waterfall Trail is a short trail of about a mile that takes you along a creek to a couple of waterfalls. It has some challenging parts, where you have a steep descent to the waterfall (which means you have to hike back up that hill on the return), but they have built some steps and railings to help in sections. It’s also nice there are quite a few benches that you can ...

2019 Hiking Week 31 Over the Labor Day weekend, I took advantage of the cooler & drier weather and biked the Easley to Pickens Doodle Trail. This trail is about 7 1/2 miles long and runs on an old railroad line from Easley to Pickens. Easley is about half way between Clemson and Greenville. It's a fun trail that isn't as popular as the Swamp Rabbit Trail and has more hills than other rails-to-trails trails. This weekend, it was pretty busy with many others taking advantage of the nice weather. There are multiple areas that you can park to access the trail. There is access from downtown Easley, a park just outside of Easley, and the new Doodle Park in downtown Pickens. We tried to park in the park outside of Easley but it was full. So we drove a little down the trail to another parking area near an old factory. Wildflowers along the trail. Along the way, the paved trail goes through neighborhoods, industrial areas, a cemetery, and even by what we call the "f...

2019 Hiking Week 29 Most of the time, people in Columbia take I-77 North to visit Charlotte. Whether it's for a flight, a concert, or just to shop at IKEA, many drive right past the Rock Hill area. Rock Hill is home to Winthrop Univeristy and has become a suburb of Charlotte. I enjoy stopping there on my way in or out of Charlotte, or sometimes we go there just because of the good restaurants and breweries there.  Recently, we were going to be in the area so I wanted to stop by the Glencairn Gardens . They were featured in the book "Classic Carolina Roadtrips"  and I thought of how many times I had been to Rock Hill but hadn't seen these gardens. They are just outside of downtown Rock Hill. Since we visited in the middle of summer, it was pretty green but not a lot of flowers. The park is 11 acres in the middle of an older neighborhood. It has many different sections: lawn, amphitheater, ponds, waterfalls, a "victory garden" and children's...

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 ...