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...

2019 Hiking week 34 Hi all. I know it’s been awhile since I’ve posted. I’ve been busy traveling and celebrating my birthday. It’s been a busy past few weeks. This past weekend the weather was pretty iffy. They were calling for rain but then it ended up not being too bad, even though it was warm. So Friday we headed out to Irmo, just outside of Columbia, to hike in Harbison State Forest . I would guess that most people in Columbia have been to Harbison State Forest, or at least have heard of it. It’s a nice park with over 2,000. There are multiple trails that you can hike or mountain bike on.  Over the years, we have visited Harbison Forest multiple times. There are lots of different trails we can hike on and they are well marked. Many are 3-4 miles long which is good for an hour or two hike. I like some of the trails that go all the way to the Broad River. The area is mostly pine trees and sandy soil and there are a variety of difficulty levels to pick from.  ...

Hiking 2019 Week 33 Myrtle Beach and the Grand Strand area of South Carolina is probably one of the most popular parts of the state. People have been flocking to the area for over 50 years to enjoy the beaches. Even though I grew up in Florida, my family would meet other family members in the summer at Pawleys Island. I remember staying on the beach, playing putt-putt golf, and setting off fireworks. Since moving to South Carolina, my family doesn’t visit Myrtle Beach as often. Since it’s about three hours from Columbia and Charleston is only about an hour and a half, we tend to go to Isle of Palms or other Charleston beaches. But there are two state parks in the Grand Strand area and one plantation state park just south of the area. We decided to do a day trip to visit all three. Myrtle Beach State Park Our first stop was Myrtle Beach State Park . It is an oasis in the middle of all the tourist areas of Myrtle Beach. You have a glimpse of what the area must have looke...

2019 Hiking Week 32 There are only three state parks that are former plantation homes. One that I posted about before is Redcliffe Plantation , outside of North Augusta. Another is Rose Hill Plantation, in the upstate region. The closest town to Rose Hill is either Whitmire or Cross Anchor. Neither is very large. So if you plan to visit, be sure to have good directions! There are good signs to the site but it is back in the Sumter National Forest area, off of I-26. Rose Hill Plantation is named for the rose garden that it has, but it was the Gist family that built the home. William Henry Gist was governor of South Carolina just before the state seceded in the 1800's. The house was unoccupied after a couple of generations until the early 1900's when a man bought the property and worked on restoring it as a museum. The state bought it in 1960 for a state park. It has a nice, long driveway, quite a few buildings on the grounds, and some trails and picnic areas for visitor...