December 21, 2009
Upper part section of the Cove camping area in the foreground, with mountains rising behind. Off-camer, Caesar’s Head is to your right, and Table Rock is ahead to the left. The ridge you see is part of the line of mountains connecting the two. The camground fronts the south fork of the Saluda River, just a mile or two downstream from its source at the Table Rock Resevoir.
December 14, 2009
Trees along the roadside, Palmetto Cove, taken November 2009. Same trees you see up in the header photo at the top of the blog.
December 7, 2009
Morning light over the field and barn, taken November 2009.
November 30, 2009
Taken November 2009. Not such a bad place to wake up, eh?
November 15, 2009
November 15th marks the end of the camping season at Palmetto Cove. Tragically, we forgot, twice, to bring up our collection of empty seltzer cans for Mr. B. to turn into model airplanes . . . so I guess I’ll spend my winter dodging cans every time I try to grab a book off my bookshelf. They look nice all lined up like that, but they’ll look even better as aircraft.
Going a bit slow on the blogging lately because ordinary life is not slow at all — good, but busy. Jon made me a pile of photos from this fall to put up for you over the winter, so the blog will still be active. And maybe this will be the winter I get around to filling in a few more useful links. We’ll see.
October 26, 2009
. . . It is to be admitted, the weather for State Rally was, shall we say, a touch damp? Apparently the characteristic wide blue skies that usually attend were running a few days late — we had a brilliant stretch of clear weather in the week after, so much so that I had to break down and water my garden in order to inspire the next batch of promised rain to make its appearance.
But in defense of our fine mountains, there is gorgeous autumn hiking even on gray days. Does this trail not beg you to explore the next bend?
And I think Raven Cliff Falls performs quite respectably in soft light, no?
Only a few more weeks until the Cove closes for the season. Hopefully one of my faithful readers will speak up and tell me the exact closing date this year, lest I have to break down and e-mail someone for the information. Must go fetch camper for winter maintenance. (Campers can be stored on-site through the winter, but there is no access to the campground during that time. Which rule our security person is quite firm enforcing.)
October 15, 2009
Woohoo! This coming weekend in the WBCCI’s South Carolina State Rally. Translation: Lots of shiny silver airstreams gathered in one place.
It’s a joyful event for us: Palmetto Cove was originally founded as the headquarters of the Palmetto State Unit of the WBBCI, and for years was an Airstream-only campground. There’s just something right about so many Airstreams winding their way to the old home for the weekend. From the Caesar’s Head Overlook, you can see the campground in the valley below, gleaming campers in neat lines across the opening in the trees.
You need to be a member of the WBCCI in order to participate in the rally. But there are usually a few spaces available for ordinary campers, so non-airstreamers are welcome to come and camp and get a peek at all the excitement.
October 11, 2009
Table Rock South Carolina, of course. (There is another, entirely different Table Rock in North Carolina.) Viewed here from Scenic Highway 11.
I apologize for the erratic blogging lately — not camping seems to keep us just as busy as going camping. (In this case, children have been keeping us occupied with a mild by insistent little GI virus that hops from child to child, re-emerging just when you’d thought surely no one else was going to get it . . . Well, so far adults have been spared, I’m quite happy about that.)
Meanwhile, you have no excuse, I hope. I won’t say this has been a more spectacular autumn than average, but it is South Carolina’s best season, very reliable, always delightful. Great time to go camping.
September 21, 2009
Remind me not to take vacation . . . invariably I come home to an avalanche of busyness. (Which is why vacation seemed like such a good idea in the first place).
So we went over to the Cove for Labor Day weekend, and now, oh, two weeks later, I’m here to tell you about it. Lovely end-of-summer weekend. Leaves were still deep green, full shade even up on top of the mountain. No doubt twinges of color are starting to peek out now, as October approaches. Weather was warm enough to swim in the afternoons — not just warm enough for intrepid Canadians, but good for regular southern swimmers who don’t do the polar bear thing. Warm, but not sweltering, with cool evenings, and excellent hiking in the shade of the forest.
Overall we had an unusually lazy weekend. Took the kids on the Frank Coggins trail again — 3-year-old hiked just to the waterfall overlook and back, bigger kids did the whole loop, with ice cream afterwards at the Caesar’s Head ranger station. The rest of the weekend was a lot of fishing and swimming and sittin’ around — the good kind. The girls and I did a little painting (rank amateurs, all of us, don’t get any ideas), archers shot with various amounts of ability & enthusiasm, and very patient fellow-campers offered golf-cart rides to certain shameless beggars.
Two different Good Sam clubs turned out for rallies, and I wish I had a picture of Friday night’s candelit dinner under the pavillion — just lovely. Instead, the best I can manage to capture the spirit of the weekend:
Jon's Fish
***
On the walk out on our hike Friday, I was thinking about the topic of accessible trails (specifically: wheelchair accessible). And then, walking on a bit, realized that the opening half-mile or so of the Frank Coggins is a fairly well-maintained gravel roadbed. Shaded, and with no vehicle access — it isn’t a road, just a roadbed. Which means that for some users, depending on your equipment and your abilities, that first half-mile *is* an accessible trail, already.
I think it would be worthwhile for the state park to go ahead and fully transform that trail into a 100% accessible nature trail. The location is right — just across the road from the already-accessible ranger station. The bulk of the work is already done. And I know the trail is of worthwhile interest, because the rangers lead nature programs along it. And it’s lovely, and would encourage the many visitors of all abilities who otherwise just stop at the overlook and then keep driving, to actually get into the woods for a few minutes. It is remarkably different, driving next to the woods versus walking inside them.
Meanwhile, so you know, that first half-mile of Frank Coggins is most definitely baby-jogger accessible. If you can manage a gravel road surface, somewhat uneven in patches but with no steps, steady incline but not overly-steep, take a look at the Frank Coggins. Classic mountain woodlands trail right from the get-go, so even if you don’t get very far, you’ve already gotten a good taste of what the forest has to offer. Well worth the try.
August 30, 2009
Fall hiking season is upon us, and here are a couple photos from one of our epic September hikes. The waterfall in the background is Moonshine Falls, so-named because there is a cave behind the waterfall where bootleggers used to distill their moonshine. At the time of this hike, you could still see old steel barrels, relics of the manufacturing process. Our two-year-old at the time, not versed in the world illegal distilleries, called the place “Shining Moon Falls”.
Last I heard the short, easy trail to Moonshine Falls was closed. So consider these memories from days gone by.
A few trail notes remain relevant though:
Stream Crossings: Our toddler at the time was something of an advanced hiker. I find that between the ages of about 3 to 5 is when most young children are ready to do short, no-elevation-gain hikes in the SC mountains. But at that age, expect to provide assistance here and there at tricky spots. The approach to the waterfall on this particular hike crossed the creek directly above the waterfall. Lots of water + high falls just feet away = all children cross with adult assistance. Which leads to the much more dramatic trail note . . .
Yellow Jackets! Jon gallantly carried our 2-year-old across the stream in a few quick steps, and up the bank on the other side, landing firmly on an underground yellow-jacket nest. I’m not sure why yellow jackets are so fond of building *on* the trail, but it does seem to be their habit. By autumn the nests are quite large, and if you aren’t paying attention (say, you are trying to keep your daughter from being swept off a waterfall), you can walk on one inadvertently. Which the yellow jackets don’t much appreciate. And they will let you know.
So eyes open on the trail this time of year. Lest you end up with a toddler like ours, reporting, “Daddy carried me across the creek at Shining Moon Falls, and he got stung by the Life Jackets!”
Happy to reach Moonshine Falls unstung.
Daddy rescued me from the Life Jackets.
