South Carolina Botanical Gardens

Date: Sunday, March 21, 2010
Location / Map

Trails: Nature
Distance: 1 miles
Time: 30 minutes

Rating: && (out of 5)

This was the 2nd day of Spring. My original plan was to go to Table Rock, but when I woke up it was raining. Around 11am it stopped, so I decided to get in a quick hike at the SCBG. I parked at the big lot in the back, and took the well-worn path from there toward the main trail system. The trails are not marked very well here, so it is difficult to describe exactly which path I took. But I made a roughly 1-mile loop and got back to the car in about 30 minute, just as the rain started falling again.

Keowee-Toxaway State Park

Date: Sunday, March 7, 2010
Location / Map

Trails: Natural Bridge, Raven Rock
Distance: 4.0 miles
Time: 1 hour, 30 minutes

Rating: &&& (out of 5)

This weekend was one of the nicest so far in 2010; i.e., it was mostly sunny and not freezing cold. We went to church on Sunday morning, and with the kids down for their naptime / "quiet time", I headed out for a hike. I've been wanting to get to the Eastatoe Heritage Preserve, but since I didn't leave the house until almost 1:45, I didn't think I had enough time to make the drive (probably an hour away). K-T State Park is only a 30 minute drive, so by virtue of that it has become one of my favorite hiking spots.

I arrived at the park and got started on the trail about 2:15. There were several other cars in the lots, and I saw around a dozen people on the trails (most of them with their dogs). The weather was almost perfect: about 60 degrees. I decided to make the whole figure-8 loop, which is about 4 miles. I took the Natural Bridge trail in a clockwise direction, and the Raven Rock trail in a counter-clockwise direction. I made pretty good time, getting back to the car in an hour and a half. Spring is almost here, but it still looks very much like winter.