A collection of photography and exploration focusing on Upstate South Carolina and beyond.
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The past several days have been a marathon of kayaking trips. I’ve done three paddles in five days for a total of 21 miles. Each of these trips had some similarities, but there were some significant differences. The first trip was on Thursday of last week to Sparkleberry Swamp with the Tri-County Blueway Paddlers.
I have missed our Second Saturday trips with Lowcountry Unfiltered. For one reason or another we’ve had conflicts with trips, or the weather wasn’t right, or the plans just fell through. It was great to get back together with the guys. This time we ventured into the Land of Unpronounceable Names in the heart of Berkeley County with a kayak trek from Huger Creek to Cooper River, a stop at the historic Pompion Hill Chapel, then back along the Cooper to Quinby Creek.
With all of my new activities I just haven’t gotten on the water as much as I would like. When fellow Chorale member Dale Strickland told me about an opportunity to paddle the Edisto River with the Bamberg Chamber of Commerce and the Friends of the Edisto, I jumped at the chance. This past Saturday … Read More “Paddling with FRED” »
Early settlers seemed to have a fascination with reusing old names. The US is full of place names with the word “New” appended. In some places they didn’t even bother with the “New.” This longing for a hint of European homeland was the case with several of the ghost towns along the Savannah River – Hamburg, South Hampton Lisbon, Petersburg, New Bordeaux, and Vienna. On this unseasonably warm February day I decided to paddle out and see if I could find any remnants of the tri-city area of Lisbon, Petersburg, and Vienna, now located under Strom Thurmond Lake.
I haven’t really gotten back to my paddling routine since returning to the east coast. When I saw that my friends at Tri-County Blueways Paddlers were heading back to the Old Santee Canal, I jumped at the chance. It also turns out that with my new church duties this would be my last Sunday paddling excursion for quite awhile.
The Christmas Dinosaurs have been put away and the trees taken down. We’ve been catching our breath before ramping up for the next round of madness. The past couple of weeks have been a whirlwind. There were paddle trips, swamp outings, drum circles, and we even celebrate a major milestone. All of this, while wrapping up 2018 and seeing in 2019 in grand fashion. Over the next several posts I’m going to try to summarize the Winter Holiday happenings.
I have a thick white beard that I’ve let grow out longer for the season. I have a Santa hat. I have a red PFD. I have a big red kayak. Of course I’d combine all of these for some Santa paddling. What I hadn’t counted on was eight tiny dolphins to pull my sleigh.
When possible I’ve tried to watch the sunrise from a kayak on the solstices. Winter solstice we’re usually in Florida for Christmas. Last year we missed it while we were away in Washington State, but this year I was determined to get out for the sunrise. The added bonus? I had two new boats to christen.
I’ve been wanting to get back on track with our “Water Wednesday” outings. This past Wednesday was inundated with Hurricane/Tropical Storm Michael, which dumped tons of water and brought winds to our area Wednesday into Thursday. By Thursday afternoon, though, skies had cleared, so we were good to go for an outing on Friday. This time Jeff Holland and I headed down to Laurens county to the Boyd’s Mill Pond on the Reedy River. While any day on the water is a good day, this one presented some unique challenges.
It was another Second Saturday and time for a paddling trip with my friends from Lowcountry Unfiltered. For our September trip we had planned to do the western portion of Okefenokee Swamp, but we decided to put that on hold. I had told Matt that after our epic Morris Island excursion I wanted something with current, preferably going on the direction we were paddling. We got that…sort of…by paddling a section of the Savannah River below Augusta. However, any helpful current was offset by the length of the trip, a new record for Lowcountry Unfiltered.