Peachtree Rock: The Rock (photo by Matt Richardson)
I committed a major faux pas. I stole harvested an excellent Google Earth resource, but I forgot where I got it. I want to give credit to the proper people for this gem, but I can’t for the life of me remember where the file came from. Must be the Aspartame.
Mea culpas aside, I was planning for a hike to Peachtree Rock (pictured above) this Saturday with our Lowcountry Unfiltered adventure group. I wanted more information on the area, and a search led me to a Google Earth file showing all of the heritage nature preserves in South Carolina. The file has excellent descriptions, as well as links to the SC Department of Natural Resources information for the locations.
I saved the file, but forgot to record where I got it. I uploaded both the KML file and an accompanying GPX file to my wiki page…
According to the KML introduction…
With the passage of the Heritage Trust Act in 1976, the South Carolina state legislature created a program to protect, in perpetuity, some of the most unique and endangered places in the state — in particular those that harbor significant representatives of our natural and cultural heritage. These properties are owned and managed by the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, and most are open to the public.
Some of the sites in the Google Earth file are jointly managed by the SC DNR and the Nature Conservancy. The Conservancy actually has it’s own map page showing the locations of it’s lands in the United States. Not only is there an interactive Google Map page, but you can also download a Google Earth file of these locations. Using GPSBabel, you can convert the Nature Conservancy’s KML file into a GPX file for your GPS, as I did with the SC Heritage Preserve file.
So, if anyone downloads this file and recognizes the source, please let me know so that I can give proper credit.
So, do you have a program to check certain locations as “conquered” after you have visited?
Not as such. However, I’m sure you could adapt the geocaching function of EasyGPS to do the same thing.
With the lookout towers I’m changing the icon on my Google Earth file to indicate whether or not the tower is still standing.
The towers are very cool… something I like even more are lighthouses. Not the touristy ones you normally find, but the more interesting ones… http://www.jamesandjennymartin.com/leamlight.jpg
That one is on Hilton Head. Are you allowed to climb the towers, or do you just shoot them?
I’m still looking for an opportunity to climb one. A request to the SC DNR was rejected, but I’m pulling some strings to see if some other opportunities might arise.
As for lighthouses, I’d love to seek out those, too. Lookout towers just seemed a bit closer to where I live.