[caption id="attachment_1436" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Bloodroot"]
[/caption] To skip the chatter and go right to the pics of this walk, click the link below:
Palmetto Trail – Poinsett Passage(Opens in new window) Approximately 9.8 mile out-and-back walk on South Carolina’s Palmetto Trail – the Poinsett Passage section. The walk started at Orchard Lake Campground in Saluda, North Carolina and the turnaround point was Vaughns Gap in South Carolina – April 3, 2010 South Carolina’s
Palmetto Trail is a planned 425 mile hiking and mountain biking trail starting in the mountains of the Upstate (Oconee County) and roughly bisecting the state as it travels to the terminus near Charleston. Currently roughly 235 of the planned 425 miles are complete, and the trail is broken into sections called passages. On Easter-eve I traveled back to the mountains for my first ‘official’ walk on the Palmetto Trail. Goal was a 13.2 out-and-back on the
Poinsett Passage, a ridgetop walk along the Brushy Ridge, which separates North Carolina from South Carolina’s Greenville Watershed property. The first Saturday of April was to be unusually warm, and early blooms and showy flowers were making quite a scene on the roads to the trail. If you’ve never been through Landrum, SC or Tryon, NC, you should take the time to drive through on Hwy 176 north of Greenville and south of Hendersonville. These are quaint little mountain towns straddling the border of the two states showcasing the simple downtown scenes that are so pleasant to drive through. Nothing was open yet on my early-morning drive but I still had to crack a smile. I will make a point to stop by on a future trip where I don’t have 13 miles of walking to cover. [caption id="attachment_1431" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Lake Lanier near Tryon"]
[/caption]
Detours and wasted hours The old familiar sight of a ‘Road Closed’ sign awaited me when I made the turn off of 176 to head to the western trailhead of the Poinsett Passage at Orchard Lake Campground in Saluda, NC. Well, this isn’t starting out too well….foreshadowing a tough day to come. I turned around and headed back the way I came, finally stopping to ask a Greenville County Policeman for directions to the road I thought was supposed to be at the eastern end of the passage. I encircled crowded Lake Lanier looking for the Palmetto Trail, not the big Lake Lanier in Georgia but a smaller version near Tryon. This Lake Lanier had houses on every square inch of shoreline. After a twisty drive around the lake I was finally able to find the Palmetto Trail. The problem…it wasn’t the passage I was going to walk, instead it was the western trailhead for the
Blue Wall Passage, a section that connects to the eastern end of the Poinsett Passage, but only after a 12 mile one-way walk. Frustrated, I turned around and made a 50 mile detour around the Greenville Watershed, finally arriving at the campground nearly two hours later than my expected launch time. Even more frustrating, I would later learn that the original road closed sign was for a closure beyond where I would’ve turned off to get to the campground…in about 5 miles instead of 50! Arghh! It was clearly not going to be my day. [caption id="attachment_1435" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="One of many state line markers lining the trail"]
[/caption]
Neighborhood walking on the west end of the Poinsett Passage The west end of the Poinsett Passage begins with a road crossing and then a short road walk along Fork Creek Road before ducking into the woods after a tenth or so. Here the trail meanders through a lowland pine forest that includes many American Holly trees. Despite the trail feel, the initial few tenths is only a few yards to the right of the road and passes several homes. Ahh, nothing like the sounds of nature….chainsaws, lawn tractors, weed eaters, hammers, screaming kids, the whole nine yards, maybe ten. I dare not complain though about civilization because I would be in need of some later in the day. [caption id="attachment_1434" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Independent Baptist Church"]
[/caption] Soon the trail approaches gold-spired Independent Baptist Church and turns away from the road. I stop to look at a few graves in the church graveyard, with headstones dating back to the early 20th century. Unfortunately someone tending the graves has decided that old plastic flowers and other grave decorations should be disposed of in the forest just behind the church. With the trail now running directly behind the church it is a discouraging scene. I also begin to notice the small cement state line markers every few yards. These red painted markers would be with me most of the day as I traveled roughly along the state line from west to east. Occasionally there is some nice rockwork and wooden steps to help with the climb up Brushy Ridge. I leave the sound of civilization behind. As is the case all day when walking in this direction, to the left of me is private land in North Carolina and to my right is land managed as the Greenville Watershed. Strict rules apply to the watershed land, and there are signs posted on many trees warning of stern penalties for trespassing and illegal use. Thankfully hiking isn’t considered trespassing, but just about everything else is. Switching back to the left I trudge up the first reasonable climb and once I reach the top of the ridge I am stunned by the beautiful display of hundreds of bloodroot flowers, one of the early bloomers at these elevations. The ridgetop breezes and gradual climbing have me thoroughly enjoying the experience, for now. I continue eastward and come to the area shown on the map as ‘switchbacks’. It is a downhill section followed by a steep uphill along with wooden-staired switchbacks. It is here I begin to encounter the many obstacles I’ll deal with today in the way of blowdowns across the trail. Every few yards is another to deal with. The forest is relatively new growth, so most are just annoyances more than the big-tree obstacles often found in the Smokies. But dealing with all the obstacles slows me down considerably, and combined with the heat and relentless sun through the bare trees, it will add up to problems later in the afternoon. Finally I regain the ridge and am re-energized by the cool breezes across the top of Brushy Ridge. To the right are nice views into the Poinsett Watershed and to the left are views into North Carolina. The energy wouldn’t last long because soon I’m climbing over, around, and through more blowdowns. One flat area is particularly difficult, I had never seen so much debris on a trail. It must have been some powerful storms that took down this much of the forest. I make it through slightly worried but thinking that since I was able to make it through going in this direction I should be good for the return trip this afternoon. Sure Skippy… [caption id="attachment_1437" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Views at the edge of the Blue Ridge escarpment"]
[/caption] After a struggle I finally reach the trail kiosk on gravel Hogback Mountain Road. I’m not sure what possessed me to continue on to Vaughns Gap from here, but I decided that if I had struggled this much to get to this point then I’m going to finish this section officially. So I turn south and take the nearly 2 mile gravel road walk up and over Rocky Spur to finally reach Vaughns Gap and the official end of the Poinsett Passage section, 6.6 miles from the start at Orchard Lake Campground. This is west end of the Blue Wall Passage, a section of the Palmetto Trail that drops down out of the mountains and connects up with the aforementioned Lake Lanier 12 miles away. At Vaughns Gap I turn around and start my return trip continually taking jabs at myself for walking this ridiculous road. Other than saying I completed the section the road walk is a major drag, hot, dusty, steep climbing, and exposed to the baking sun. The only redeeming factors are the occasional views onto the valley floor through the trees and the extra calories burned. Next time….no way! [caption id="attachment_1438" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Finally arriving at Vaughns Gap"]
[/caption] [caption id="attachment_1439" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="The western end of the Blue Wall Passage"]
[/caption]
How an experienced hiker gets lost We all know what happens about 3 miles into my 6.6 mile return trip. The debris-strewn section I had worried about earlier turned out to bite me squarely in the behind. On the outbound leg I noticed there weren’t many yellow blazes in this area and had some trouble staying on course. On the return leg I stepped around an area of heavy debris and reentered what I thought was the trail…only to realize later after crawling through even more tangled messes that I was not on the trail. At first I wasn’t concerned, I figured I’d just crawl back the way I came. Well folks…for me on this day it wasn’t that easy. I circled the ridge countless times fighting my way through heavy brush and looking for the trail, but to no avail. Now I was not only completely worn out but in the middle of an impossible tangled mess and with no idea how to get back on track. It was already later than planned due to my earlier detours and extra time spent on the outbound leg. I decided to stop moving and call for help. Thanks to the continual looping and probably the adrenaline rush I had no energy left to move another foot. Scary..I’d never really experienced that level of crash before. When I called for help I didn’t plan for it to turn into the big ta-doo that it wound up becoming. Although I was completely spent I knew I wasn’t in any real danger…I had just passed a house about a tenth of a mile back, knew I was not far from the trail, knew which direction my car was in, plus even if I couldn’t find my way out it wasn’t going to be too cold on this night. But I still wasn’t looking forward to playing Survivorman without the right supplies. I also was fortunate to have cell phone reception. I figured I’d get my coordinates off of the GPS and just have somebody tell which direction was best to walk to get back on the trail. Unfortunately my GPS software didn’t cover this area of the mountains so the trail and area details weren’t shown, but at least I had my coordinates. [caption id="attachment_1441" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Lost in a tangled maze"]
[/caption] Well it turned out to be a pretty complicated process. Because the trail was not in a National or State Park and also crosses state lines, 3 different units responded, only one of which really being familiar with the trail. I had Saluda Fire and Rescue (with ATVs), Greenville County (with dogs), and the Greenville Watershed Wardens out looking for me. I was on the phone with the first and second units, while Grady McCombs from the Greenville Watershed, the person most familiar with the trail, tried repeatedly to reach me to help guide me out. Had I been able to answer his call, I probably could’ve saved the other two teams some work because Grady helped blaze this trail. While talking with the responding units I surveyed around and fortunately was able to spot a house several hundred yards through the trees across a small ravine. I wasn’t sure I could get there, but I had my energy back so I struggled through the brush and thankfully made it to the house, which turned out to be on Hogback Mountain Road, the same road I had walked on earlier in the day. I was extremely relieved to see Grady pull up to the house. We called off the other teams and then Grady graciously took me back to my car at the campground. I thanked him profusely, and also vowed to become a regular visitor to his barbeque restaurant, the
Huntin’ Camp BBQ & Grill in Travelers Rest. Thanks Grady and all the team members that came looking for me! Thank God for people such as Grady and the others that are dedicated to helping out those in need. While on the phone with his team Grady said that the Greenville search team had come across another lost hiker…..what a day! [caption id="attachment_1442" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Thanks to Grady McCombs I arrive at the car before sunset"]
[/caption] Low elevation on today’s planned 13.2 mile out-and-back walk was 2125’ at the Orchard Lake Campground trailhead and high elevation was 3060’ at Rocky Spur on Hogback Mountain Road. I don’t know how much overall climbing I did, but with the several loops around the ridge looking for the trail it was almost more than I could take. For pics of this walk, click the link below:
Palmetto Trail – Poinsett Passage(Opens in new window)
Dan DeSetto
