Privet ot uzhnay karaline!!!

Beaver Dam -Stamp Creek

          Met a young man from Russia the other day, asked him if he could translate English to Russian for me. He said he could; this Post Heading is for those of you from Russia who follow this blog. Those of us who speak and read English- the title says "Greetings from South Carolina". Pretty cool!

          We put the canoe on the lake yesterday and we had a swell time. Drove for a hour to get to Stamp Creek Access on Lake Keowee, rained most all the way. By the time we arrived at the boat ramp it was just overcast and cool. Backed that truck down to the water and unloaded just like we had done it an hundred times before. Felt good to paddle across the placid water just a small wake and the sound of the water leaving the paddle at the end of each stroke. We moved away from the developed shore and headed into the part of the lake waiting to be developed. Several signs along the water line- Lot number ? for sale. Past all of that are No trespassing signs posted by a hunting club. Kinda made me feel unwelcome and unwanted! We pushed on to the end where the creek flows into the lake, the water is about five feet below full pond. The ground all soft and marsh with grasses growing on what would normally be the lake bottom. Went as far as we could and had to stop when the canoe bottom wedged in the mud. Gracie jumped out and I slowly pulled myself up and standing. Stepped out in to the soft lake bottom and sunk up to about half of an inch over the top of my waterproof LL Bean hunting boot. My thick wool socks acted as a wick and drew the cold wet- yes wet and cold- water all the way down and surrounded my right foot and then my left foot. I was not foot loose and fancy free, I can tell you that! Pulled my self up by my boot straps, stood on Higher Ground, shouted Halleluiah and marched to the Promised Land! Gracie has so much fun, we hiked about half a mile up stream, me mucking in the mud and marsh and she running and swimming through the water. Returned to the canoe and paddled to another creek, this creek is dammed by beavers. May 24, 2011--First time we found this dam and now we are just seeing if it is still here. Yes, the dam is in place and we could see where new sticks and branches have been added. Still haven't seen the beavers, but am sure they are around some place.

          A big blue heron stands watching us paddle in his direction, we mean no harm, but he flies away with those long legs hanging down and his neck aimed as sure as an arrow flying to the target. Gracie is sleeping in the bow and I stop paddling to listen to natures music. Birds singing, crows cawing, the ripple of water, a silent wind, the canopy of heavy clouds covering this cove nestled between woods on the left and open hills on the right remind me of God's creation and how blessed we are to be loved by Him.

          A nice slow paddle takes us back to the boat ramp, we load the truck and head home. It's been a good morning!

          On the water or in the woods,

          Turtle

Hats on pegs

Hat with Attitude

          I was walking through my room just the other day, my room because the wife is not allowed to do any thing to it, when I noticed the shelf that I made a few years ago. It is slanted from left to right with the left side being about five inches lower than the right side. Why would a shelf be made this way, you ask! Just wanted to do something different! Underneath the slanted shelf are two pegs, these are evenly spaced and horizontally level, positioned at the widest angle. A row of five pegs clime the face of the shelf making a total of seven pegs.On these pegs hang caps, baseball style hats, ball caps--Hats!  Most of these hats are never worn they just hang out in the room on the pegs in the shelf gathering dust and waiting for the day to arrive when they head out the door on my head!           Hats on pegs! It's a mystery to me, but there they be.

          The first hat is a Life is good hat. It is red with Life is good written on the edge of the bill. A embroidered man and dog are on the front.Jake is the name of the Life is good man, he has on a backpack and is hiking with his yellow dog.  My Dad gave this hat to me, he said that my brother Todd had given it to him. The day I saw it, I commented that it looked like Gracie and me, so my Dad said "do you want it?" and I said" yes" and he said" take it" and I took it! End of that story-short and sweet! One day there will be a strong sentimental attachment to the red hat.

          The next hat down the shelf is a hat I just recently bought, it gets worn more than the others. The truth be told it is not hanging, it is laying on the table where I can get it as I go out the door. This hat has canoe written on it underneath a canoe paddle and three evergreen trees. It kinda defines who I am.!

          Peg number three has two hats. The bottom hat is a blue hat with Marine Corps written on the front..I bought the Marine hat down at Parris Island during  Marine Corps Boot Camp Graduation. My son served as a Marine when he finished High School. There are many stories that could be told related to his time in the Corps. One very short version of a Boot Camp story. My wife sent him a music box for Christmas while he was in Boot Camp-the DI was not a happy camper!!-My son had to do push ups while listening to his Mamma's Music BOX! If you know my son, have him tell the story-very funny! Not funny then!!! I wore the hat with pride during his Marine Corps days, when he got out I hung it up.
          The second hat on peg three is a gift hat for subscribing to the canoe&kayak magazine. Canoe& Kayak are written on the front and LIVE  BREATH  PADDLE are written on the back. I also have a tee shirt with the words PADDLE  RELAX  REPEAT  across the front. Only on special occasions do I wear this hat, not very often, who knows what makes an occasion special? I just like the hat.

          Two hats are also hanging on the fourth peg. A dark brick red hat with The North Face logo embroidered on the front. I had to have this hat because of all the North Face gear I own.Super two man tent- or in my case, one man and a yellow dog tent. Great warm sleeping bag-shared with Gracie until we couldn't both fit in it. When she was a little puppy I would not zip the bag up so she could lay with her back to me and her feet sticking out, she got older and bigger so she now sleeps curled up on the bag where ever she wants to. Several other pieces of North Face equipment round out my gear and help make the canoeing and camping experience a comfortable time. North Face has served me well for a number of years.
          Mountain Bridge Wilderness is Jones Gap State Park and Caesars  Head State Park, the trails connect with each other and make for many miles of hiking trails. The number two hat has Mountain Bridge and the soles of two hiking boots embroidered on the front above the bill. One summer many years ago every free day I had was spent hiking in the Mountain Bridge area. I covered all the trails, most of them twice doing the out and back thing as I solo hiked. Gracie wasn't even born then to share these miles, we've hiked some of the trails together at Jones Gap but not many. This hat reminds me of the year I really started hiking.

         The lowest peg, maybe the saddest one, has a florescent orange hunting hat collecting dust; it hasn't been worn in such a long time.Really have nothing to say about about it, bought it a number of years ago to wear hunting, haven't been hunting in I don't know how long- got tired of carrying a gun in the woods. Never really shot anything, took a paperback to read while waiting for the deer to wander by, easier to do with out a gun!   
          The other hat is a nice hat with Charleston SC on it's front. All the vacations we took down there and all the good times we had. Speaking of hunting, my son and I would pretend to shoot the pelicans flying along the shore. We spent much time wading through the water watching for the big birds flying low over the water. We would raise our imaginary guns and  shoot at the groups of pelicans, when one would dive into the ocean after a fish,we had a hit. People probably thought we were crazy and a little redneck-We were! It was a lot of fun! One vacation I almost drown as the undertow pulled my tired body out to sea. The rescue squad was called out to save me, but they were too late. Tide was going out and I stumbled onto a sand bar way out in the ocean, walked all the back to the shore. They waited for me to see if I was OK and assured me it happened all the time-people getting sweep out to sea. That was a scary experience. This man from the Upstate was really glad to see the foothills of SC, the Blue Ridge Mts. off in the distance and lakes with quiet waters when he got home a few days later. Charleston SC is a wonderful city, I will vacation there again some summer.

          Devils Fork State Park, the park adjacent to Lake Jocassee is the wording on the hat hanging on one of the last two pegs. Jocassee is my favorite play ground in the Upstate! Gracie and I have camped here, my wife, Gracie and I have camped here, my niece and her family have camped here with my wife, Gracie and I. Devils Fork is such a great place to be and the lake and beautiful mountains surrounding it make for a relaxing and refreshing stay. You will have to go back and read several of the older blogs to understand all the good things I could say about this part of SC.
          The hat rack would not be complete without my Old Town 100 year old anniversary hat. Old Town Canoe made the canoe which has opened the out doors for me, many miles have Gracie and I paddled on the different lakes not only in SC, but also in NC. Once again you will have to read some older blogs to read all the good things about flat water canoeing.

          One more hat- my Tilly hat-pictured above, he has no peg to call his own! Stuffed in my day pack or laying in the bottom of the canoe, thrown on the old couch in my room, riding around in the truck, he gets no respect! I turn him upside down and use him for a dry spot on wet logs, lay my head on him when napping in the middle of a trail, and soak him in the lake for a cool covering on hot summer days. This is my second Tilly hat, the first was blown off my head during a quick hard storm in the middle of Lake Jocassee. Lost never to be found!


          In the woods or on the water

          Turtle

Foothills Trail

Trail

          Went back to work Thursday the 5th- bummer -like to work and like my job, it just gets in the way of being me! Tuesday, Gracie and I drove to the Foothills trail and hiked. Boy was it cold and clear and windy and an exhilarating experience, felt like I had just eaten a peppermint  patty [ old TV commercial ] ! We hiked from the Laurel Valley Access toward the Laurel Fork Falls Area, that's over a six hundred foot elevation change in a short period of time. We moved fast both up and down the mountain, breathing hard and quick trying to stay warm. We stopped for water and I shed my fleece and hat and cooled down a minute, having warmed up too much. The trail crosses an old logging road which we turned left on and followed it until it dead ended into the main gravel road which cuts through the Jocassee Gorge Area. We then traced our footsteps back to the truck. Only gone about three hours, but they were a good three hours.

          Monday morning the 10th of Jan. we headed out to see the lakes, didn't take the canoe and wished I had  as soon as we got to Lake Keowee. It was overcast and still, not a sound except for the lake sounds and noisy  bird sounds. The lake is about five feet below full pond and a lot of shore is showing. Walking along the shore in the sand  near the boat ramp, I spotted a bear track- always heart warming to see bear sign. This was a big print, larger then my hand,and a line of smaller prints were following alongside. The prints disappeared at the cement boat ramp either going in the water or to the parking lot. Took a picture of the bear claw print, but still haven't been able to down load onto the computer. I will be getting another camera real soon, I take quite a few pictures on my journeys and feel slighted not being able to do so now! The camera phone just doesn't do what needs to be done!

          We left Keowee and drove to Lake Jocassee, entered a different time warp zone! Fog on the lake was thick as mashed potatoes covered with cotton balls. Gracie and I hiked the Bear Cove Trail to the lake shore and pushed our way through the cotton ball fog stumbling over lumpy mashed potatoes and slick red-eye gravy. Jocassee is about twenty-five feet below full pond, so the shore line around the lake is wide, rocky and steep. We walked just a short ways on the shore, fog so thick could not even see the mountain range on other side of lake.  Reminded me of the time a couple years back when we were taking a canoe trip across the lake and going to camp over night on the Foothills trail.. Fog thick that morning, right tight to the shore and surrounding the truck as we unloaded the stuff from truck to canoe, almost couldn't see between the two. Had the canoe loaded, parked truck and had to call Gracie to come lead me to the big red canoe, fog was so heavy. We got in canoe and started paddling across the mile wide lake where we would stop for a break  and let the fog burn off before making the long trip to the other end of Lake Jocassee.Normally takes me about thirty minutes to cross the lake, one easy relaxing stroke at a time, not that day! All we see is white and the paddle in my hand, I'm paddling a straight line, a bee line if you will, toward the opposite shore. The clock is ticking! I'm really having fun cutting through this heavy fog and am in no hurry, but I slowly realize that this is taking an awfully long time to reach the other side.Pulling my GPS unit out of my dry bag, turning it on and waiting for it to read  the satellites above me, I see trees off to my right- this should not be! Yes the story of my life, I'm spinning around in circles in a fog induced state goin' no where! North is the direction we want to be paddling, so I pull up the compass on the GPS and point north. Still buried in the fog, but now have a plan in place.  We get the canoe squared away and try again. Success! in just a few minutes we not only see our target but also the fog is lifting, revealing a clear sun filled sky and calm clear waters.

          Our next stop was into NC to the Whitewater Falls. I could hear the falls,but not see them, still too foggy! We drove a big loop thru NC and returned home much later than planned. Always good to see new and old haunts, keeps us grounded to what's important.

          On the land or in the woods,

          Turtle

2012 is going to be a good year!

View from top of Sassafras

          Happy New Year from the Upstate of SC. We have trails to hike and lakes to paddle.We have nice clean State Parks open to any one who wants to get outdoors and play. Come and join us this year as we explore the Upstate of SC! This may be the year we get snake bit, or fall and break a leg, or have a branch slap us across the head and knock us out cold, WOW! any thing can happen. Maybe just the same ole steady careful plan ahead and follow the rules kinda year. Who knows what will happen, the main thing is to get out and do something. God created all of this for us to enjoy- So Enjoy His creation and get outside and play! Meet new people with a smile and a "How are you this beautiful day?"

          Turtle