Middle Saluda River

Today Jerry and I drove to the last two state parks to get the stamps for my state park book.  Since January 1, 2020 until today I have visited all 47 of our state parks.  For my efforts I get a tshirt but it was a good way to see parts of South Carolina that I have never seen before.   Some areas I definitely want to go back to explore.

Like this park..Jones Gap State Park.    Oh my goodness, I was in heaven.  There is nothing I like better than hiking along a creek or river.  With all the rain in the past week this river is roaring!   We were actually walking to a waterfall but we had experienced so much water on the trail...along with boulders and mud...that we cut our hike short by just a little.   We turned around at a place where the rocks that we were supposed to use for fording the water that was seeping out of the mountain were completely covered with running water.  I was not taking any chance with getting wet feet as water would have surely gotten into the top of  my waterproof hiking boots.   But it only means I have to go back when the trail dries out!     Bless his heart,  my hubby really is a trooper as his bad knee was giving him fits and he would not let me hike on my own.   (He probably will never go hiking in the mountains with me again...just my thinking as I always get us on the hardest trail!) 

So having completed that project for this year I need to find something else to do that involves day trips.   I am thinking about investigating each county to see what kind of history museum there might be.  I know there are several that I saw in my travels.    Or maybe finding the old churches. 

In the extras are a couple shots of the trail with its water and rocks. Not too pretty but I liked it!  The green is rhododendron which would really be great to hike in when it blooms.  We hiked about 3 miles roundtrip on this.   It was so worth it though!