Francis Marion National Forest: Palmetto Trail, Awendaw Passage (Blog Hike #500)

Trail: Palmetto Trail, Awendaw Passage

Hike Location: Francis Marion National Forest

Geographic Location: south of McClellanville, SC (33.03967, -79.56064)

Length: 8.4 miles

Difficulty: 4/10 (Moderate)

Date Hiked: December 2014

Overview: A long but flat out-and-back or shuttle hike featuring wide, grassy Awendaw Creek.

Area Information: https://www.fs.usda.gov/r08/francismarionsumter/recreation/buck-hall-recreation-area

Hike Route Map:

On The Go Map

Photo Highlight:

Directions to the trailhead: This hike starts at Francis Marion National Forest’s Buck Hall Recreation Area.  The recreation area’s signed entrance is located on US 17 29 miles south of Georgetown or 23 miles north of Mount Pleasant.  Drive in the paved entrance road, pay the parking fee, and turn left at the first intersection.  Park in the circle-shaped day-use parking area.  If you want to do this hike as a 2-car shuttle, leave your other car at the Awendaw Canoe Launch, which is located off of US 17 on Rosa Green Road 3 miles south of Buck Hall Recreation Area.

The hike: Often called the master path of South Carolina, the route of the Palmetto Trail traces a 500 mile journey across the entire Palmetto State.  The trail starts at Oconee State Park in the state’s northwest corner and heads northeast roughly paralleling I-85 to the Spartanburg/Cowpens area.  From there, the trail turns right and roughly parallels I-26 down the length of the state to its end along the intracoastal waterway north of Charleston.  The segments of the Palmetto Trail are called passages.  For updates on the Palmetto Trail’s continuing construction, visit http://www.palmettoconservation.org/.

            The southeastern-most 54+ miles of the Palmetto Trail pass through Francis Marion National Forest, the smaller of South Carolina’s two national forests.  The forest gets its name from the American Revolutionary War Brigadier General Francis Marion, who earned the nickname “Swamp Fox” for his guerilla-style attacks on the British in South Carolina’s lowcountry swamps.  The name Awendaw comes from the nearby town of Awendaw, a name given to the area by the Sewee Indians.

            The Palmetto Trail’s Awendaw Passage featured here is the trail’s southeastern-most segment.  This hike starts at the trail’s very end, the Buck Hall Recreation Area, which also features a small campground and a major intracoastal waterway access point for boaters.  The trail then follows Awendaw Creek 4.3 miles upstream to the Awendaw Canoe Launch.  If you have a second car in your hiking group, you can leave one car at each end and hike the trail one way.  Otherwise, you will have to do this hike as an out-and-back for a round-trip distance of 8.4 miles.

Palmetto Trail's southeastern trailhead

            From the signed trailhead, the Palmetto Trail starts on a nice boardwalk that passes over a small freshwater swamp.  On the other side of the boardwalk, the trail curves left, and you pass the first of the Palmetto Trail’s many i-shaped paint blazes.  At 0.1 miles, you cross the paved Buck Hall Recreation Area entrance road and reenter the woods on the other side.

            The next couple hundred yards angle around the grassy overnight parking area, which appears through the trees to the right.  This parking area is used by backpackers intent on hiking long segments of the Palmetto Trail.  A spur trail exits left to the recreation area’s campground.

            After the parking area fades into the woods, the trail crosses a couple of wet areas using short boardwalks.  The next 1.6 miles form a horseshoe-shaped route around some private property to your left.  Just past 0.6 miles, you pass under a power line.  This point marks the first of three times you will pass under this particular power line, and I consider the power line clearings to be the only real downside to this hike.

i-shaped Palmetto Trail blaze

            At 0.75 miles, the trail curves left to leave an old road; numerous blazes mark this turn.  Just after passing the 1-mile marker, you cross a private gravel road and its associated power line.  The trail curves left again to pass under the main power line for a second time as it gradually dips into a low area.  Black plastic mesh has been buried under parts of the trail to help combat muddy conditions.  I had no trouble with mud on my hike, but hiking after one of the heavy rains that frequently come through this area might yield a different story.

            1.8 miles into the hike, you complete the horseshoe and arrive at the bank of Awendaw Creek.  Upon reaching the first creek view, what has thus far been a pleasant but unremarkable forest hike starts to really come alive.  If the Everglades in Florida is the River of Grass, Awendaw Creek must be the creek of grass.  Unless you live near the coast, the wet, grassy saltwater marsh extending south and east as far as the eye can see give you that wonderful “I’m not in Kansas anymore” feeling.  This area is close enough to the ocean so that the direction water moves in the creek depends on the tide.  Take your time along the creek and enjoy the views.

First Awendaw Creek view

            The creek stays in view for most of the next 1.7 miles.  Whoever routed this trail segment is a genius: the trail traces the very edge of the marsh so that the wet, muddy, sunny marsh stays in near-constant view on the left yet your feet remain completely dry.  The trail crosses several wooden bridges over marsh inlets, which also give fantastic views up and down the marsh.

Awendaw Creek, looking upstream

Awendaw Creek, looking downstream

            As you proceed west along the north bank of Awendaw Creek, large numbers of palmettos appear in the understory.  Just shy of the 3 mile marker, you cross a large inlet of Awendaw Creek on a fairly new bridge that is labeled as The Time Warner Bridge.  At 3.1 miles, you reach a bench constructed by Jason Stanley as an Eagle Scout Project in 2011.  This bench sits on a sandy bluff that overlooks the meandering creek channel at a point where it comes right to the bluff’s base.  This area offers this hike’s best wildlife viewing.  I saw several aquatic birds, some ducks, and even an orca swimming back toward the ocean.

Awendaw Creek, as seen from bench on bluff

            If you are doing this hike as an out-and-back and find yourself getting tired, then this bench is a good place to turn around: the trail’s next segment heads inland away from the creek.  At 3.5 miles, you pass under the main powerline for the third and final time.  Just shy of 4 miles, the trail arrives back at the creekside bluff, which now stands 15-20 feet above the creek’s water.  Another bench allows more seated creek viewing.

Ramp to Awendaw Canoe Launch

            Just past 4.1 miles, you reach the wooden ramp that leads down to the Awendaw Canoe Launch.  The Palmetto Trail turns right here to leave the creek for good and head deeper into Francis Marion National Forest.  The parking area for the canoe launch is a couple hundred feet ahead.  If you left a second car in the canoe launch parking area, then your hike is over unless you want to explore more of the Palmetto Trail.  Those of us without a shuttle will need to retrace our steps 4.2 miles back to Buck Hall Recreation Area to complete the hike.

Myrtle Beach State Park (Blog Hike #499)

Trails: Sculpted Oak and Yaupon Nature Trails

Hike Location: Myrtle Beach State Park

Geographic Location: south side of Myrtle Beach, SC (33.65213, -78.92930)

Length: 1.7 miles

Difficulty: 1/10 (Easy)

Date Hiked: December 2014

Overview: A flat lollipop loop nature hike to a world-famous beach.

Park Information: https://southcarolinaparks.com/myrtle-beach

Hike Route Map:

On The Go Map

Photo Highlight:

Directions to the trailhead: From downtown Myrtle Beach, drive Kings Highway (US 17 Business) south 4 miles to the signed state park entrance on the left.  Turn left to enter the park, and pay the small entrance fee.  Park in the Activity/Nature Center parking area on the left, which is reached immediately after passing the park office on the right.

The hike: So you want to go to world-famous Myrtle Beach, but you also want to lose the crowds and do some hiking.  This combination sounds impossible, but it is obtainable if you come in the winter and do the short nature hike described here.  The winter part of this recommendation is essential: on nice-weather summer weekends the park can become so crowded that you must wait for someone to exit the park before you can enter it.  When I came here on a mid-December afternoon, parking lots designed to hold hundreds of cars had only 5-10 cars in them.

            The park exists today thanks to a land donation from Myrtle Beach Farms in 1934.  The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) also worked here; they built some picnic shelters and other structures that are still in use.  Today the park is an oasis of trees and sand amidst the development that typifies the Grand Strand.

            For hikers, the park features two short nature trails neither of which form loops by themselves.  However, combining the two trails with a short beach walk forms the nice lollipop loop described here.  As such, this hike lets you see everything the park has to offer and get some relaxing beach time in the process.

Inland trailhead: Sculpted Oak Nature Trail

            From the parking area, cross the park entrance road using the marked crosswalk to reach the signed trailhead for the Sculpted Oak Nature Trail.  The single-track dirt trail heads west through the maritime forest across nearly level land.  Some interpretive signs help you identify the more common trees in this forest, which include oak, witch hazel, and holly.

            Just shy of 0.2 miles, the Sculpted Oak Nature Trail turns left where a signed spur trail to a pond continues straight.  The pond is only a couple hundred feet away, so you may as well hike the short spur.  A small wooden platform overlooks the shallow algae-covered pond, which featured no observable activity on my late-afternoon visit.  The fact that the park entrance road lies immediately on the other side of this pond may be one reason little wildlife frequents this area.

Algae-covered pond

            The trail going forward from the pond leads out of the park, so you need to retrace your steps to the Sculpted Oak Nature Trail and turn right to continue your journey toward the beach.  At 0.3 miles, you reach the intersection that forms the loop portion of this hike.  For no particular reason, I chose to turn right and begin the Yaupon Nature Trail, thus using the rest of the Sculpted Oak Nature Trail, which continues straight, as my return route.

Trails split to form loop

            The Yaupon Nature Trail derives its name from the yaupon holly, which has oval-shaped leaves in contrast with the pointy leaves of the more common American holly.  The word yaupon comes from the Catawba Indian word yop for tree.  The yaupon holly lives mostly in coastal areas, while the American holly is common throughout the southeast.

            The trail meanders through more maritime forest as it gradually curves left while some man-made dirt mounds appear on the right.  The sounds of busy Kings Highway remain audible until you get almost to the beach, where they get drowned out by waves lapping on the shore.  0.7 miles into the hike, the trail passes a small freshwater wetland on the left.

Freshwater wetland

            Just after passing the wetland, you come out beside a picnic shelter and restroom building, where the Yaupon Nature Trail ends.  To get to the beach and continue the hike, angle right across a parking area and walk down a concrete walkway labeled “Walk S4.”  This walkway uses a wooden boardwalk to cross a narrow set of sand dunes covered with sea oats to reach famous Myrtle Beach.  Turn left to begin the beach portion of this hike with the ocean on the right and sand dunes on the left.

            There is nothing like a walk on the beach.  The soft white sand by the dunes contrasts with the darker firmly wave-packed sand closer to the water.  Sea shells dot the sand, and small birds comb the shallow water for a meal.  The wooden state park fishing pier juts far into the seemingly infinite ocean.  There were only a few people here when I came in mid-December, but this area becomes very crowded in the summer. 

Plover

State park fishing pier

            The beach walk lasts for 0.3 miles.  To continue the loop, exit the beach at the point marked “Walk S1,” which is the last beach access south of the fishing pier.  Note that the state park beach continues another 0.6 miles to the north past the pier, so a detour may be in order if you wish to spend more time on the beach.

            The other end of Walk S1 deposits you at another parking area, where you need to angle left to find the signed trailhead for the Sculpted Oak Nature Trail, our return route.  This trailhead is located beside another restroom/changing building.  You quickly pass some live oak trees with twisted trunks, likely the sculpted oaks for which this trail is named.

Beach trailhead: Sculpted Oak Nature Trail

            The trail soon crosses the freshwater swamp on a short boardwalk as it heads back into the maritime forest.  At 1.4 miles, the Yaupon Nature Trail enters from the left as you close the loop.  Continue straight and retrace your steps 0.3 flat miles to return to the Activity Center parking area and complete the hike.