SubscribeStarSaturday: Hiking the Florence Nature Preserve

10 August 20248 August 2024 The Portly PoliticoLeave a comment

Today’s post is a SubscribeStar Saturday exclusive. To read the full post, subscribe to my SubscribeStar page for $1 a month or more. For a full rundown of everything your subscription gets, click here.

On Saturday, 3 August 2024 my friend Ashley and I went hiking in the Florence Nature Preserve, accessible via the Upper Hickory Nut Gorge Trailhead, just outside of Gerton, North Carolina and down the road from Chimney Rock.

Ashley had proposed the trip a couple of months earlier, with the inviting question “do you like hiking?” I couldn’t respond to that query quickly enough, and within minutes we had planned the broad outline of our excursion to the trailhead.

We left right around 6 AM that morning in Ashley’s sweet 2021 Ford Bronco, which she was eager to road test on winding mountain roads, and after a couple of missed GPS turns due to the distraction of conversation, we made it to the trailhead around 10:15 AM. By 10:30 AM we were lathered up in sunscreen and on the trail.

By noon we were drinking in this beautiful view at Tom & Glenna Rock over some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches:

The entire trail is roughly five miles up and back, but there are various side trails and alternative routes available that can reduce the trek depending on experience level and time constraints. We opted for a modified version of the “blue” trail rather than the whole loop, which would have taken us pretty much the entire day to complete.

Here’s a map of our route (I’ve used the map from the Conserving Carolina website and added our route in pink):

According to some rough math based on the interactive map for the trail, Ashley and I hiked around 3.82 miles in total. Naturally, roughly half of that was uphill, so coming back down the trail was a bit quicker. We also paced ourselves heading up, as Ashley was documenting our hike via video for her mother. That deliberate pace was smart, because we did not wear ourselves out on the hike.

The trail is rated as “challenging” and/or “strenuous,” and after my “Summer of George” I was a tad concerned about my ability to huff and puff up a mountain, but yours portly performed admirably.

To read the rest of this post, subscribe to my SubscribeStar page for $1 a month or more.

Paw Patrol

27 December 202316 December 2023 The Portly Politico4 Comments

Longtime readers will recall that I adopted my chunky dog, Murphy, through The Bull Terrier Rescue Mission, a group dedicated to finding home for members of this comical, stubborn, oft-misunderstood breed. They do really remarkable work through a system of volunteers, and really go to great lengths to get these dogs to their new homes.

On Thursday, 14 December 2023, I received a message from the executive director checking in on Murphy. I hear from him about once or twice a year, so didn’t think much of it. He then asked if I’d be able to help transport a dog to Eastover, North Carolina, on Saturday, 16 December 2023, as part of the pup’s journey north. After making sure my schedule was clear, I agreed to lend a hand.

The dog’s name was Mavis, and her ultimate destination was a family in the New Jersey/New York area. I was the second leg of her journey. A couple from around Savannah, Georgia, drove a considerable distance and handed her off to me at a Krispy Kreme in Florence, South Carolina (a decidedly sweet and delicious place to pick up a sweet puppy). My task was then to drive her to Fox’s Pizza Den (naturally, I loved this route) in Eastover, North Carolina, where a young man would continue Mavis along her freedom ride.

I’ve never done this kind of canine transport before, but I was thankful for the opportunity, and that God opened up the door for me to be part of Mavis’s journey home. Saturday, 16 December 2023 was literally my last free Saturday of the calendar year, so it worked out perfectly.

SubscribeStar Saturday: Festival in the Park

30 September 202327 September 2023 The Portly PoliticoLeave a comment

‘Tis festival season, and yours portly is living it up. In just a couple of weekends I’ll be hawking my humble wares at the South Carolina Bigfoot Festival, which will be either my Hastings or my Gallipoli.

Before I return to my spot inside the tent, however, I’m enjoying experiencing festivals from outside. The coming of autumn means it is the height of festival season, and yours portly couldn’t be happier.

After a successful visit to the Columbia Greek Festival two weeks ago, I had the opportunity to take in Charlotte, North Carolina’s Festival in the Park last weekend. It is, perhaps, the best festival I’ve attended in recent years.

To read the rest of this post, subscribe to my SubscribeStar page for $1 a month or more.

Revisiting Walking Across South Carolina

26 April 202224 April 2022 The Portly Politico17 Comments

A couple of years ago, I wrote a post entitled “Walkin’,” in which I detailed the pleasures of short walks around town. In that post, I also mused about long-distance walking, and even about its popularity in the 1960s and 1970s. One of my readers and subscribers even noted the construction of The Palmetto Trail, a five-hundred-mile trail that cuts diagonally from the Upstate (the northwestern corner of South Carolina) down to the Lowcountry (the southeastern side of our State’s triangle), of which roughly 380 miles are completed. That trail wends through State parks and towns, offering a variety of landscapes and scenes.

In listening to John Taylor Gatto excessively over Spring Break (and nursing a bad foot-and-ankle sprain), he frequently mentioned stories about famous individuals who completed massive, almost absurd tasks, often with little training. For example, he frequently told the story of a six-year old Richard Branson walking home in London after his mother drove him around for a few hours, and then asked, “Richard, do you think you can find your way home?” When the child responded yes, the mother told him to get to it, booted him from the car, and drove home. Branson (per Gatto) said that after that experience, he was never afraid of anything again, and could face any challenge.

I’m not advocating we drop six-year olds off in the middle of nowhere and make them walk home (my niece is six, and while she is brave and confident, I shudder to think what might become of her if my brother pulled the same stunt). But there is a real need for adventure in our lives. There’s also something to be said for the benefits of taking on and conquering—or even just attempting and failing—a large-scale undertaking.

Weekend in the Woods

16 November 202116 November 2021 The Portly Politico19 Comments

As noted in Saturday’s post, I spent the weekend in the woods. Specifically, my girlfriend, her friend, her friend’s husband, and I went camping at Watson Mill Bridge State Park outside of Comer, Georgia.

It was a rejuvenating experience. Last week was borderline hellacious, and by the end of it I was pretty much done with everything (’tis the season; thank goodness for Thanksgiving!). Spending two nights in the forest really cleansed my mind and soul. My body got a good workout on some vigorous woodland trails, though I also polluted it with plenty of s’mores and campfire hot dogs.

We stayed at one of the park’s three “pioneer” campsites, designed for primitive camping—camping without water or electricity (although I discovered a water spigot about one hundred feet from our camp, which I used to keep the dogs hydrated). Everything we cooked was over a fire, and the other couple was kitted out with all the necessities. The wife (you’ll see her in a picture below of me cooking over the fire) has been camping for years, and it is apparently one of her favorite activities, so she had all the gear necessary to cook and live outdoors (at least for a weekend).

Even at the primitive camp, and with a more experienced couple to help out, it was “easy mode” camping: we pulled our cars right up to the campsite, and it was a short walk to restrooms and showers in the main part of the camp. Still, I ended up going without a shower until we got out of the woods Sunday, but surprisingly did not smell like Bigfoot (even if I looked like him a bit).

Regardless, we definitely “roughed it,” as they say. We slept in very cold weather in our tents and sleeping bags (my sleeping bag was very warm), and even with some padding from an air mattress and yoga mats, I could definitely tell I was on the ground. The cold weather was glorious, though—there’s something invigorating about temperatures below fifty degrees Fahrenheit that gets the blood flowing. I woke up before everyone else Sunday morning and managed to get quite a bit of grading done at a picnic table, but not before taking a short walk around the park, during which I saw a white-tail deer prancing in the foliage (during the night, we heard coyotes in the distance; I was thankful not to see any of those).

SubscribeStar Saturday: Into the Woods

13 November 202111 November 2021 The Portly Politico3 Comments

After a very long week—the kind of week that was absolutely brutal—I am heading into the woods for two nights and one full day without electricity, Internet access, and other comfortable amenities.

To read more of this post, subscribe to my SubscribeStar page for $1 a month or more.

Backroads Exploration: Una Adventure

19 March 202114 March 2021 The Portly PoliticoLeave a comment

As I recently detailed in the post “Routine Maintenance,” I managed to get my old 2006 Dodge Caravan running again thanks to an $80 battery. I finally hooked up the battery maintainer, too, so hopefully the old girl won’t drain down due to neglect.

After installing that battery, it reminded me of how fun driving a busted up minivan can be. Readers might scoff at that notion, but that van and I share an intimate connection (well, at least I do with it—it can’t really think about who is driving it). After fifteen years, I’ve learned that machine inside and out. Sure, after driving my tiny Nissan it takes some adjustment (I still reach for the gear shifter in the wrong place occasionally, and briefly forget where the lights are), but it’s surprisingly nimble.

Aside from the maintainer, I’ve been taking the van for weekly drives to keep the battery up. My girlfriend and I took it to Lee State Park a few weekends ago, loading our small bit of supplies and her faithful German Shepherd into the cavernous interior. Since then, I’ve only done a few small jaunts with it, with the exception of last Thursday night.

Midweek SubscribeStar Exclusive: Sloshing through Lee State Park

3 March 20211 March 2021 The Portly PoliticoLeave a comment

Today’s post is a SubscribeStar exclusive for $5 and up subscribers. $5 and up subs periodically enjoy bonus content, in addition to Sunday Doodles every Sunday. They also gain access to SubscribeStar Saturday posts like $1 subscribers.

With the warm weather and sunshine this past weekend, my girlfriend and I decided to check out Lee State Park. Lee State Park is just ten miles up the road from Lamar, and while I’ve driven on Lee State Park Road numerous times heading to the Interstate, I’d never visited the park.

Lee State Park was constructed in 1935 as a Civilian Conservation Corps project during the Great Depression. It is bounded on the west by the Lynches River, and features a number of easy-to-moderate hiking trails, as well as several equestrian trails. Most of the park’s 2839 acres is hardwood forest wetlands, and the park features four artesian wells that flow continually.

To get to the park, we loaded into my ancient, busted up 2006 Dodge Caravan—now with a fresh battery!—and buzzed up there with the windows down. My girlfriend’s German shepherd seemed to enjoy the ride, and turned out to be a real trooper on what turned into an unexpectedly arduous adventure.

When we got to the park, we grabbed a trail map, and merrily headed into the forest, attempting to follow the white-labeled Floodplain Trail, a five-mile, moderate hike. Unfortunately, the Floodplain Trail does not make a neat loop, and we headed towards the shorter end, which overlaps with the orange equestrian trail.

That decision would ultimately result in soggy, sloshing bit of amateur trailblazing through some of the muddiest terrain in Lee State Park.

This post is a $5 and up SubscribeStar exclusive. To read the rest of this post, subscribe to my SubscribeStar page for $5 a month or higher.

The Portly Politico

One Southerner's unique, erudite, conservative perspective in a hectic world

Tag: adventure

Paw Patrol

Revisiting Walking Across South Carolina

Weekend in the Woods

Backroads Exploration: Una Adventure