A February Hike in the Woods

Duncan's February day-trip was a day of hiking and generally "messing around" in Francis Marion National Forest -- only about 30 minutes from where we live. This was a day to let Duncan's inner Park Ranger out to play and we enjoyed a couple of pretty easy hikes in the bare winter woods.  It was pretty quite and we only saw a few other people -- We agreed it was a good way to spend a Saturday.

You know you're in the Lowcountry when the bare winter woods have green fan palms sprouting up all over.

We started out on this trail through an area that used to be a rice plantation.

Our trail was clearly the old rice dike along this river that was flooded and drained for the rice crop.

Interesting the way these trees have grown and twisted. Some things you can only see when the leaves are gone.

Duncan tried his luck fishing when we took a break for lunch. He didn't catch anything and really didn't care.

After lunch we hiked a second trail that went through the woods and ended at this boardwalk on the marsh.

The boardwalk allows you to see, but still protects, an ancient shell ring  -- see that small mound at the base of the trees? It's basically a big pile of oyster shells believed to have been left by Prehistoric Indians 4,000 years ago. This is the northern-most ring in a chain of shell rings found along the coastline between Florida and South Carolina. They are thought to have been places where tribes gathered for ceremonies and annual feasts. Prehistoric oyster roasts.

We are liking our once a month get-aways. We have one more planned in March. We may have to keep it going.

Good News Bad News

The bad news is that my cousin Donnie has died. He was a little older than Debbie and me and the "boy cousin" we saw the most. He grew up to be a real Carolina fan and sports nut. In many ways, neither of us ever had much in common with him, but for Mom and Dad he was a link back to Uncle Jimmy and Aunt Evelyn and precious for that alone. When he moved to Raleigh to teach, he joined Mom and Dad's church, which I always took as a nod to his esteem for them.

He has been very sick for a long time but has repeatedly rallied like the energizer bunny. But lately, he had outlived the possibility of regaining any measure of quality in his life, so I'm OK to let him go on to The Next Place.

Another cousin says so many people they know have died since Debbie, in April, that her children have asked if this is the season for it. I can see where they would ask. I was watching Ted Kennedy's funeral mass on TV today and found myself missing Walter Cronkite.

The good news is that my nephew, Jeffrey, graduated from his master's program at University of Chicago yesterday. I'm not sure exactly what he's going to do next, but I'm sure he's on his way to becoming Dr. Parker.

Work continues to be good and interesting. I love coming home across the James Island connector that swings over the downtown marina before it takes you onto Ashley River Road back into West Ashley. First I cross a vast expanse of marsh, which is bright green right now. Then the marina comes into view with huge yatchts and a mass of lesser sailboats. One day this week there was a group of what could have been Lasers clustered together in a spread-out circle; a sailing class, I imagine. One more turn of the road and you have to pay attention to traffic backing up again, but there's a nice stretch there where you get to really enjoy the view.