Blah Doesn’t Have to Be Boring

Tuesday, 11 DECEMBER
HUNTING ISLAND STATE PARK — SOUTH CAROLINA
TEMPS: LO 60F / HI 70F (15.5C / 21C)

It was an overcast day here at HISP.  Unlike yesterday, the sun did not peek out from behind the clouds to cheer things up.

Despite the dreary mood of the day, we went out and had fun, but the “blah” light made for really “blah” photos … so this will be a blog mostly in B&W — fitting for what was a monochromatic day.

Since the day started out with a high tide, going for a walk on the beach was out.  So, we decided to drive the 4 miles (6 km) to the Nature Center at the south end of the park to check out the fishing pier and hike a couple of the trails.

We arrived at the center at 8:45a to find the door locked.  Improvising, we went for a walk on the fishing pier, which juts out into Fripp Inlet.  On a clear and sunny day, the view of Fripp Island across the water would be quite nice.  Today, veiled behind a light mist … well, not so much.

The HISP map above, courtesy of the park’s website, shows the trails available to visitors.  the red arrows show the area of the beach we explored this morning.  The black arrows at the top show the approximate area of the beach where we went triking this afternoon.

When the Nature Center opened at 9:00a, we did a quick tour.  The place is small, but it has some really interesting exhibits and a couple of live displays as well.  Well worth a short stop.  I would love to come back during the nesting season for loggerhead turtles and perhaps participate in one of their activities.

What’s so interesting, Mui?

This Skeleton of a loggerhead sea turtle is interesting, but I’d rather see a live one someday.

Meet “our girl Buddy” — she’s a diamondback terrapin.

Our plan, when we first set out on our trail walk, was to follow the Lagoon Access Recreation Trail and make a loop by returning to the car via the Maritime Forest Trail.  When we reached the trailhead for the first trail, however, that jello-plan jiggled and was replaced with a detour that took us to the beach instead.  The tide was already out quite a bit and the hard-pack sand was great to walk on — once we managed to find our way through the graveyard of toppled trees.

Negotiating the maze of toppled trees …

… leads us to a condemned rental cabin that is a victim of erosion.

At one time, there were several rental cabins along a stretch of road that was named Cabin Road — some state-maintained; others privately-owned.  A Beafort Tribune article I found online reports that nine of the cabins and a portion of the road were destroyed by winter storms in 2009.  I’m not sure how many of the cabins remain standing.

According to the Beaufort Tribune article, this cabin was once “set in the woods
among pine trees and palmettos.  Erosion has eaten away everything, leaving the
cabin on pilings about to be undermined by the relentless ocean.”

This cabin has survived two winter seasons since the article was written.
Will it survive another one …

… or will it be destroyed like this one has been.

Amongst the destruction … there’s even a cast iron sink half-buried in the sand.

I have to crawl under toppled trees to get …

… to the destroyed cabin with its satellite dish intact and a bird house still on the deck.
(DOn’t worry, I respected the no trespassing sign and didn’t get too close.)

But enough about the cabins. While roaming about, we also saw pelicans — which flew off to hunt in deeper waters; three dolphins — swimming in the deepwater channel; and a couple of eagles — one an adult and one a juvenile, but both perched atop distant, tall treetops. Alas, no photos of any of those sightings.  One of these days I really need to get my DSLR stuff organized so I can start shooting with my long lens.  In the meantime, here’s a selection of photographs of other things on the beach that caught our eye.

Mui’s tree trunk bird — it’s a new species, I believe ;-)

A glimpse inside the trunk of a palm tree.	a barnacle-studded tree trunk.

THESE SAND PELLETS SURROUNDING A CRAB BURROW remind me of the sand balls I saw THE
GHOST CRABS IN THE GALáPAGOS spitTING OUT afteR they SUCKED out the nutrients IN THE SAND.

Sand Art

This one I left in color; love the purple striations … too bad the iridescence that was
visible to the naked eye doesn’t show in the photographs.

We would have stayed longer to explore the beach further, but we were anxious to return home and go for a trike ride on the beach before the tide started coming back in … and before the forecasted rain started.  No photos from our ride; suffice it to say that we did not let the “blahness” of the day deter us from enjoying ourselves.

Around 2:00p, we returned to the Phaeton.  While Mui hosed down the wheels of the trikes to remove the caked-on sand, I made us some hot tea, which we enjoyed in our screen shelter.  Mui then moved onto some projects he wanted to complete — namely, installing a second outlet in the bathroom, and running the telephone and weather radio cords behind the TV in the bedroom.  It’s so nice to have the tangle of cords hidden from view now!

I spent the remainder of the afternoon catching up on my blog and other reading while listening to the pitter patter of rain drops on the roof of the screen shelter.  The rain shower was quick to pass, but the dipping temps once again caused plans for an al fresco dinner to be shelved.

Not sure what we’ll be doing tomorrow.  We’re going to wait and see if the forecasted cold front has any impact on this area.  There’s an 85% chance of rain that could put a damper on any outdoor activities.  That’s OK; a quiet day at home never goes amiss.

Enjoy the palm Christmas tree — we are in the Palmetto State, after all.  No, it’s not our tree; we prefer to enjoy the holiday decorating efforts of others … less work for us ;-)