A Mixed Bag

Monday, 17 December
Hunting Island State Park — South Carolina
Temps: lO 59f / hI 67f (15c / 19c)

A mixed bag of a day to be sure — weather-wise as well as the varied places we explored.

We started the day with a gorgeous sunrise and blue skies that were quickly replaced by a thick cloud cover that stayed with us while we were out and about exploring Saint Helena Island and Beaufort.  At least it was dry — until 1:46p when the skies opened up in a sudden downpour.  With a 70% chance of rain forecasted, we were not surprised.  Luckily, we had just arrived at the car after our last sightseeing stop, so we avoided being drenched.

By the time we arrived at the campground, the rain was really coming down.  So we settled in for a cozy afternoon at home.  Not so fast; Mother Nature added a bit of excitement into the mix when a tornado watch was issued until 9:00p.  Oh! Oh!  The good news is that the watch was canceled at 5:30p.  In the end, we only had to contend with a severe thunderstorm, which passed over the area around 4:45p.  It was a fast moving storm, and it didn’t linger long; but it hasn’t stopped raining since.  We sure are glad that our weather radio was on top of things and kept us informed even as we searched the weather radar sites for more information.  (The white arrow in the above radar image points to our approximate location.)

But that’s the bad weather news, and rather than dwell on it, I’ll go back to the simply glorious morning we woke up to.  A beautiful morning that invited us to take a walk on the beach even before we had breakfast.  Food can wait — got to make hay while the sun shines … isn’t that what they say?

A word about the bottom right photo … no there aren’t huge cliffs here at HISP;
Mui shot this photo of the edge of a tidal pool from a low perspective because
it reminded him of the Ross Ice Shelf of Antarctica — admittedly a very dirty ice shelf!

How's that for warming things up?

We walked as far as the “River Jordan” to see how it was doing.  I wanted to get a video of it when the tide was coming in, and then duplicate the scene as the tide went out this afternoon.  Needless to say, with the thunderstorm that came through, I didn’t make it back out there today.

19 seconds as the tide comes in.

We returned home before the incoming tide made the point near the campground impassable.  The temp was comfortable, and the sun was still shining, so we enjoyed a simple breakfast at the picnic table before heading out to explore sights nearby.

For a change of pace, we skip the trails and go to Fort Fremont and historic Beaufort.
(1) HISP [green]; (2) Fort Fremont [Yellow]; (3) Beaumont (red)

Fishing trawlers at the Gay Fish Company on Saint Helena Island.  Mui stopped by here on
Saturday to pick up some fresh shrimp and grouper to cook at home.  Hmmm, Hmmm good!

Our first stop was at Fort Fremont, which dates back to 1899.  We didn’t know what to expect of this place; just decided to go there because we saw a brown sign pointing to it near the intersection of Hwy 21 and Martin Luther King Blvd (aka Lands End Road).

MLK Boulevard — aka Lands End Road — is a lovely drive with beautiful oak trees
reaching out from either side to create a natural tunnel.

It turns out that the fortifications are within a preserve.  Unfortunately, they are not in the greatest shape.  In fact, there are signs at the entrance warning visitors to explore at their own risk.  So we did.

From what I have since read, at the onset of the Spanish-American War, a clapboard hospital that stood on the site was demolished and replaced with a concrete building and the fortifications we saw today.  The fort, which was designed to protect Port Royal Sound, was named after General Charles C. Fremont, a leading figure in liberating California from Mexico.

According to Historic Resources of the Lowcountry, “Fort Fremont is said to have
been the most expensive of all beaufort area forts and perhaps the most useless,
because no shot was ever fired from the fort.”

The Batteries are overgrown with vegetation and the walls are covered with moss and graffiti.

Pictured in the bottom right is Battery Fornance.  The guns that once armed this
battery, and Battery Jessup as well, are long gone.

Our next stop was an unexpected find not far from the fort — Chapel of Ease.  Constructed around 1740, this was apparently a place of worship built as sort of an annex to the main parish church in Beaufort so that local planters and their families could attend services on a regular basis.  The chapel, which was made a church in its own right after the Revolution, burned down in a forest fire in 1886.

A glimpse of tabby walls through draperies of Spanish moss invited us to stop and explore.
(Tabby is a mixture of shell, lime, and water; it was used by lowcountry planters for construction.)

Scenes from around the ruins of the Chapel of Ease.
Mui decides the Spanish moss makes nice pigtails!

According to the National Register, “the church was virtually abandoned when the
planters evacuated the area in the fall of 1861.  During the Federal occupation of
Saint Helena, the church was used frequently by several of the northerners who
had come to the island to educate and train the freedmen.”

From here, we drove to Beaufort.  Initially, our plan was to just find a hardware store so Mui could pick up some EternaBond to repair a small crack in one of the rails of the Phaeton — he found something else at a marine shop instead.  Anyway, seeing as how we were so close to the town’s waterfront park, we decided to check it out.  Despite the overcast, it turned out to be a good place to eat our packed-lunch before spending an hour wandering the national landmark historic district.  Oh, and yes, somewhere in there we got some chocolate fetish ice cream from Southern Sweets.  The name says it all … and all I can say is, yummm!

The Henry C. Chambers Waterfront Park is all decked out for the holidays.
The gentleman with the gold lamé neckwear is Thomas Heyward Jr, one of the
signers of the Declaration of Independence and a favorite son of the state.

Originally constructed in 1799, the Beaufort Arsenal is home to a museum as well as
a visitor information center; we stopped by to pick up a map from the latter.

Left: Built in the 1800s, the William Elliott house was renamed “The Anchorage”
by a retired naval officer who bought the house in the early 1900s.

Right: The maxcy-Rhett house is known as “Secession House” because it was “the scene
of many informal discussions and formal meetings  during the 1850s by the Rhetts and
their allies advocating secession and southern independence.”

Our last stop in the city was Saint Helena’s Episcopal Church, established in 1712 and celebrating 300 years as a place of worship.  The docent who greeted us when we stepped inside for a quick look-see explained that the church, which was was erected in 1724, gained its current size in 1842.  Local history has it that the church was used as a stable by the British during the Revolution, and as a hospital during the Civil War.

The wooden altar was carved by the crew of the USS New Hampshire while
the warship was docked in the harbor during Reconstruction.

According to the docent, of the 1000 graves in the attached cemetery, 800 or so have been identified.  He also pointed out that amongst those buried are two British Revolutionary officers and three American generals.  As well, we saw several graves marked with flags to honor veterans who were interred here.

The grave in the top left photo dates back to 1776.
the bottom middle photo is the oldest grave in the cemetery; it dates back to 1724.

This is about when we started feeling a light sprinkle, but the downpour kindly held off until we were back at the car so that we wouldn’t be soaked.

Not wanting to end this post at the cemetery, I left my favorite photo from today as the last one.

A tricolored heron and a great egret keeping company in the swamp.
These birds were quite distant, and the heron blended into the environment
so well that I didn’t even notice it until I looked at my photos later.

Well, this brings us to the end of our stay at HISP; tomorrow is moving day.  If one is to believe the weather forecasters, the rain is supposed to end overnight and we’re supposed to have a dry day to continue our way south.  We shall see!

Mother Nature’s Gift … a Good-Weather Day

Sunday, 16 December
Hunting Island State Park — South Carolina
Temps: Lo 55F / Hi 67F (13C / 19C)

First, let me finish off yesterday.  Even though we didn’t go out to explore Beaufort as planned, we did go out to run a few errands and also have dinner at the 11th Street Dockside, a restaurant in Port Royal.  It is a casual seafood eatery that overlooks shrimp docks on Port Royal Sound.

At low tide, these boats aren’t going anywhere; their masts serve as overnight
roosting spots for the pelicans flying about.

The Dockside only serves dinner; we arrived at 4:30p when the doors opened and had
our pick of the tables.  The place filled up quickly soon after we were seated.

The restaurant was recommended to us by several locals, and has good reviews on TripAdvisor.  We give it a thumbs up as well — the service was excellent and the food was quite good.

The portions are quite large; we had plenty of Mui’s grilled shrimp with rice and
my flounder florentine with pasta left over for lunch today.

That really was all the excitement we had yesterday.  But today was entirely different and was filled with fun and cheer.

We were actually prepared for another quiet day at home since the forecast was for a “blah” day.  In fact, we greeted the day through the veil of a thick fog that hid the ocean from view.  By 10:00a, it was a different story.  The sun had burned off the fog and the sky was a beautiful bright blue.  Mui was already outside washing the car, so I went for a walk around the park to explore the back loops with the 50A hook-ups.  I returned via the beach, wading through the high tide in a few spots.

Having tackled the front of the coach, Mui’s giving the toad’s floor mats a good rinsing.

It’s a beautiful morning for walking in the high tide … or for fishing.

Since we weren’t expecting this bonus good-weather day, we didn’t have a plan in place.  So, over lunch we talked options and decided to walk the Magnolia Forest Trail and take the connector trail to the lighthouse on the outbound leg while the tide was still going out and return to the campground via the beach at low tide.  (About 2½ miles [4 km].)

The arrows show the approximate area that we hiked (and later triked).

The natural earth trails followed a hilly terrain, but were far from difficult.  Both trails wound through pines, oaks, palms, and palmettos; and of course the wispy Spanish moss was everywhere.  There were magnolia trees as well, but not in bloom this time of the year.  I bet the tail is even more beautiful when the flowers are blooming.

I love the contrast between the spiky palmettos and the wispy Spanish moss.

Once we reached the lighthouse, we headed out to the beach where we ate our snacks and did a little people watching.  There weren’t many people out — just a father and son throwing around a frisbee; a mother and son shelling; a family strolling along the sand dunes.  We contemplated the ocean for a while, commenting on how calm it was today, but never forgetting that beneath that placid surface powerful currents were at work, eroding the beach.

We’re two hours from low tide, and there is a wide expanse of beach now between the
ocean and the lighthouse, but it’s a different story at high tide.  Once the waves crest
the dunes, it’s just a couple hundred yards at most to the base of the lighthouse.

Although the water was out considerably, we still had to deal with the “River Jordan” (photos here) on our way back to the campground.  Our makeshift bridge from Thursday had shifted into a tangle of other debris, but we figured out the right tree trunks and thick branches to use as stepping stones and made it across without being dunked.  Then we hurried back to the campground to gear up and go for a trike ride on the beach.  Riding along the shoreline, the water lapping at our wheels; detouring here and there to check out things small and big.  What fun!

Left: a beautiful shell on the trunk of a toppled tree catches Mui’s eye.

Right: We thought this horseshoe crab was alive, but when Mui went to return it to the ocean, we realized that wasn’t the case; all that was left was the top shell.

Thanks to a recent post by Sherry, I recognized this as a “living” sand dollar.
It was stranded on the beach, so we returned it to the sea, giving it a fighting
chance to survive one more tide cycle.

Ring-billed gull going for a walk in the surf!

As the sun dipped low on the horizon, we called it a day and returned to the coach.  With rain in the forecast, we decided to take down the screen shelter before it got wet again.  We have just one more day left here, so it needed to come down tomorrow anyway; we’ll just sit on the beach instead — if Mother Nature decides to gift us with another good-weather day.

We Gave Our Legs a Good Workout

Saturday, 15 December
Hunting Island State Park — South Carolina
Temps: LO 52F / HI 60F (11C / 15.5C)

The tragic events of yesterday continue to haunt us today — in part because of what I consider to be over-the-top reporting by the media.

Am I sad about what happened in Sandy Hook?  Of course I am.  Am I horrified by the events?  Of course I am.  Can I comprehend how someone could turn their weapon on innocent children — or adults?  No, I can’t.  Do I want to be bombarded with the details of the unfolding events?  That would be a resounding — no.  It’s not just the amount of information I object to; it’s the accuracy — or more accurately, the lack of it in some cases.  A good example — the Turkish newspapers picked up an early tidbit in the unfolding story yesterday and reported that the shooter was one of the fathers.  Not!

Some might find my attitude callous.  It’s not.  I try to put myself in the shoes of the people who have been touched so closely by the tragedy and can’t help but feel that the grieving process is being interrupted by all the media attention.  Leave everyone in peace I say; report verified updates as needed.  This is not — and should not be turned into — a reality show for the entertainment of the masses.

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And now for news from the Two to Travel front … it’s going to be long.

For about a minute or two this morning it looked like the sun was going to come out.  We saw the big shiny orb making an effort, but the thick overcast won out.  A short while later, the forecasted 20% chance of rain became reality.  It did not stop us from going out to check out the beach at the peak of high tide.  The water was right at the edge of the campground’s waterfront sites.  No flooding, but each tide rise destroys more of the beach.  Before long, those sites will be no more.  The ranger we spoke to yesterday said it was just a matter of time before Mother Nature has her way.

(I didn’t have my camera with me, but here are a few photos from yesterday … these were taken about two hours after the high tide peaked.)

Note the tree trunk Mui’s standing next to — that’s new and is right at the beach
access next to the bathhouse.  The bottom right photo is the beach access — the
washed out gully was created at high tide when the waves crested over this area.  The
top right photo shows the walkway that leads up to the beach access — the foam was
left behind when the seawater receded after peak tide.  When we went out this
morning, The water was at the edge of the dune grass; not a grain of beach sand was visible.

We were planning to explore Beaufort a bit today and then go to Port Royal for dinner.  The rain has stopped, so we still might do that, but for now we’re enjoying a quiet morning — a good time to catch up on yesterday’s events.

Friday, 14 December …

If you felt the chill in the B&W photos from the past few days, Friday’s sunshine-filled photos should warm you right up.

The day started out cool (46F/8C), with a stiff breeze that made it seem even colder.  Once the wind died down mid-day, however, it felt a great deal warmer than the 59F (15C) that was reported as the high for the area.  In fact, when I was out around 4:00p, taking photographs of the few birds on the beach, it felt downright balmy.

From cold on Thursday (left), to warmer on Friday.
(I couldn’t duplicate the photo exactly due to high tide and some new tree debris.)

Wanting to make the most of the sunny day, we didn’t wait for the temps to rise.  It was a mere 47F (8C) when we drove off to the main section of HISP where the trail heads are located.  We parked in the J parking lot, and hiked south on the Maritime Forest Trail and returned via the Lagoon Access Recreation Trail — about 3.5 miles (5.6 km) in total.

The car marks the J parking lot; the green line is the Maritime Forest Trail,
and the purple line is the Lagoon Access Trail.

I said we hiked, but walked would be a more appropriate description.  Both trails are level, and are packed sand/shell surfaces that make for easy walking.  They run through a maritime forest thick with tall pines, live oaks, and palms, and lush green palmettos.  Of course the gray-green draperies of Spanish moss are everywhere too.  The lagoon trail gives glimpses of the water, but unless you’re dressed to go wading, getting close to the edge to enjoy the scenery was tricky in all but a few places.

Left: Heading off on the Maritime Forest Trail.
Right: Backlit palmettos brighten up the trail.

This and that from our trail walk.

One of the best things about our walk was that except for some fisherman on the lagoon trail and a biker/runner on the maritime trail, we didn’t see another soul, and the only sounds were those of chirping birds in the canopy.  A beautiful setting indeed, and we enjoyed ourselves tremendously, but our walk was what we consider low in entertainment value — meaning there wasn’t much for us to explore.  Still, I found plenty of things worthy of a shutter-click or two.

Glimpse of the lagoon from one of the few places dry enough to approach the water.

Not the greatest photo, but this is one of the three dolphins we saw playing along
the far shore of the lagoon.  (Photo cropped quite a bit.)

Our next stop was the Hunting Island Lighthouse, which had been closed for some time for interior painting.  It just reopened on Thursday.  We stopped by then and checked out the exhibits in the outbuildings, but decided to delay climbing the lighthouse until today.  Good decision; the $2/person fee was well worth it for the views … and we got in a stair-stepper exercise session by climbing the 167 steps to the gallery landing just below the room where the light once sat.  The signage on each landing gave us an excuse to stop along the way, making the climb relatively easy.

Palm within a palm?  No; it’s just my angle of view, but once I saw it I couldn’t resist the photo op.	Originally constructed in 1859, and rebuilt in 1875, the Hunting Island Lighthouse is the only one in SC that is open to the public.

One of the unique features of this lighthouse is its construction.  Anticipating that the structure might someday have to be relocated, it was constructed with curved cast iron plates that could easily be dismantled.  This foresight paid off when, in 1889, the encroaching sea came within 35 feet (10.5 m), requiring the lighthouse to be relocated 1¼ miles (2 km) inland.  The sea will soon be within striking distance again, and I can’t help but wonder if the light will be moved a second time.  My gut tells me that since it was deactivated in 1933, the chances of getting such a move funded is nil.

Detail shots from the interior of the lighthouse.

LEft: view of the Maritime forest canopy from one of the lighthouse windows near the top.
Right: If you get creative, you can capture a shot of the lighthouse from the gallery.

Views from the gallery atop the 132-foot (40 m) tall lighthouse.

top: the salt marsh (between the trees) about 500 yards [457m] away; the sandbars 1-2 miles
[1.6-3.2 km] away; and Edisto Beach (tiny dots on the horizon) 10 miles [16 km] away.

bottom left: one of the outbuildings and the foundation of the light keeper’s house.

Bottom Right: The beach in front of the lighthouse.

Exhibits in the outbuildings shed light into the life of the light keepers.

Each lighthouse has a unique exterior paint scheme to aid mariners in visual identification.
L to R: Bloody Point Light; Haig Point Light; Leamington Light; Hunting Island Light (twice);
Morris Island Light; Charleston Light; Cape Romain Light; and Georgetown Light.
Of these, only Hunting Island is open to the public.

The Keeper’s house was burned down in 1938 during the occupation of the Civilian
Conservation Corps, here to work on various projects around the island.
an outline of the foundation is all that is visible today.

After our visit to the lighthouse, we returned to the campground.  Taking advantage of the beautiful afternoon sun and the low tide, we set out for a walk.  It didn’t take long for our weary feet to convince us that sitting on the beach, sipping Amarula (think Bailey’s with an African twist) was a much better idea.  (Ooops; no photos of us while indulging — just use your imagination!)

A few things that caught My eye during our beach walk.

I finally got lucky with some birds perched on an old oyster bed that surfaced when the tide went out.  I took my long lens with me and captured a couple of shots handheld.  If the weather cooperates, I’ll go back to this spot before we leave and this time I’ll take my tripod and my bear-watching seat so I can sit with the birds for a while.  (If I have mis-identified either bird, please correct me.)

Willet

Boat-Tailed Grackles

I was going to end this post with a couple more sunset shots …

Sunset over Fripp Inlet

… but I can’t resist this “The End” shot!

 

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Back to Saturday

In case you’re wondering … we didn’t go exploring in Beaufort today.  I think that’s going to have to go on the “next time list.”