Lake Marion Passage

Well I just got back from a 8.5 mile hike of the Lake Marion Passage of the Palmetto Trail between Santee and Sumter S.C.. So, do you want the good news or the bad news first ?

 Ok, the bad: I think i choose the worst day of the year to hike this type of trail. It was my first time hiking it and tried to acquire all the info i could off the web before going. The first challenge was that the map was not detailed enough to give me useful information. It was difficult to even find the trail from the parking area. Once on the trail the first mile was a little difficult to follow the yellow blazes at times due to fact that the blazes were very widely spaced and poor trail maintenance. Oh if i had any idea of what lay ahead i would have turned back. 

I then entered an area which had been logged. I expected this due to the info on the website which directed me to follow the orange blazes. To my surprise the trail just ended. I could see a orange blaze 20 feet in so i began to bush-wack through 4 foot high weeds and pricker bushes scrambling over piles of downed trees. Over and under and around. This continued for awhile until there were absolutely no orange blazes at all. I looked down at one point and realize i was about 50 feet into an 100 foot patch of poison ivy which was about a foot high. what could i do ? I resigned myself to the fact that there was no trail and figured i would reach a trail or road or river or the lake or just some kind of civilization someday if i just kept going. So i continued this for 2 miles. When suddenly, like magic, the trail re-appeared. The joy was short lived. 

The mid-day heat had reached 95 and the humidity was near 100% . The trail then turned into a 1.5 mile dirt road walk in the full blazing sun.About halfway down the road i spotted and island of shade under a large tree. i had to stop to rest. While sitting there a butterfly landed on my hand. He had white outer wings and light electric blue on the inside of his wings. I named him Mortimore. When it was time for me to move on, i didn't want to disturb him, so i carefully put my pack back on and clipped my hipbelt. I held my hand very still as to not disturb Mortimore. As the intense sun hit him he walked around my hand and hung upside down in the shade of my hand. He was smart butterfly. He enjoyed the free ride for about a quarter mile before he was on his way. The water i had was getting drank much faster than i expected. I can say that i was happy to reach sparkleberry landing. This is a kayak/boat launch to Lake Marion.A boater offered a ice cold water from his cooler and it was much appreciated Reaching the tree lined trail again seemed like just the reprieve in needed from the sweltering sun.

 Little did i know that this area of the lake was mostly swamp land and i didn't take long before the mosquitos and black flies found me. i applied a second coat of insect repellant as i had sprayed myself before i began to hike. This did not deter the insects at all. Little did i know but the humidity was steadily increasing and temp was only going to drop to 90 by 6 pm. My legs were bloody from cuts from the pricker vines and the multitudes of smashed mosquitos . the burning and itching on my arms and legs was almost unbearable. My hip was aching from stepping over all those logs, my back was aching from ducking under all those branches and my feet were blistered from that long hard road hike.

 And now the good news: I did reach my final destination,Pack's Landing, in one piece. And the great news: My friend bought me a cold soda and i got to sit in air conditioning.What i learned: Half frozen water bottles are so much more awesome than warm water bottles. Bug spray with Deet doesn't work in swamps. That what one person calls a trail, may not be a trail at all. A large feather works well as a fan and can keep bugs from biting your earlobes. Even a butterfly enjoys a free ride on a hot day. 
Happy Hiking,
TrailHikerChick