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Upstate South Carolina and BMW
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November 23, 2005



We had a relaxing final weekend in High Springs, NC. After picking up the mail on Monday, we headed south down to Paris Mountain State Park near Greenville, SC. Paris Mountain is in the north-west corner of South Carolina, about an hour south of Ashville, NC. A cold front was coming through and we were hoping for a little bit of snow. The temps got down to about 30 at night, but no snow. Only the higher elevations of the Smokey Mountains received any snow.

After the boys did their homeschool lessons yesterday, we went hiking. Paris Mountain State Park had a lot of hiking trails right there. The first was the Brissy Ridge Loop Trail, a 2.4 mile hike rated easy to difficult. It was a nice hike through the woods along the mountain tops. But because of the trees, it didn't have a whole lot of views. Cricket and the boys were kind of tired and went back to the RV after that one. I was still feeling adventurous, so I decided to hike another trail also rated easy to difficult but was 3.5 miles long. I enjoyed the Sulphur Springs Loop Trail a bit more because the difficult side actually followed a mountain creek which ended at a lake created by a dam. Just past the dam was a brick cylinder structure that I wasn't sure what it was for. There was an opening near the bottom with water coming out. I could only assume that it was either the beginning of the springs or another passage for the water to flow through the dam. Anyway, by the time I finished it was already getting dark. I had to jog some of the trail to make it in time while I could still see.





Today we drove over to Spartanburg to visit the BMW factory. We didn't have time for the factory tour, but I still wanted to visit their museum there. They didn't have as many cars in the museum as I would have wanted, but it was free. I guess I would have to visit the main factory in Europe to see more.



After BMW, we went to Caesars Head State Park for more hiking. Our first hike was to the Caesars Head overlook and Hell's Kitchen trail. It was a short, easy walk with spectacular views.



After that we wanted to hike another trail to the water fall. The park ranger had told us the trailhead began another short drive and a mile up the road. He also said we only had 1 hour to reach the falls or we wouldn't make it back before dark. So we had to hurriedly hike the 2.2 miles to Raven Cliff Falls. We didn't take any breaks and made it in just 45 minutes. This was probably our quickest hike yet. It turned out to be somewhat disappointing as the trail did not go all the way to Raven Cliff Falls. The trail only went to an overlook to view the falls from a distance. They were not reachable by foot. So after a few photos, we again quickly hiked the 2.2 miles back before sunset. We made it with just a few minutes to spare. We'll be sleeping good tonight.



Tomorrow we head down to Sesquicentennial State Park near Columbia, SC. I'll be back in a few more days with an update. Thanks for stopping by.

Mark































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