My friend Fred is having his 45th birthday today. He lives in Sumter. I was planning to go there today anyway, because I wanted to visit Swan Lake/ Iris Gardens. The irises peak about this time of year. (There's an annual iris festival to celebrate this, which tends to come near my birthday, May 26. But the thing is, storms usually come along and flatten them in the week prior. So I thought I would catch them early.)
I messaged Fred on Facebook when I saw it was his birthday, and he was hip for irising. However, he messaged back that the irises were not so much evident, so I suggested we meet at Poinsett State Park, between Columbia and Sumter, but closer to the latter. This is a park on the High Hills of Santee, actually quite low hills which nevertheless feature an array of vegetation from much higher elevations. Here is a place where you see mountain laurel hung with Spanish moss. It is one confused place. It's also the best place to get in mountain-type hiking in the Midlands.
The common sense aspect is that even though it has very low visitorship, there had in recent years been an admission charge. We were pleased to find that the admission charge has gone away. We got in some lovely hiking, taking the trail around the lake, which is considerably more rugged than the trails around the lake at other Midlands park. The weather was hot but the shade was sufficient to keep it very pleasant. A lovely park that I hope I can visit more often.
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