Spring Break 2013

It may be hard to believe, but I've never had a Spring Break before.  I wasn't at UM during spring semester.  BYU doesn't give days off...ever...let alone a whole week.  So, for the first time in my far too many years of college, I got a Spring Break.  How did I spend it, you ask?  Daytona Beach? Nope, not really my age group.  Vegas?  Too far away.  A cruise?  If only.  Nope, I decided to get back to my roots and spend some time in the great outdoors.  I went camping up in South Carolina.

It's been a long time since I went camping, and with a week long break, I thought it was the perfect time.  My Home Teaching companion, Dave, and I set off Monday morning for the 7 hour drive north.  Yes, 7 hours is kinda far to go camping, but have you seen a topographical map of Florida?  They consider ant hills "mountains" here. 

Day 1
I had found a free spot to camp for our first night.  It's a spot not far from Greenville on Forest Service land.  Basically, we just drove to the end of the road, put on our backpacks, and hiked down the hill to the creek below.  We had to clear our own tent sites, gather our own firewood, and boil our water straight from the stream.  No services here.  The nice thing was, there wasn't a soul in sight for miles.

Breakfast

Day 2
I wanted to do some hiking and since this first campsite was very undeveloped, we drove about 20 miles to Table Rock State Park.  It was pretty overcast that morning and even started drizzling while we broke camp, but that didn't phase us.

We got to Table Rock around 11:00.  We set up camp in time to do a hike, so we set off on Pinnacle Trail.  Stats: 7.2 miles round trip, 3425 feet elevation.

Bald Rock overlook

Visibility was pretty low, but you could see the fog sticking to the trees down in the valley and it looked like a forest fire. 

It started raining right when we pulled into camp, so we ended up spending the rest of the night in our tents, eating jerky, fruit, and trail mix for dinner.

Day 3
The rain broke sometime in the early morning and we woke up to a beautifully sunny day.  A perfect day, in fact, to hike to the top of Table Rock and enjoy the view.  Trail stats: 6.8 miles round trip, 3124 feet elevation.

Somehow failed to get my own pic of Table Rock so I "borrowed" this from Ourupstatesc.info

Our campsite is down near that little peninsula in the lake.

We made it back to camp relatively early in the day so we had tons of time to cook and just sit by the fire and relax.

I had a genius idea while shopping for supplies before the trip to make a stew out of beef jerky, carrots, and potatoes.  It. Was. Delish.

Day 4
We decided to break camp before breakfast and drive into Greenville, SC for some down home diner breakfast.  We weren't disappointed.  We asked a couple of older gentlemen we met in town where the best breakfast place was and they led us here.

This is one of those local, family owned diners where the waitresses have been working there their whole lives and they call you things like "Hon," and "Dear," and "Sweetheart."  I fell in love with the place instantly.

After getting nice and full on some country cooking, we drove to downtown Greenville.  This was a place I had dreamed of settling down someday with my family.  My visit only confirmed why that was an awesome idea.  You could tell that they had put a lot of money making their downtown the place to be.  Trendy boutiques, restaurants, art galleries, and fine arts centers.  Not to mention a beautifully developed trail/park system along the river that runs through town.

They did have a slight water sanitation problem though

Statues were everywhere. Like, seriously, on every corner.

Outdoor stage for community plays, free concerts, etc.

Greenville really was a beautiful town.  It was so much better developed than I had imagined before.  There are definitely parts that were quaint/old-fashioned, but I was surprised by how progressive and fancy the downtown area was.  Looks like it has become the financial hub of western South Carolina.


Now, I'm back in Gainesville with only one more day left until school starts again.  I'm feeling slightly sad about that.  Definitely not ready to start up again.  I could use another week, that's for sure.