These SC snaps are from the Francis Beidler Forest Audubon Center and Sanctuary.
Found the place on our Garmin, and followed the highway to a state road, to a county road, to the park entrance: a gravel road. At each road change, you slow down, calm down. It kindly prepares you for the gift at the end.
We got the warmest welcome when we arrived, and talked quite a bit with the staff, before and after the walk. Barbara Thomas and the others (wish I could remember names!!!) were terriffic! They know their stuff, and there were two school groups that were litterally enthralled, in reverent awe of the place, for the entire walk because of the expertise of their guides.
I know we will be back, as it is a photographers paradise, and we want to see it at high water (but will bring a better camera; my 8 yr old Sony ain't quite enough anymore). Some of these, frankly, were taken with my Iphone; can't tell which ones. The squirrel was about 2 feet away, just going about his business. And the swamp provided picture ops at every step.
It is a 1.75 mile boardwalk through the swamp. And no pesky bugs! We learned that a swamp is a wet forest, and a marsh is a wet grassland. Whoda thunk it? And the soil is not soft and gunky, like you see in the movies. You will get the soles of your shoes muddy, but will NOT sink to your knees. It is all on compacted sand that gets covered with leaves and such, which gets cleansed with each high-water rinsing.
We decided that words have not yet been created that would effectively, properly describe this place. The pictures pretty much say it all.
Dave and Nola
