Oconee Point and Coneross Campgrounds

We had so much fun last month, and since it is still steamy hot, we headed back to the Oconee Point Campground.  Just four of us this time, us and our friends Jan and Jerry.

There is my little grill master.

Tuesday morning Jan and I went to the South Carolina Botanical Gardens.  

The monument at the Class of '42 Golden Tigers Cadet Life Garden.

Calla Lily, love the color!

Daylillies!

Beautiful!

Jan and Jerry enjoying the warm lake water. Yes, I said warm, it was like bath water, enjoyable none the less.

My version of camp food...

Just passing through.

We were all up early enough to get some great shots of the sunrise.

So, the reason we were all up so early was so we could get a jump on the Swamp Rabbit Trail, we were thinking, before it got too hot... It didn't work.

The Greenville Health System Swamp Rabbit Trail is a 17.5 mile "Rails-to-Trails", multi-use trail system in Greenville County, South Carolina that largely follows the bed of a former railroad that had been nicknamed after the indigenous swamp rabbit.  South-to-north, the current trail begins at Greenville Technical College, crosses the city of Greenville, proceeds through Falls Park and the campus of Furman University, and ends in Travelers Rest.

Although it is currently 17.5 miles long, they are doing work on it to extend it to the north.  Since they were doing work, we couldn't start at the beginning (or end, we started in Travelers Rest).  Still, around 11 miles one way.  And it was hot...steamy hot!

I took this from my new handle bar mount for my phone, the placement needs a little work, but it worked great!

It's a beautiful trail, we would love to do it again...when it's cooler!

And here we are, before we are too hot and sweaty.

There were lots of rest stops along the way.

This one must only be open on the weekends, but still a nice place for a snack.

We made it, downtown Greenville!

Walking to the falls.

How's that for a downtown?  Definitely not Cosby!

Nice and cool under the bridge, a great place for a picnic lunch, and get rest up for the ride back!

Ok, Mr. Swamp Rabbit!

After four days at Oconee Point we move about 15 minutes down the road to the Coneross Campground.  It's also an Army Corps of Engineers campground and we love it, probably our favorite, especially this spot (#56).

If these pictures look a little foggy, they are.  My phone was in the bus...with the a/c running, Stu like to keep it frosty!

Lovely!

And a beautiful sunset!

Saturday morning we headed off to see the Taccoa Falls.  Taccoa Falls is located in the foothill of the northeast Georgia mountains on the campus of Toccoa Falls College, a four-year, regionally and nationally accredited Christian college.

The falls stand 186 feet - nineteen feet higher than Niagara.  the stream that flows from the base of the falls runs through the lower portion of the college's 1,100 wooded acre campus.  Toccoa Falls is known to be one of the highest free-falling waterfalls east of the Mississippi River.

The Flood of November 6, 1977: The earthen dam above beautiful Toccoa Falls had been taken for granted for most of its 40 years.  Through other winter and spring rains that come annually to the North Georgia mountains, the tree covered dam had held.

About 1:30 a.m. Sunday, after days of torrential rains, the dam started to leak.  Groaning under the pressure of 129 million gallons of water, the leak became a breach, and the dam washed away, sending a 30-foot wall of water roaring through the trailer park and Bible college in the peaceful valley below.

In a few horrifying minutes, at least 39 men, women, and children died in the onslaught of rushing water, wreckage and mud.

Pictures just don't do it justice!

Then it was off to Tallulah Gorge State Park.  

Tallulah Gorge, an ancient, awesome 1000 foot chasm carved over millions of years by the Tallulah River, Tallulah Falls is actually a series of six waterfalls cascading down through Tallulah Gorge.  We saw rain clouds moving in, so we didn't do any hiking.  

Our travelling blue bird likes the site too!

Stay tuned for our next adventure!