Perdeaux Fruit Farm - Travelers Rest, South Carolina

If you're near Travelers Rest, South Carolina during the summer or in the fall then you might want to make a stop by Perdeaux Fruit Farm. We stopped by in early July and by then it was already too late to find a lot of summer produce because they had been cleared out, but they have other seasonal fruits and products that they sell throughout the year. I would just call ahead to see what is available. Thankfully, a few peaches were available, so we grabbed some of those and they were delicious. We discovered this place on our South Carolina Agritourism Paspports, which led us to 15 farms.

5 Things to Do and See in Congaree National Park

Congaree National Park has been on our list to visit for a long time. We were trying to visit before the summer heat spiked up in the city of Columbia, South Carolina, which Congaree National Park is nearby in the town of Hopkins. The leaves were already back on the trees, and it made for  scenic sight walking the boardwalk through the woods. Many people might travel to Congaree knowing it's a national park, but they may not have expectations of what to do or look for once they arrive, so we've made a list of exciting things to see and do while visiting.

Tamassee Knob - Oconee State Park, South Carolina

Length: 4.1 miles / Difficulty: Difficult

Nearing the end of the short fall weather we've had, we hadn't gotten in any scenic views. Mostly the culprit had been the smoke in the area from surrounding fires, which didn't make hiking to any safe. Thankfully, since we hiked to Tamassee Knob rainfall has moved in. Tamassee Knob was a hike I had kept in mind in case I woke up and walked outside to clear air, and a Sunday this past month we did. Despite a slight chill in the air it was just the right temperature for a hike. The hike is near Walhalla, South Carolina. 

The hike starts in Oconee State Park, and the hike wanders out of the park into Sumter National Forest. The Tamassee Knob trail seems to be the newest additions of hikes since it was added to the sign after it was it made. 

A 2.1 mile hike leads to the overlook from the mountain of Tamassee Knob. The round trip, out and back hike is around 4.2 miles and it is difficult. Brandon didn't seem to be as intimidated by the hike as me though, and if you're not as afraid of falling then you might find this hike easier than I did. The hike starts easy. The trail is mostly level and everything is clearly marked. The trail is well marked with black blazes to show where the trail goes. 

After branching off to the trail toward Tamassee Knob the trail begins to get hilly, so there is a lot of travelling down on the way, and the leaves made it feel a little slick to me. Once outside of the park the trail becomes very narrow and has steep drops to the side. I became frightened by the view off the side of the trail if I happened to slip. The way back to the car was not as bad though since I prefer going up hill when I fear slipping downhill. 

The hike was well worth some of the few, fall skies we've gotten to see this season though. We could see the South Carolina and North Carolina Blue Ridge Mountains. I wish there had been some details about what mountains we could exactly see, but Sassafras Mountain seems to be visible from this view, which is the highest mountain peak in South Carolina. This trail is lightly trafficked, but there were quite a few groups of people on the trail for this hike. By the time we reached the knob everyone was gone though, so we had the view to ourselves and we rested till we knew we had to head back to avoid the early, dark day. Now it may appear the trail continues past the knob, but we met a group on the way that said they traveled further past the knob, but they didn't find any views and turned around. Basically when you've reached the rock you've reached the attraction of the trail.

There is an admission fee of $2 per adult, $1.25 for seniors, and kids 15 and younger are free to enter Oconee State Park. They are open daily till dusk. 

Mariner's Nature Trail - Calhoun Falls State Park, South Carolina

Length: 0.5 miles / Difficulty: Easy

Earlier this year we visited Calhoun Falls State Park just as the summer temperatures were heating up this May. Little did we know this would be the last month in a while we would see a good rain too. It seems so long ago now. Calhoun Falls probably sounds like there would be a waterfall in this park, but sadly no. When the lake was dammed a long time ago what might have been a waterfall disappeared.