A Pawley's Island Christmas (Day 2) - Santee Coastal Reserve + Sewee Shell and Clam Mounds
If not for the sliver of land you might not be able to tell where the water ends and the sky begins.
UPDATED: 2/4/2023
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After a day staying pretty local to avoid spending too much time in the car, by the second day, we were ready to go further afield to explore some hiking options!
We headed to Santee Coastal Reserve, roughly 30 minutes south from our house and situated down a long sandy road. This area is a 24,000 acre wildlife management area with several hiking trails that meandered through coastal forest, marshes, freshwater swamp, pine forest, and past the old Eldorado Plantation ruins. The sandy road to the hiking area had a few potholes and tire ruts so this is probably a drive best done in an SUV for higher clearance.
We took two hikes in the Santee Coastal Reserve. The first one was the Marshland Trail, a path that includes an 800-foot long boardwalk over a freshwater cypress swamp. While their website says it is nearly 2 miles, we only went about 0.7 miles so the path must have continued somewhere that we missed. This was a pleasant and easy hike.
Walking suspended above a murky swamp is a little unnerving when you feel the boards flexing beneath your feet
Those are not tiny tree stumps, they are the aerial roots of the larger cypress trees!
The path was level and littered with leaves, and stretching out to the right of the trail was dark, murky water filled with leaves and dappled with sunlight. Turning onto the boardwalk portion of the path was slightly intimidating with no visible end in site and the spongy boards flexing beneath our footfalls. Its moments like those that you wonder what would happen if the wood gave out beneath your feet. And then you keep going anyway.
In the humid weather of the South, even treated wood rots and decays quickly. While I’m sure the wood of the boardwalk was replaced recently, I could see the impact of this harsh environment on the weathered and decaying boards. In December there were almost zero bugs and the walk was extremely pleasant, but I imagine during the summer months this might be less-than-pleasant considering the massive amount of stagnant water present. At the end of the boardwalk, a large lake expanded into the distance dotted with grass and tree stumps.
A beautiful swampy scene awaited us at the end of the boardwalk.
I survived the rotting and spongy boardwalk! (I’m sure it was structurally sound, it just felt scary.)
Next we drove over to the Big Well Trail, the longer hike we took in Santee Coastal Reserve. This was a wonderful walk through marsh lands along a raised dirt dam that separates the marsh from the Santee River. This easy walk follow a 2.3 mile flat loop around several small lakes.
We took our time and spent about 75 minutes on the walk with plenty of stops to take in the winter birds’ shenanigans and calls. Egrets, herons, ducks, and other birds alternated between quiet and loud cries depending on what excited them. The wind rustled through the tall reeds that were all over and the sound is similar to that of light rain. We followed the path around, and as we rounded the second bend to turn back, the path entered a wooded section. Somehow, we missed the path back but continued on and eventually met up with the road back to the car. This may be the first time we have gotten sort of lost on a loop trail!
This area is a managed migratory bird sanctuary and is a good place for bird watching most of the year.
Warm sun, cool breeze, and the sound of birds everywhere. What a great day to take pictures!
I think I was laying down to get this photo… right next to an ants nest! Thankfully they ignored me for the most part.
A Tricolor Heron? hanging out near the Big Well Trail path.
Enjoying all the fresh air on such a nice, warm day, we decided to get one final stop and hike in. We drove about 25 miles further south over to the Francis Marion National Forest and visited the Sewee shell ring and clam mound.
This short 1 mile trail snaked through a pine forest littered with pine needles that were so heavy that the path almost disappeared amidst the pine litter. We followed the path to the right and meandered over to the shell mound. A short boardwalk ends in front of the shell ring with seating. During a recent hurricane, several of the walkway sections were flipped sideways and so impassable. Overall the hike was a nice walk in the woods, but the paths felt like they weren’t really managed.
We met a local man and his cute dog along the way. He was surprised to see us and claimed that he had been coming here for 40 years, and we were the first people he had ever seen on the trail. After chatting for a few minutes, we headed over to the clam mound. Both mounds are the pre-historic remains of essentially garbage piles that are dated to approximately 4000 years ago. When the local people discarded their shells, they gradually piled up over time. While they are not much to look at, the shear size and age of these midden piles is impressive. In a country where most ‘history’ is a few hundred years old at most, coming across vestiges of significantly older humans is always interesting to us.
Where is the path?
I love the sun peaking through the leaves!
It was hard to show the size of these mounds in a picture but you can see some of the ancient shells.
The grassy “field” has several feet of water hidden under the reeds.
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Check out our other posts set in South Carolina:
Days 3-4: - Brookgreen Gardens + Huntington State Park Beach
We headed over to Brookgreen Gardens to check out their amazing sculptures.