Beginning Thoughts
I've just retired at age 64 and am starting to spend a lot more time in the woods cultivating what has become a lifelong hobby of studying nature. I've recently joined the Audubon Society, the South Carolina Native Plants Society, and the Friends of the Congaree. I live in Columbia, SC, which is right smack dab in the middle of the Xeric Sandhills that go through the middle of the state and pretty much straddle the Fall Line of SC. The advantage of this is that I have Piedmont environments to the NW of Columbia and Coastal Plain environments to the east and the SC Mountains about a 100 miles to the NW. My favorite hikes around this area are Peachtree Rock, the Palmetto Trail at Fort Jackson, and Forty Acre Rock in Lancaster County 60 miles NE of here. Am intending to get more acquainted with Congaree National Park (which is pretty much flooded at present to to the recent flooding in the Midlands of SC) to learn trees better, especially Hawthorns. Am intending to be part of the Christmas Bird County this year also. Just gotta see where Nature takes me!!
James