Outdoor Day Trips

We live in a wonderful area for outdoor exploration—with the Appalachian Trail, two national parks, and some fantastic state parks and forests within a day's driving distance of the Taylors-Wade Hampton community.

Hiking can be a great family activity and a good form of exercise, and most hiking areas in the area are free or extremely low-cost. Now that the weather is warming up it's a good time to get outside and explore.

After hiking around our area for about a year, I've come across a few favorite spots, though there are many more left to explore. 

Here are five that I wanted to share with you:

1) Paris Mountain State Park

This was the first place my husband and I went when we started to hike regularly. It's less than 10 minutes from the Cherrydale shopping center, and has a variety of easy trails and nature walks. We took my five-year-old nephew here a few months ago for his first hike and walked along the Lake Placid Trail. 

2) Jones Gap State Park

Jones Gap is about an hour's drive from our area. One trail here that we particularly enjoy and have hiked several times is the Rainbow Falls Trail. It is a little bit steep, but the waterfall at the end is worth every step. I like knowing my sweat has an immediate reward! 

3) Caesar's Head State Park

Caesar's Head intersects Jones Gap State Park. Hiking to the Raven Cliff Falls suspension bridge is fun, and there are a lot of great overlooks and picnic areas here too. 

4) Congaree National Park

We have our very own national park here in South Carolina; it's located past Columbia, but can easily be visited in one day and is worth it. We did the free ranger guided canoe trip last summer—it was super fun and I learned a lot from the ranger. The schedule for the canoe trips can be found online. Hiking at Congaree is easy and flat. (Though we did run into some Wild Boar on our walk!)

5) Roan Highlands

If you don't mind driving about three hours into Tennessee, Roan Highlands along the Appalachian Trail makes an absolutely breathtaking day trip and is completely worth the drive. You'll encounter amazing views after just a short walk up a hill and the entire area is scenic.  

I've only scratched the surface of the wonderful outdoor areas available to us. Popular Table Rock State Park, Pisgah National Forest (in North Carolina), and DuPont State Forest (also in North Carolina) are some other great areas to explore. Also, we are lucky to be close enough to Great Smoky Mountain National Park (in Tennessee and North Carolina) to make a day trip there.

Hope you enjoy getting outside a little bit as the weather warms up!