Palmetto Trail, High Hills of Santee Passage

Hike Name: Palmetto Trail, High Hills of Santee Passage Location: central SC Length: 10+ Submitted by: Badfoot Date Submitted: 0/0/00 Rating:	more South Carolina trail reviews South Carolina national parks South Carolina state parks
For more trail descriptions and topo maps, try a Free Trial Offer from Trails.com

Description
Moderate.
The Palmetto Trail is South Carolinas version of a "Mountains to the Sea" Trail. When completed it will be about 425 miles in length; starting in Oconee County and ending at Awendaw, SC. The High Hills of Santee Passage extends from Pointsett State Park to Mill Creek County Park, (all within Manchester State Forest of Sumter County.) What I will describe here is a great day hike that can be done in about 5 hours if you push it. It's best if you just take your time and enjoy the scenery, though. This is a one-way hike, so you will have to have a ferry vehicle. My suggestion is to drop the ferry vehicle at the Pointsett Park Day Use Parking Lot and begin your hike at Mill Creek. Both of these parking lots are day use only, so you can't leave your vehicles over night unless you camp at the one of the parks. We started at Mill Creel Park and hiked north. The trailhead is at the rear of the park past the horse stables. There is a metal gate across an old power line road. You should find a yellow "PT" diamond tacked to a pole there. The trail follows the remnants of the power line until the trail veers to the left. The trail is marked with the yellow diamonds or metal horse trail tags. It is well marked, though there were times that we had to double back in order to pick the trail up again. Some sections of this trail are multi-use; the southern end is for horse and hiking while the northern end merges with mountain bike trails. This is a very popular mountain biking area so you need to be on the lookout for bikers, as sometimes they don't watch for you. (And watch for the muddy wheel ruts too.)

The trail leads through a variety of lowland areas, from pine tree farms to oak thickets. Some of the land borders what appears to be private property so stick to the trail. It crosses several small streams and creeks but make sure you carry your own water, as these aren't potable. You must be on the lookout for Water moccasins as this is some of their favorite territory. Ticks and chiggers are also a problem in this area. Applications of DEET around your boots and pants should take care of them. Lyme disease carrying ticks have been recorded in Sumter County so take precautions. The Manchester State Forest does permit hunting during various seasons so be aware that there may be hunters in the area…so don't dress like a deer. We did pick up a Lot of trash so do your part and carry out more than you carry in.

If you want to check out the trails on a USGS map, you will need the Poinsett and Lone Star 7.5' quadrangles. You can access the Palmetto Trails web page through the SC Trails web site. http://www.sctrails.net/Trails/ The have a PDF file you can print that gives you a rough map. You can always send me an e-mail and I'll send you a bitmap of the area.

-Badfoot
w/Nowhere Man

Directions to Hike
To Poinsett: From Columbia take Highway 378 about 28 miles to the Junction of Highway 261. It is 16 miles from Sumter. Take 261 South about 10 miles until you see the entrance to Poinsett State Park. The Parking area will be on the right after about 1.5 miles.
To get to Mill Creek County Park, continue down Highway 261 about 3 miles until your reach County Road 51 also known as Mill Creek Road. Take the right-hand fork toward Rimini. Stay on the road for about 3 miles. Turn Right on County Road 808. Mill Creek Park is about three-fourths of a mile down Road 808.

Contact Information
Poinsett State Park
(803) 494-8177 11-Noon and 4-5 PM

Mill Creek Park
Sumter County Recreation Department
(803) 436-2248

Palmetto Trails
Suite 213
1314 Lincoln Street
Columbia, SC, 29201-3154
(803) 771-0870

submit a new trail review

---

About Our Reviews

Many people ask us to recommend a place to go hiking. Instead of us deciding what places are best, we let the backpacking community help out. The reviews on budget-travels-tips.com have been submitted by our viewers. Some reviews are positive and some are negative. If you don't agree with a review, feel free to submit your own trail review.