June 13, 2009

Start: Hilton Head Island, South Carolina
End: Vogel State Park, Chattahoochee National Forest, Georgia


I got out of Hilton Head around 9:30 – Hugh had left the night before so I was responsible for cleaning and closing up and heading off the island. Like last year’s meandering, I’m sticking to the plan of avoiding interstates and restaurant chains. I drove through the South Carolina low-country until I crossed into Georgia at Augusta. Of course, I lent my copy of “How the States Got Their Shapes” by Mark Stein – it will be my mission to find a copy at a library or bookstore on the rest of this trip.


Passing through Elberton Georgia, I came across the Granite Museum where I was the only visitor when I got there. The man tending the desk was very friendly and put in an eleven minute DVD for me to watch about the granite industry and Elberton. What a surprise. More surprising was that two other groups of visitors arrived so I didn’t get any more story from the guy.

I pushed through to the Chattahoochee National Forest along the border Georgia shares with North Carolina and Tennessee. I had always thought the Chattahoochee referred to a swamp of some sort, but it is actually a beautiful part of the Blue Ridge Mountains with a climate that is compared to Pennsylvania. I stopped in one of the towns and went to the grocery store and got hamburgers and sides and before I left Reston I used my grandfathers two-man saw to cut some wood that was down behind the house. I was more prepared for camping that I usually am – and lucked into getting the last walk-in campsite in Vogel state park. That meant I had to lump my junk about fifty yards up to a campsite, but the bugs weren’t too bad and the burgers were perfect.

Pics: a) seriously?; b) seriously.; c) sitting in traffic; d) cribs, campstyle.




Day Miles: 332
Trip Miles: 915
Cities passed through: SC – Fairfax, Kline, Barnwell; GA: Augusta, New Hope, Lincolnton, Elberton, Lavonia, Toccoa, Clarksville, Cleveland
Elberton Percent of US Granite production: 33%
Number of quarries: 40
Percentage of granite used for memorial markers (tombstones): 90%
Cost to visit the granite museum: $0
Cost to camp in Vogel State Park: $12.00
Cost to park in Vogel State Park: $5.00
Friday evening elevation: 0 (Atlantic Ocean)
Saturday evening elevation: 2,238 (Lake Trahlyta)
Cost of Garmin Nuvi 200 Map Update: $69.99
Secondary Use: none
Cost of map of Vogel Campground: $0
Secondary Use: kindling