Carolina Sandhills, pineland, wetland, etc.

thanks for the report Bill. I think i recall reading in "the pine barrens" by John McPhee that Bill Wasovich said he once relocated to the pine barrens of south Carolina, but only stayed for a short while. I recall hearing of this area also as being very similar to the NJ pine barrens, but it is clear from your report and excellent photos that that is probably not the case. How large in acres is this area?

Jeff
 
Nice photo's...especially the first one. Thanks for sharing your trip with us.

Guy
 
woodjin said:
thanks for the report Bill. I think i recall reading in "the pine barrens" by John McPhee that Bill Wasovich said he once relocated to the pine barrens of south Carolina, but only stayed for a short while. I recall hearing of this area also as being very similar to the NJ pine barrens, but it is clear from your report and excellent photos that that is probably not the case. How large in acres is this area?

Jeff
Click to expand...

Jeff,

Time for me to re-read McPhee's barren book. It's been years.

(BTW, I think McPhee is the most gifted writer on the planet.)

I was in another park during the trip, Jeff -- Lee's State Park -- walking a short nature trail; one would have thought he was in the heart of Wharton. Some of the few areas I saw were very simlilar to NJ, others not. Dead giveaways revealing the latter are the rather steady tilt to the topography (especially in the Sandhills) and the lack of a single pitch pine (at least to this eye).

The Sandhills are extremely diverse, and I'm afraid the photos above and in my bank here represent the area's most exotic in comparison to home. I guess my camera was drawn to the "differences."

The acreage quantity of the Sandhills Refuge is 46,000. I spent only one day there. As Arnie was famous for saying, "I'll be back."

Bill
 
i've been to carolina lowcountry a few times - which i must admit at some points are VERY similar to NJ barrens. I agree with you that it certainly dwarfs the barrens, with giant longleaf pines and a much greater flora and fauna diversity. A few parallels from down there:

Longleaf pine (next to Jay for scale):
P5160769sm.jpg


Yellow pitcher plant in boggy area (next to me for scale):
IMG_4815sm.jpg


Spatula-leaf sundew (huge cluster):
IMG_4693sm.jpg


Corn snake (just for fun):
P5130518sm.jpg


Either way its certainly beautiful down there.

-Bob
 
whippoorbill said:
Aah, beautiful longleaf pine shot, Bob. Thanks for posting. Were you in the Sandhills Preserve, by chance?

While in SC, I drove by several groves of first or second year longleaf pine -- I wish I had attempted to photograph these . Almost more gorgeous when young, those guys.

And how about their substantially sized cones? :) My kids had a lot of fun kicking these up the trail. Here they are posing with one:

http://forums.njpinebarrens.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=5275&fullsize=1

When totally bored, they decided to take aim at the photographer. "Run away!"

http://forums.njpinebarrens.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=5265&fullsize=1
Click to expand...

Thanks for the picture compliments everyone - I was actually in Croatan NF when I took those pictures. And yeah that cornsnake is harmless. They're usually (in my experience) also well-tempered, but this one bit me a few times.
Its funny - i was so amazed by those longleaf pines when I first saw them - now they're just the annoying things that make my car turn green and drop super-long pine needles under my wipers. I did manage a shot of a young longleaf that first year:
normal_P5160771.JPG
 
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