for our second bike packing adventure eddie and i decided to try something completely different
this time we planned a tour across the lowlands of south carolina on the palmetto trail the trail
would take us alongside two of the largest lakes in the state through swamp and sand all the way
to the intracoastal waterway also different this time our buddy will decided to join us
given the relative lack of elevation change we thought we'd be able to achieve 50 miles a day
to arrive at the intracoastal waterway after three days and 150 miles of riding
things didn't turn out quite as we had hoped this is day one
state park there's really no gate three dollars per adult i don't think will counts
here you are sir thank you man that bike's loaded down well
i'm sure i'm glad you bought the you brought the enduro bike for this trip
all the gnar we're going to be all the downhill we're going to be doing
this is uh 11 miles on this map
all right you guys ready to do this we've only got 100 and something miles no problem
riding the knot i'm going to the knot
cool along this property line looks like and then it cuts down here all right we'll take low knot
see that i like that click down the lower the gear steer steering there's steel right there
galvanized
so is this right nope because we never cross our road if you look
at the map well we just crossed a road we just crossed around
ah like will says we go back in first left to get back so we're doubling back because we need
to be on the palmetto trail i think we made a mistake and didn't catch laurel the first time
missed the palmetto trail and just had to climb back up that hill i'm thinking we stay left i
think we came in this didn't we feel like we came in close to these benches because we pointed them
out if we keep bearing left we are somehow going back along this loop again we need this trail and
i'm ready to go right down there to get it let's do it we're lost it won't hurt walk down there
and see if the trail's there all right are we go we're not going down this nature smells funny here
we're riding near shaw air force base
and uh i know i think some f-16s flying around kind of like our own air show they're
dropping ordinance you can hear it hitting pretty cool yeah there's been horse out
here
real sandy here whoa up look to the left up and high he's coming our way
he's popped he's upside down now
oh my goodness sandy ah
that's what we came for
it's gonna be the hardest section all right let's get it
the center trail still on the palmetto trail
trail is so churned up
sand is super deep here very difficult to ride pushing my bike in your tracks did it help
yeah i got my heart rate up did you get pricked at all when you rode through that back there
yes you like that spot no
or this exact spot yeah that exact spot is the best part of my life
this is the worst part of my life all right well moving on
so the park here at mill creek signals the end of high hills of santee so we should be out of
the deep sand now all right here we are pretty serious horse park here a bunch of camping hookups
now we know why the trail was destroyed high hill santee passage grab some lunch
it's coming
sorry guys for ruining your lunch with that spectacle i'm not ruined what was that that was
weird quick inventory of how things have fared so far damaged banana i think it took a stick on the
side of the trail damaged wafer bars off-brand the pepperoni has uh lost some of its oil dried
fruit like a brand new cocoa yogurt raisins my favorite also doing well next section we're going
to go by sparkleberry swamp sparkle unusual what time are we trying to get the paulie's
landing by i told captain jim we would be there at three now we originally said two and i know
that he doesn't want to be coming back across the lake after dark so if we get there at 4 or
4 30 we're not getting across the lake with him we better get some miles we had better get some miles
so
what's up
oh
that's another sticker bush thank you mother mother nature mother nature well
the trail has come to a sudden end
it seems that way pleasantries abound you can hear ed making the sound of found pleasantries
that road we crossed over is that a re-route anywhere let's go back to it i think i i like
your idea let's reroute around this this isn't going anywhere i can't get far enough
to see it you know yeah i mean not at any kind of pace it's going to take
we got to make time fellas let's reroute around this garbage sauce garbage sauce
trail was blocked no visible way through so we're going down to a state road to try to go around it
never been so happy to be a road bike rider in my life i think
all right we're at sparkleberry landing
we have made it to packs landing now we're gonna go find pax landing road
how you doing better good brother 14 31. okay so we got an hour and 30 minutes we have 19 miles
19 to get to the landing i think that's right we're at 24 right now and we gotta get to five
all right we've got like 10 miles to go
and under an hour to do it so trying to move to get to our ride across the lake
all right we got about eight miles in 40 minutes 30 minutes something like that yep
i'm gonna do my best guys you're fine i'm not worried about nothing i'm having a great time
you all right yeah will's not doing great lakes cramping up again
two miles to a boat
that you couldn't have got here you wanna you wanna you wanna guess
you bringing up the ass in or what i'm i'm dying i'm dying these guys are monsters
where are you staying at taylor's landing that's where we're sleeping tonight so but um i think
it's only 10 miles once we get to the other side so we'll be we might make it sounds good
right
you need a water for the road it might be dry around here
i would like one thank you any time boys thank you sir
our camp
mistakes were made i watched you guys float on your cloud of traction goodness
while i mired down in my sorrow self-pity
tomorrow doesn't look so hard
and it's not just a pep talk i like the optimism 40 41 we maybe only have about 42 miles tomorrow