hubcap's pictures for people whose roads are salty...

[hubcapsc]

Oss asked for pictures from those of us who have clean roads to ride
in the winter. I've been riding, and fiddling with my new camera. I got
it almost set right yesterday, but the resolution is too low (fixed now I
think)... there's a little sub-postage-stamp sized lcd screen on it with
15 different icons which you have to be able to see and interpret,
neither of which I'm very good at, in order to get it set like you want.
Oh well, the resolution was still low yesterday, but at least it didn't
turn off after 300 clicks...

Just down the street from my house is Hicks Store (the little building
to the left). It must have been a happening place, it is marked in
The Red Book and until recently was marked when you looked at
google maps. It is a sign of the times what POIs they label on maps.
My pre-red-book South Carolina map book labeled all the churches
and plantations, the red book labels where the golf courses are  ...



Our hoodlums still paint stuff like "dustin + caitlin" on the things they vandalize, at least
it's not gang graffiti or nazi symbols...





I remember when they were refurbishing this old house that had fallen into disrepair...
it is a nice horse farm now...



That's a fantastic bit of bottom land to the right, still in agriculture. It is been in
agriculture since antebellum times, the plantation house (named Walnut Hill)
is still in good shape and lived in at the top of the hill to the left...



This is Burnt Tanyard Road. As the name implies, there was a tanyard operation down
on the creek below those guardrails that burned down. There's a giant shoals down
there, you can still see some metal bits and pieces of the tanyard building lodged
in the rocks there...





That's not a little dog over to the left it is somebody's pet pig...



My intent on this ride was part of a continuing search for a good backroad route from my house
to the Eastatoee Valley in Pickens county SC. Lake Keowee is in the way, so finding a route that
doesn't dead end at the lake is not so easy. Eastatoee and Keowee and a whole bunch of
other names-of-stuff around here are Cherokee names, this area was the heart of the
Cherokee nation. These areas of Lake Keowee are the "high end" areas, movie stars and
rich people from all over have their second houses on the lake. Most of the roads that
don't lead to the lake are just country roads through the woods. Here's a place where
I was on a "regular person" road, going under a "rich person" road in a gated community.
The highway department hardly makes bridges as nice as this one  ...



I've known about The Eastatoee Valley for a long time. When I was 14 they were just filling up
lake Jocassee which flooded part of the valley. I got to ride dirt bikes back in there once,
I was on my Yamaha 100, another fellow who was one of the mechanics at the Honda
shop was on a new 250 Elsinore. Back in the 90s when my mother passed  , my sister
and I split the money from the sale of her home and I bought three acres in the Eastatoe
valley. Uber rich people live down on the furthest back deep clean blue finger of lake
Keowee near Lake Jocassee. Notice that's not the part of the valley I'm coming out of 



Duke Power used to own tens of thousands of acres back in here. They still own plenty, but
150,000 or so acres are now owned by North and South Carolina... the Jocassee Gorges...
This is quite a sight on a non-foggy day:



http://www.dnr.sc.gov/managed/wild/jocassee/index.htm

A good thing about the uber rich... look how nice the road down in the valley is always
kept...



Our little three acre plot isn't out on the main road, it is down this little private road,
Ellenburg Lane. It leads to the Ellenburg's old bear hunting camp.



There's still Ellenburgs in the valley, here's their 200 year old home place:



The reason we were able to get three acres of their land is that some of the descendants
didn't care about bear camps out in the country and they sold off their inheritances... these
low resolution pictures don't do service to how awesome the Eastatoee Valley is. The Eastatoee
creek runs through it, it is clean and clear and a popular trout fishing creek. Back in the
protected part of the Gorge, the creek runs through areas of virgin timber. We've hiked back
in there... we'd go just so far one day and turn back to make sure we weren't lost. Then the
next time we'd go farther, until the last time when we were as far as you'd want to go
on  a day hike. We'd see bears and deep gorges (hence the name?) it is real nice back
in there.







Way down at the far non-lake end of the valley, you can go to where the road dead-ends
into this dirt lot. You can park in the lot and walk 10 minutes down the trail to get
to Eastatoee Falls.



Not my picture:





-Mike

[Jess from VA]

Thanks for the nice tour. 

[Mike in AR]

Look's like great country to live in. Thanks for the pictures and the explanations and history. I really enjoy seeing other states that people live in. Adds to my bucket list. lol

[The emperor has no clothes]

Very cool Mike   I feel like I've learned a wee little bit of your part of the country from reading your reports thru the years.

[msb]

Great report, and great photos! What type of camera did you get? Looks like you have a lot of different options for rural roads to head out on a local ride. We haven't had any snow here in SW BC yet and the weather has actually been pretty nice, but out my way in the hinterland it does get down close to freezing at night and this past week below freezing, so they've been spraying the roads with that brine mix. Hopefully soon this will pass...your post here doesn't do anything to scratch my itch...it only makes it worse!! 

[..]

 

[hubcapsc]

Great report, and great photos! What type of camera did you get? Looks like you have a lot of different options for rural roads to head out on a local ride. We haven't had any snow here in SW BC yet and the weather has actually been pretty nice, but out my way in the hinterland it does get down close to freezing at night and this past week below freezing, so they've been spraying the roads with that brine mix. Hopefully soon this will pass...your post here doesn't do anything to scratch my itch...it only makes it worse!! 

https://www.amazon.com/Sony-FDRX3000-Underwater-Camcorder-White/dp/B01LYSJB8A



Good roads lead off in every direction :-) ...

-Mike "I don't ride underwater"

[henry 008]

 

[The emperor has no clothes]

Great report, and great photos! What type of camera did you get? Looks like you have a lot of different options for rural roads to head out on a local ride. We haven't had any snow here in SW BC yet and the weather has actually been pretty nice, but out my way in the hinterland it does get down close to freezing at night and this past week below freezing, so they've been spraying the roads with that brine mix. Hopefully soon this will pass...your post here doesn't do anything to scratch my itch...it only makes it worse!! 

https://www.amazon.com/Sony-FDRX3000-Underwater-Camcorder-White/dp/B01LYSJB8A



Good roads lead off in every direction :-) ...

-Mike "I don't ride underwater"

Gave up on the GoPro or just upgrading ?

[hubcapsc]

Gave up on the GoPro or just upgrading ?

I liked the GoPro and its form factor (it was the kind that looks like
a 1 inch black square) but it's maximum resolution was as low
as these pictures. This one goes up to 4K resolution when I manage
to set it right. And has hardware image stabilization in video mode,
it really works well.

When I got near home yesterday, the sun came out. I stopped at
"The Country Junction" crossroads store to put on my sun glasses.
There were some young tough looking guys hanging out in the parking lot and a
Harley. They were pretty interested in me and my Honda, I'm
not sure if they were smiling or not  , I nodded and smiled at the
ones I caught eye contact with...



When there's good resolution I can crop the good part out of a picture and it still
looks clear and crisp, cropping these pictures just makes them more blurry and fuzzy...





-Mike

[hal47]

Enjoyed that Mike.

[The emperor has no clothes]

Hmmm....young tough guys wear chains and baggy pants here in the desert also. 

[hubcapsc]

Enjoyed that Mike.

Howdy Hal 

[Wizzard]

thanks for the ride. That was great

[Jess from VA]

It interesting of course that a hooked up running camera could be so very useful and helpful indeed if something bad befalls you, either out on the road, or parked at a gas station.

Those guys come over and try something stupid or hooligan you can tell them to smile because they are on candid camera.  (Though usually, it's best to never reveal your defensive equipment or strategies)

And I think that guy leaning on the car has the same jammie pants I do.  (I wish they weren't all plaid)

[DIGGER]

Great pics and great tour.   Sure would like to metal detect around some of those old homeplaces.

[hubcapsc]

Great pics and great tour.   Sure would like to metal detect around some of those old homeplaces.

People (not me) just look down and see spearpoints and stuff just lying around
on Ellenburg lane... there's some kind of story about Daniel Boone spending
some time in the valley...

There's a creek running through our three acres there and I walked down to
it yesterday and stared at the places where rocks were gathered, but all I
saw was rocks...

-Mike

[Oss]

Thank you Mike. That hit the spot   

[NewValker]

Thanks Mike, best ride I had all winter!!
Craig

[Oss]

Exactly where did you mount the camera this time

Pretty sure I remember you had it on the crash bar on the left but this looks like maybe off the handlebar left side

am I correct?

[robin]

Nice report Mike we gotta get down your way sometime

[hubcapsc]

Exactly where did you mount the camera this time

Pretty sure I remember you had it on the crash bar on the left but this looks like maybe off the handlebar left side

am I correct?

I was on the black bike, and I mounted it in front of the windshield right on the
headlight's chrome helmet... I always mount the camera on the 1500's air wing,
it shoots pretty well there and when I do video all you can hear is the sweet engine sounds...



-Mike "I meant to take a picture of it... next time..."

[RNFWP]

Mike, I was riding in your neck of the woods today and thought about you...
Among other roads, I took 76 from Westminster to Clayton, Warwoman Rd over to 28 S to Walhalla.
The weather was perfect.

[..]

Mike, I was riding in your neck of the woods today and thought about you...
Among other roads, I took 76 from Westminster to Clayton, Warwoman Rd over to 28 S to Walhalla.
The weather was perfect.

I live on Warwoman 

[hubcapsc]

Mike, I was riding in your neck of the woods today and thought about you...
Among other roads, I took 76 from Westminster to Clayton, Warwoman Rd over to 28 S to Walhalla.
The weather was perfect.

Is that you Ross? That's a good loop 

-Mike

[Charlie McCready]

Good pictures Mike........some of them looked familiar.......Rt 11-----Cherokee Foothills Scenic Highway??

[hubcapsc]

Good pictures Mike........some of them looked familiar.......Rt 11-----Cherokee Foothills Scenic Highway??

Hi Charlie... I was on 11 just for a little bit to use the bridge and cross the lake. 11 is the main road ,
I was looking for backroads  . None of my pictures are of 11.

Here's 11 near Walhalla on my way to the Pikeville ride this year...



-Mike

[The emperor has no clothes]

Good pictures Mike........some of them looked familiar.......Rt 11-----Cherokee Foothills Scenic Highway??

Hi Charley... I was on 11 just for a little bit to use the bridge and cross the lake. 11 is the main road ,
I was looking for backroads  . None of my pictures are of 11.

Here's 11 near Walhalla on my way to the Pikeville ride this year...



-Mike

don't look very scenic to me

[hubcapsc]

don't look very scenic to me

Its scenicosity is kind of a joke to locals... the area where my picture was taken is
right outside of Walhalla and is kind of neighborhoody... motorcyclists who like curvy roads
think 11 is boring, but it has its good places... there's some good sweepers out past
Cleveland in Greenville county, and Cleveland has a couple of places where you can
stop and get gas and a burger grill with real ice cream cones and a couple of decent
BBQ stands. And several miles of bad potholes. And it goes past table rock... you can use
11 to skip I85 all the way from the Georgia line to Gaffney...



-Mike

[Smokinjoe-VRCCDS#0005]

Awesome ride report Mike .. Give me a call when you have time . It's about Wimp

[RNFWP]

Mike, I was riding in your neck of the woods today and thought about you...
Among other roads, I took 76 from Westminster to Clayton, Warwoman Rd over to 28 S to Walhalla.
The weather was perfect.

Is that you Ross? That's a good loop 

-Mike

Tis me... I enjoyed your ride report.

[Smokinjoe-VRCCDS#0005]

Nice ride report Mike 

Do you still own the land ?

[hubcapsc]

Nice ride report Mike 

Do you still own the land ?

Thanks!  We sure do still own the land, I'd be hard pressed to part with it.

I keep a little key to one of the locks on the gate in my wallet...



There's a couple of "weekend" places on the dirt road before you get to our three acres. By
the time you get to the part of the road where our place is the road is really just a 4x4 road
to a bear hunting camp, so I didn't run the bike down in there. The whole road is a
right-of-way for the people who own land on it, so I parked my bike here and walked
back to the creek on our property when I was there. I used to know the people at this last
place (The Nalleys), but they're gone now, and I don't know the new
people. I hope they're friendly, most of the people I've met back in there are friendly to
people who belong there and sometimes not so much to interlopers who I guess sometimes
cause trouble and or leave trash and stuff...



A friend of mine flew us back in there once in his little plane. When you get to the paved
road through the valley in my pictures, it's really "the last road". After that it is wilderness
and forest and the blue ridge as far as the eye can see, even from the air...

-Mike

[Smokinjoe-VRCCDS#0005]

Thanks for the reply . Nice place  The house in last picture is that on your land also ?

[hubcapsc]

Thanks for the reply . Nice place  The house in last picture is that on your land also ?

Nothing on our land but a creek, a bunch of laurel and a steep hill side...

-Mike "OK, some trees too..."

[DDT (12)]

Mike,

A really nice job of taking us along on the tour of your special, memory-filled places. The photos and descriptions blend into a very nice narrative that tells a most interesting tale! Thanks!!!

DDT