♪ [Palmetto Scene theme music] ♪ Hello I'm Beryl Dakers.

Welcome to Palmetto Scene.

It's time to rediscover the great outdoors.

Harbison State Forest has been a go to area for avid mountain bikers for many years with its fun and dynamic trails catering to riders of all levels.

The sport is challenging and upkeep of the trail plays a huge role in keeping the forest fun and safe.

♪ [dramatic music] ♪ >> I'm Neil Brown I'm a CPA, a CFP, a tax and finance guy.

Been seriously mountain biking for about 5 years picked up the hobby probably the 8 years ago and just love it and enjoy doing it.

♪ [relaxing music] ♪ We got a lot of different trails.

Obviously, we're standing in front of Harbison State Forest, right now.

More of a cross country, easy trail system.

You've got Sesquicentennial State Park on the other side of town.

The cool thing about that is you got a lot of different variety of soil.

So, when it's muddy at Harbison, you got the sand over there the drains real well.

But quite honestly, my favorite's probably here at Harbison, consider it my home trails.

I get to come out here about three or four times a week, thankfully.

♪ [calming music] ♪ >> You have to be very careful when you come out here as a biker or as a hiker.

The trail systems, they're multi-use so you got to exercise some trail etiquette.

Typically, uphill is going to get the right of way versus downhill.

Hikers get the right away over bikers.

So, we're last, but you just got to exercise some etiquette and make sure everybody's safe.

<speaker #2> The name's Harry Mathis.

You can see behind me.

We actually have a work crew.

We're building a new section of trail in Spider Woman.

The trail system exists in cooperation with the forest activities.

Harbison is a state forest, not a park.

It's a working forest.

The trail systems usually in really good shape.

If it needs to be closed.

It'll be closed to protect it.

Sometimes it's closed because they're doing logging or a prescribed burn.

I've been a ranger out here for probably about 10 years maybe, working weekends.

It fits well with doing the trail work, the volunteer work I do with Friends of Harbison.

Being a ranger gives me a little more access to the forest and have little bit better understanding of some of the issues that we need to deal with as Friends of Harbison.

I started riding mountain bikes seriously right around 1990.

So, I've been right about 30 years and racing mountain bikes all over the southeast.

The trails gives a lot of variety because we have trails that are built by the newest standards.

We have single track trail.

We have double track, technical trails, flowy trails.

The trail work we do now is based on the standards developed by the International Mountain Bike Association, IMBA.

They do trail training for trail crew workers.

We've done those, We've had two events here at Harbison.

They taught us how to build the right way.

That's the first thing.

We want to make sure that we're using the right design criteria and we lay the trail out to meet those criteria to avoid creating more problems or building a trail that's worse than what we're trying to fix and so we'll start with a basic idea and we'll flag the route that we want to follow and then we get a crew and basically start building it within 30 minutes of most people's homes they have access to some of the best mountain bike trails in South Carolina.

It's a great variety and we have about 25 miles of trails.

We really encourage everybody to come out and take advantage of the Harbison Trail System.

It's an incredible resource, one to be protected, but also enjoyed.

<speaker #3> I am with Service Saturday.

It is an organization at University of South Carolina under the Leadership and Service Center.

Once a month, out of a Saturday we go into different organizations to help volunteer.

This is my first time working with Friends of Harbison State Forest.

but while I've been here, I've really enjoyed my time so far.

Community volunteers, come on out.

It's a great opportunity.

It's actually pretty fun.

I've been having fun since I've been here.

I don't mountain bike but I do want to come back see like all my heart that I put in and how the trail turns out and actually walk the trail.

<speaker #4> I'm Kory Giggs I have not been mountain biking that long, a couple of years now.

I'm really new at this.

I find it to be really fun and you can get a lot of exercise doing this.

Ever since my friend got me out here, it's been great.

These experienced riders out here really help you out.

You get to meet people, learn everything they have to offer and share.

It just makes you want to come back.

I don't consider myself an avid biker but I love just getting out here and experiencing nature.

<Neil> It runs the gamut from young to old, men and women.

It's just an easy sport to get into at whatever level you're trying.

Picked out some good friendship out here and a couple guys, we ride together all the time and we're pretty serious in what we do but there's a whole different level of people come out here families or mid level riders or extreme riders.

It just depends.

One of the real good things about biking is even if you can't get out here with your friends, we do a lot of activities through an app called Strava.

And what that does is kind of a social messaging app for hikers and bikers but we could come out here and track our GPS and track our times and actually compete against all of our friends on Strava and other people who may not be your friend.

You can see the top leader boards to see where you pair against other people.

We also use an app called TrailForks to map things out and put it into our GPS systems for turn by turn location.

You can get lost in the woods, so it really helps.

One of the reasons I got into mountain biking is because I like to exercise.

So, a lot less wear and tear on my body than running.

So, being able to remove myself from the world for an hour or two hours a day to get out here to relax enjoy the nature and really just get away and enjoy life a lot of people come here with headsets.

That's fine.

But I come out here to get away from the world.

It's a lot of cardio work.

It's great exercise.

It's just something that's fun to do so If I could kill two birds with one stone, why not.

>> Wow!

what a great way to enjoy the outdoors and speaking of great outdoor adventures, let's check out a few of the many unique parks of the Upstate.

Set at the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains this majestic region of our state is full of nature's awesome scenic wonders.

♪ [relaxing music] ♪ One of the most popular places for people to go here at Table Rock is to reach the summit.

That's always a goal for people to get out and say that they've been up to the top.

Table Rock Mountain has a granite top.

So you got views all throughout Pickens in Greenville County that you can kind of you can kind of get a great overview of the surrounding area and it's just the place that people enjoy to say that they summited, that they've gone and done it and then brag to their family and friends and say "Hey!

This is something that I did!"

and you know challenge them to do the same thing.

The dam here on Pinnacle Lake at Table Rock, it's a special place.

It was built by the CCC in the in the 1930s.

That's the Civilian Conservation Corps.

It's unique they use materials, stone that are source locally throughout the area and it's built in a way to blend in to the scenery here.

[water falling] In the 30's, the CCC, they built places to blend into to the environment to enhance the park, and not detract from it.

I think, part of that construction was they termed the phrase park-i-tecture because it was the architecture was something that was built into the park.

It was supposed to enhance it.

You kind of this is one of the best examples that we have here at the park is the Gaines Lodge where it was built as a meeting place for people to come and enjoy.

We host the music on the mountain here.

One of the things I like to tell people is that Table Rock is a great place for you to make connections, make connections to nature, make connections to the people that you love and have experience with them that you can that you can take away from this.

♪ [relaxing music] ♪ Oconee State Park is nestled in the upstate of South Carolina roughly about 14 miles from the state of North Carolina state line in the mountains of South Carolina.

It has 1,165 acres that has 19 cabins.

It has multiple day use facilities to include four shelters.

It has a 139 site campground.

It also has a natural swimming area in our 20 acre lake stands behind me here at the park.

We do also have a 12 acre lake fishing pond, which is located right on the edge of our campground.

The lake offers fishing from bass and brim.

Also too, rainbow trout, brown trout which is stocked yearly by the local fisheries.

We also have the camping, which most people enjoy on a good campfire along with S'mores at night and good stories.

And then we also with our 19 cabins, the folks just kind enjoy family time.

The bath house is one of the most iconic buildings here at Oconee State Park.

It's the original building at Oconee.

Again Oconee was established in 1935.

It was built by Civilian Conservation Corps.

Each stone laid by hand, each timber cut by hand and still stands here today.

It sits right on the edge of our lake.

It's also the housing for the spill way that feeds from our main lake.

But then also we provide our movies at night.

We do movies at night here at the park, we'll actually do it right beside here at the bath house and the lake.

It's very much a traditional park, which is where we have the slogan of experience, the tradition of Oconee because families have been coming here for years.

They've been coming with their grandparents and their parents and now their parents.

And they've been coming here for decades together as families.

♪ [relaxing music] ♪ Devil's Fork State Park was established in 1991.

It's one of our newer state parks here in South Carolina.

It is the only access to Lake Jocassee for the general public.

♪ [relaxing music] ♪ Here at Devil's Fork State Park we have 20 mountain villas.

There are 15 two bedrooms and 5 three bedroom available for reservations all year round.

They come supplied with all your basic cooking supplies that you may need and your basic linens and things like that.

There's also a wood burning fireplace in most of them.

Some of them we are actually upgrading to our gas fireplace.

Our villas are available year round and up to 13 months in advance currently.

Every weekend we are pretty much well booked.

So if you really want to get that perfect view of Lake Jocassee we go ahead and suggest you make that reservation 13 months in advance.

There is some development around Lake Jocassee, so you do have some private homes over here.

They'll be some private homes towards the Back Creek Project.

Really once you get out into the rivers of Jocassee, it's just pristine wilderness, no development you feel by yourself and even though the park may be at capacity the lake is not at capacity.

It's about three quarters of a mile, a mile to get from the remote ramps to this overnight bowed in sites.

Along this bed, there are sites.

This row-bed there are sites and there's 13 currently.

We'll actually expand that to 25 sites.

They're very rustic and for those who are looking for that premium experience of being by themselves and away from the hustle and bustle of the city life.

This is one way of really doing it.

It's springtime and in South Carolina that means NASCAR time.

A few years back, we traveled to Darlington to visit with a man who has spent his professional career at the center of two of the state's wildly popular sports.

His name is Kerry Tharp.

[Car engines roaring and crowd cheering] >> Most sports are similar.

[Car engines roaring and crowd cheering] Such a passionate fan base.

Really, when I got involved with NASCAR it really reminded me of a Big Bowl weekend.

[crowd cheers and horn fanfare] Well, I was working in Sports Information at the University of Oklahoma and I got a phone call one day by from a guy named Sid Wilson.

He had an opening at South Carolina and he gave me a call.

And there was just something about the university, Columbia, the state of South Carolina that just really attracted me.

I took that job in 1985 and I've been here ever since.

Well, I was there for 20 years 1985 to 2005.

And I can honestly say it was a blessing.

And I fell in love with the university and although I didn't go to school there, I consider myself a Gamecock.

You know, there was a lot of things that went on with the university here in that 20 year period.

You know we joined the Southeastern Conference in the early 90s that certainly was a landmark.

I'll never forget the press conference we had up on the stadium ramp that night when Roy Kramer, from the SEC was there and extended our bid officially.

And in getting into the SEC was just a really great thing for the school.

I think both athletically and academically.

You know, I can say that I was able to work with some Hall of Fame coaches, that's Lou Holtz and Steve Spurrier.

And I had the opportunity to work with both of them.

And that was cool to be able to work with two legends like that, They were both unique, both different and yet they did great things for not only for the program but for the university and the state of South Carolina.

I had the opportunity to work with Eddie Fogler.

We won a SEC Basketball Championship, went to a couple NCAA tournaments with him.

And you know Ray Tanner.

I was there when we hired Ray.

I was on the little committee that got together and we actually, you know, were the ones that hired Ray Tanner.

And so the people at the university, the people within the athletics program are really second to none.

I had a dear friend I went to school with at the University of Tennessee that was working with NASCAR at the time.

He contacted me back in 2005.

One thing led to the next and they had a position open in the NASCAR office in Charlotte, and I told him initially, I said 'I don't even like NASCAR.

I don't follow it 'I don't understand it and I just don't think it 'would be a good fit'.

He said, "Well, listen".

He said, "You know sports.

You know people.

"Why don't you come down to Daytona and check it out."

I spent pretty much all day there meeting people, learning as a much as I could about the sport and so forth and so.

I'll never forget.

I got home that night in Columbia.

And my wife said, "So, what did you think?".

I said, 'Well, Debbie, I don't know what I saw, but it was cool.'

You know I just saw something that I'd never seen before, the access the excitement, the enthusiasm, you know, the whole deal.

And so, I took that job and that was in 2005 and I've been involved with the sport ever since.

There's no question that when you think about Darlington Raceway, you think about one of the iconic sports venues, not only in the state but certainly in NASCAR.

It's kind of like the Wrigley Field of NASCAR.

We might not be the prettiest.

We might not be the fanciest, but I think we're the coolest racetrack out there.

And I think if you took a poll among the drivers certainly they want to win the Daytona 500, but I tell you what, right behind that Daytona 500 is that Bojangles Southern 500.

They want to win this race and win it bad.

And so the support that we receive from people in the state, from the governor on down, we are the home racetrack of South Carolina.

We don't have professional sports in this state.

We're blessed to have the Heritage down at Hilton Head, the tennis tournament in Charleston and then we got Darlington.

And so I tell people and I believe this with all my heart, particularly in the fall of the year in the state of South Carolina, there's two passions.

That's college football and Darlington Raceway.

And so for us to be a part of that equation is very, very cool.

You know we've got that throw back platform now.

Back on Labor Day that's where we need to be.

We're going to stay on Labor Day.

We're going to continue the throwback.

And we want to continue to be one of the crown jewels in the sport of NASCAR.

It has been a change, but I will say this.

My training in college sports, my training at NASCAR I think was great training for what I'm doing now and being able to be in and stay in the state of South Carolina has been just almost too good to be true.

For more stories about our state and more details on the stories you've just seen, do visit our website at PalmettoScene.org.

And of course don't forget to follow us on social media, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

It's @SCETV #PalmettoScene.

We leave you tonight, with a segment from our ETV digital series, Go For It.

As we visit another hidden gem, Hunting Island State Park near Beaufort, South Carolina.

For all of us here at Palmetto Scene, I'm Beryl Dakers.

Good night.

Stay strong and thanks for watching.

♪ [upbeat music] ♪ <Devyn Whitmire> Five miles of pristine South Carolina beaches, thousands of acres of marsh and maritime forests, a saltwater lagoon and an ocean inlet.

Any ideas where I am today?

I'll bet a state park didn't come to mind.

Hunting Island State Park is in Beaufort, South Carolina and it is easily one of South Carolina's most popular.

And with these views it's easy to see why.

And speaking of views you might recognize Hunting Island from some of your favorite movies and TV shows like Forrest Gump and most recently Netflix's Outer Banks.

But, besides it's beauty Hunting Island offers so many activities and opportunities for adventure.

Are y'all ready to go explore?

Let's go for it!

♪ [upbeat music] ♪ This is Megan Maule.

She is the interpretive Park Ranger here at Hunting Island State Park and, I mean, what a beautiful office you have.

I mean, my goodness!

So I know that you're here at Hunting Island but can you tell us a little bit about South Carolina State Parks as a whole?

<Megan> Sure, we have 47 state parks.

They range from the mountains to the Midlands to the coast where you guys are today, obviously.

You're on the beautiful coast of South Carolina and you're looking at about 3,000 acres of salt marsh behind you.

Down here you can go crabbing, you can go fishing, you can go kayaking.

<Devyn> So you mentioned crabbing.

<Megan> I did.

>> Do you think that's something that we can try today?

>> Absolutely!

<Devyn> Let's go for it!

♪ [soft music] ♪ <Megan> The idea is to set it on the bottom and as you can see the crabs are able to come in there and eat whatever you have.

Today it is chicken necks.

<Devyn> Mmm.

Delicious, >> Delicious.

Yes.

So why do you think we'd want to tie it in instead of just leave it?

<Devyn> I guess so that they would have to stay.

and they can take it and get out.

<Megan> Correct, so blue crabs, they are scavengers so the stinker the bait, actually the better because they like stinky stuff.

So, if you can stand it, you can leave these chicken necks out in the sun and let them get really ripe and they will love it.

Alright, so you have your chicken necks tied in.

<Devyn> Okay.

<Megan> You want to make sure you have a weight on there which I've already done for you.

But you want to make sure that this is on the bottom and that it stays like that.

If you have it up like this, the crab won't be able to get in there.

<Devyn> So we're just going to hike it over the side?

<Megan> Yep, you're going to - <Devyn> Any particular spot?

<Megan> So as you can see over here you can, this area is pretty free from oysters so you can just toss it over.

[giggles nervously] ♪ <Devyn> Ooooh, oh, they're big!

<Megan> Yep.

<Devyn> Hey [laughs] ♪ [upbeat music] ♪ >> Y'all, right behind me is the Hunting Island lighthouse.

It is one of the only publicly accessible lighthouses in the state and I had never climbed it before.

So, let's go for it!

♪ [upbeat music] ♪ I feel so tiny.

♪ [upbeat music] ♪ Y'all, take a look around.

How blessed are we in South Carolina that this is a state park that you can come and visit, and it's not the only one.

We have state parks across every region of our state that offer all kinds of activities and opportunity for fun, So, whether you are a mountain hiking person, or island time is more your speed, there's a park for you, and who knows, you might be inspired to visit them all and then you can become an ultimate outsider.

No matter what kind of adventure you're interested in, just go for it!

♪ [upbeat music] ♪