Fourth of July walk along the Ashley River Trail 7 '22

 

 Bruce and I have  both had our fill of unpacking boxes and have decided that that we want to celebratethe Fourth of July by spending the day  enjoying our new home and community.  So to celebrate,  we decided to take a walk along the Ashley River ,   Dorchester and Charleston Counties  have built a series of Public Parks along  the Ashley River  to provide acces to the river for picnicking, boating, and fishing.  A network of river bank trails connects these parks.

The nearest of these Parks is just two blocks awayfrom our front door  at  the edge of our housing development.  But that park was already crowded with  picnicers celebrating the Fourth Of July, so we opted to drive to the next  nearest River  Park with is only a few miles away off of Dorchester Blvd.  

That Park is more oriented less towards picnicers and more toward  kayakers and other small craft.   We pulled into a large parking lot that had four picnic pavillions lining the north side of the lot  and  a boat launch on either end of the lot.  The parking area and the pavilions were nearly empty except  for  lot of cars with small boat trailers .  Everyone was already out on the water. 

View of the Ashley River from a Picnic Pavillion

 That gave us a chancce to enjoy a cool drink while taking in a view of the river rolling by  while we watch a small sail boat being  launched from the nearby ramp..

Sailboat being launched.

On the South side of the parking lot, we found an entrance to one of the Ashley River walking trails.  

The cool shaded path along the green river bank offered a welcome respite from the oppressive summer heat.  

Bruce was especially appreciative  that the trail was paved 

which assured he had a safe even path to walk on.

The walking  trail stayed pretty close to the bank of the river.  I've never had any experience with rivers environments so I  enjoyed being able toget close enough to really study both the river and the micro-climate habitat it supports

Every so often the river would take a turn away from us and the path ahead of us would widen out into a vast  green field of cattail and other reeds. 

 

The trail continued on through the wetland on a raised boardwalk keeping us high and dry.

Where the river turned to rejoin the path, a large fishing pavilion had been installed. 

The Pavillion also functioned as a nicely shaded rest stop where we could take in the views of other habitats before crossing the river and looping back to the lot where we had parked our car.