Under a Southern Moon

We have just returned from a stunning full moon paddle on Juniper Lake. We are at Cheraw State Park just outside Cheraw, SC.

I am a member (treasurer, in fact) of the Central Carolina Paddlers out of Sanford, NC. We are a club of about 25 members. This weekend is the annual camp out, the first I have been able to attend. My long time friend, Caroline joined me this weekend for her first paddle experience. It could not have been nicer.

Breakfast!

Cheraw State Park is a creation of the CCC, one of Roosevelt's "alphabet soup" programs that created many of our state and national parks. It is an exceptionally lovely place and important habitat for endangered plants and birds. Our campground is at the edge of Juniper Lake, a body of water about 2.5 miles long ending in an extensive cypress swamp.

We arrived before supper on Friday evening. My tiny rig managed to nab the only pull through campsite while large rigs around me were backing into wooded spaces. We have a great view of the lake AND we are right next to the bath house. Someone is smiling on us for sure. Most club members were staying in cabins across the lake and we arrived just in time to join them for a great hot dog cookout at cabin 7. The rest of the group hit the lake about 8p for the full Harvest Moon. Caroline wisely decided her first kayak experience should be in broad daylight so two happy campers hit the hay.

The next morning we were on the water at 9a. For Caroline's first trip, the setting was pretty spectacular. The morning was overcast and breezy. We paddled the length of the lake and then meandered among the cypress knees. Caroline is a soil scientist who has studied forestry and landscape architecture. She was the soil conservation agent for Chatham County (back when there was such a thing) and my first weaving student in the yarn store I opened in Pittsboro back in the mid 1980s. She currently works as a land management consultant and lives near her family farm in Rutherfordton. It was a treat to have her along as she was quick to identify native plants and animals. We saw herons and pitcher plants and water lilies in bloom.

While we didn't see any ospreys, apparently they are abundant here. It was pretty amazing to see a marker explaining their habits and habitat nailed to a tree smack in the middle of the lake. The endangered Red Cockaded Woodpecker and some 200 other species of birds reside here as well.

In the afternoon (after a generous nap) we drove into Historic Cheraw to explore "the prettiest town in the South". As if the gracious homes, beautifully renovated churches and buildings were not enough, Cheraw is the birthplace of the great Dizzy Gillespie. We visited the park at his
homeplace, found his statue downtown on the town green, and visited with a delightful gift shop proprietress who lives in the former town library--a gracious old home that served Sherman's troops. Apparently, the Yanks fell into some hidden wine and had a munitions accident that leveled much of the old down town, but the restoration of what is left is well worth the visit. And the annual jazz festival in honor of Gillespie sounds like a must-attend.

This evening at 8p, Caroline joined the club for her first night time paddle. The moon was an hour later this evening, but it made a spectacular entrance through the clouds and reflected in the glassy water. It was well worth the wait. Truly a moment of peace on Earth.

The entire weekend has been so special. And the best part of all of it is that Cheraw is only 1.5 hours from home. We will be back.