Calhoun Falls, Where There Are No Actual Falls

We didn't plan on hiking when we took our little trip to Calhoun Falls, SC. We planned on seeing some falls. The joke was on us when we found out there weren't any actual fall in Calhoun Falls, SC. It seems like this would be apparent when you looked it up online. Phil had looked it up before we went and we both looked it up when we got back and could not find where it tells anywhere that there are no longer any falls in Calhoun FALLS, SC. Apparently when the Savannah river was dammed the falls were lost in favor of the new lake it created.
Anyway, I have never seen a more desolate road as I have going to Calhoun Falls. The town leading up to it are just completely dying. One called Willington  had some beautiful old houses and buildings but only a few brick buildings (and by few I mean like two or three) made up the main street and they were abandoned. There were beautiful old churches all shuttered and closed. Also a town called Mt. Caramel was in the same state. Gorgeous old mansion houses but only one business in town and that was a furniture store. There were also some nice old farms but most were in a state of disrepair. I tried to get a picture of one farm that had a huge brick silo with no roof and a huge tree growing out the top of it, but I was unable to get the picture fast enough as we passed. I bet it hadn't been used in over a 100 years to get that big a tree growing out of it.
I really loved the countryside. I would love to live there but it was sad too because I wondered how you could live there without traveling forever to find work.
Now Calhoun Falls does have a state park which is where we ended up. It is a lot like the park we have here on the lake right by the house except it is larger and has tennis courts. It has a swimming area and camp sites and picnic sites. It is also all in a bit of disrepair. We were there on a Sunday and there were maybe 3 other cars that we saw in there which is probably why it is in disrepair. We are having the same problem with the park we have by the house, it isn't getting used enough to pay for its upkeep anymore.
So we had gotten out and drove all that way there and we wanted to do something and they had a few "nature trails".  I am a bit sceptical when it comes to "trails" here in the South. Being from New Hampshire, I find the woods here aren't all that nice. They just aren't the same kind of pretty. I find myself missing home more and more.

The first part of the trail was promising as I saw a deer right off. Phil missed it but I saw it running away from us. Unfortunately, she was way too fast to get a picture.

There were these little bridges across ditches where water used to run. The boards under your feet on this one moved and the railings on one I went across just leaned way back on me.

Here are a couple of pictures of the lake on one spot of the trail where you could get to the lake by just stepping off a few feet.

This was actually a very steep downhill on the side of the trail but it doesn't look like it from the picture.

There were other trails but the good podiatrist I went to here was not able to fix my foot....well he could but he couldn't fix it with anything my insurance would cover so by the time I was done with my 1.75 miles my feet, ankles and knees were killing me, plus it was pretty darn hot by then so that was enough. That was it for our little day trip to South Carolina. It was pleasant but not exactly a trip we will repeat.