Horry County High Point Trip Report
Date: January 2002
Author: Ken Oeser
I studied this one on old and new topos before leaving home, and there weren't hash marks on either to show
it as a depression, while some other areas do have hash marks. Also, marked 110 foot contours near the
questionable spot rise out of surrounding 100 foot swamps, so why couldn't a small 120 foot spot rise out of
a 110 foot swamp?
From Bayboro (marked by signs) on SC410, drive west on a paved road about 1.5 miles to a small park with
a ball field on the left side of the highway. Drive another 300 feet or so to a yellow sign marking the
upcoming curve and park here.
We scouted the road that goes northeast to the mystery contour from the curve for the fence or whatever is
shown on Terraserver, but couldn't see a sign of anything going that direction. There is a sign and gate,
which was open, that the land is owned by International Paper Company, and that it is monitored for illegal
dumping and wood cutting. There are now trees on the west side of this road, so several things could have
changed since the 1994 Terraserver photos.
From the sign, we hiked due north across partly open swamp which was completely dry. Small swamp
drainages are constantly crossed in this hike. After about 500 feet, we hit thick swamp vegetation and had
to break dead limbs and crawled underneath at some points rather than fight it. It wasn't much different than caving!
There were several briars with nice thorns, and a couple got me before I got them, but it wasn't bad
compared to some of those blackberry patches I've been through in the southeast. We found a couple of
high spots after a couple hundred feet more, on opposite sides of a larger drainage area, and continued north.
About 200-300 feet further, we found another higher area which had no swamp drainages in a small area.
This area had a fallen tree which I walked along for 40 feet and looked around. Also in this area was a
raised area of ground near a large pine tree that rose about 4 feet above the surrounding area, and here we
left a small marker for those who follow in our footsteps.
We used two compasses to make sure we didn't stray from our direct route to the contour. I constantly
checked east and west for any higher ground, but nothing is significantly higher. I think rather than a
discernible hill, this is no more than a 1-3 foot higher area than the surrounding area in the 110+ contour.
If the road sign is at 112 or 114, that still means only a total gain of 6-10 feet over several hundred feet,
so nothing is obvious. We just headed north and I walked a grid between 750 and 1000 feet for higher ground
and directed the others to whatever seemed highest along the route. We eventually got within about 300
feet of the tree line shown on the north side of the swamp on Terraserver, and were satisfied that we had
gone far enough.
Following the broken bush limbs, foot and knee prints, and using our compasses, we followed our route the
way we came until we hit the 'open' area for the last 500 feet or so before the road. Darkness wasn't far behind,
and we headed toward Charleston for the night.
Again, there wasn't a hill, but neither was there a depression (which would likely be marked by more
drainages or even some standing water), and I am counting it until there is good reason for me to not count it.
Maybe someday they will harvest the trees and we can take several sightings on the area to see if there is
an obvious rise, but then again they may level it if it only rises a couple of feet higher than the surrounding
swamp and barely reaches 120 feet, which is my belief. Others feel free to go check for yourselves.