Jim Welch and Jan Ciegler, members of the Greater Piedmont Chapter of the Explorers Club, on the Awendaw Passage. Members of the Greater Piedmont Chapter of the Explorers Club continued their quest on January 10 to hike all sections of the Palmetto Trail. This time they attacked the southernmost passage of the mountains to the sea trail, the Awendaw Passage.

The weather was perfect with blue skies and temperatures in the high 60s. Explorers Jan Ciegler, Sandra Bryan, Jim and Ceille Welch, and friends Ken Ernest, Tom Copeland, and John Fiegle set out from the Buck Hall Recreation Area on the Intracoastal Waterway. The seven- mile hike took them along bluffs high above the calm waters of Awendaw Creek, across several boardwalks in the marsh, and into great live oak and magnolia maritime forests.

The Explorer Club members have now completed nine passages for a total of 87 miles of the planned 425- mile Palmetto Trail. So far, 290 miles of the trail have been completed through a myriad of natural areas from the ocean to the mountains around Oconee State Park. The Palmetto Trail is one of only 16 cross state trails in the U.S.