Sadlers Creek State Park (SC41 – Anderson)

(FYI, I start this post with a few paragraphs of my memories. But if you don’t want to take a trip down Memory Lane with me, scroll down to right before the set of pictures where I describe our visit today. If I may successfully clickbait you…You’ll Never Guess What We Saw!)

After leaving Lake Hartwell State Park, the Beavers + Papa (my dad) drove around to the eastern shore of the lake, ending up at Sadlers Creek State Park, to the west of the city of Anderson.

Having grown up in Anderson County, these roads hold a lot of memories. On the drive between the two state parks, we passed by Portman Marina, where my family would often put in their boat. There’s also a restaurant there where Tiffany had her first and only bite of sushi when we went on a double date with some friends from the camp where we all worked.

We also drove by a house where there used to live a family from the church I attended while I was at Clemson. They would often host game night (and feed me delicious chicken curry!). Tiffany even made it there one time. So much Apples to Apples.

And then…Sadlers Creek itself. The only time I’ve been out here was while geocaching around 17 years ago. At this point, there was a challenge among the Upstate SC Geocachers Association that sent you to the 10 counties of the upstate to find a specific, challenging cache. Doing all 10 would allow you to find the final cache and join the League of Extraordinary Geocachers (L.E.G.).

Well, at Sadlers Creek was the Anderson County cache. It was hidden by a geocacher whom I respect dearly, but he was known for particularly challenging and creative hides. So, I drove all the way out to Sadlers Creek, and my GPS takes me in the middle of the woods, and all I knew was that I was looking for a container about the size of a magnetic hide-a-key. I got stumped, and left the park with a DNF (did not find).

I think I got a little nudge from someone, but whatever the case, I went back to the park a little bit later and realized that there was a stump out in the middle of the woods where my coordinates had led me…except this wasn’t a stump that belonged there. You had to realize that the stump itself could be turned upside down, where the container was hidden. That then led me to a few other containers in the park, and it ultimately was a nice hide.

But today, there was no geocaching in the works for us. We drove through some beautiful woods until we reached the lakeshore. Here, there was a pavilion and a nice playground for the kids to play on.

Now, I’d like to give you an Awareness Test. Below are some pictures from the playground. Click the arrows on the sides to cycle through.

In how many pictures is Teagan holding the upper rail?

The answer is three.

But…did you see the monkey?

(Before you go any further, please go watch this video from back in the day, which was my inspiration for this.)

Yes…I said monkey. No, I don’t mean our little ones were acting like monkeys. An actual monkey. Pay attention to the lady in yellow.

Turns out, this lady had a pet capuchin. The girls got a closer look afterwards, and Tiffany and I talked with her some. Sounds like having a pet monkey is hard work!

Before leaving the park, Tiffany got to show off her mad volleyball skills, even teaching Sage some of the basics.

We drove back to Lake Secession where we ate lunch. After rest time, we did get to enjoy life on the lake, my dad taking us all out for a spin. We saw a great blue heron nest, several turtles, a couple of osprey, and some giant houses that were being built. Click our pics below to prove that we actually did get on the water while visiting all these lakes this weekend! Afterwards, we got some rest, eager to hit three new parks the next day, starting with Calhoun Falls State Park.