July 15, 2013 Harbison State Forest: Lost in a Fairy Circle

I dropped off James at Soccer Camp, a little boy sitting beside his water, his snack kit and ball and was reminded of dropping off his father at Clemson long ago and even longer ago the memory of being a small girl at Girl Scout Camp at the scorching hot Police Camp where bullying big girls ruled the scene.

Harbison State Forest was nearby.  You can approach from Harbison off I-26, then turn right on Broad River Rd. The entrance comes up right away.  It costs $5.00 to park or $25.00 for an annual permit.
There are over 30 miles of trails in this pine and hardwood greenspace. One side borders the Broad River with a drop in for canoes and kayaks.  In old times, Native Americans walked on trails here to a ford on the Broad river.  Now hikers, cyclists, dog walkers and bird watchers go here, but no horses.

This was the first day in 17 days when it did not rain. The forest is cool, sparkling with dappled sunlight and spangled with spider webs.  The floor is covered with ferns and countless varieties of mushrooms and toadstools, some are a stunning neon orange, others are as big as saucers.  There are tiny delicate white ones like elf or fairy fingers reaching up from the dark earth.  I see that I have stepped inside a fairy circle of mushrooms.  They said that the fairies may cast a spell on a person who intrudes into their circle.  There are certain rituals to break the spell, such as walking backwards around the outside of the circle 3 times in the light of the full moon.

There is a kiosk with maps of the nine intersecting trails, but I cannot figure out where they begin.  I want to take a short one, but instead I find a trail with white blazes and follow that.  I think I will just walk for 30 minutes and then turn around and go back.  I make small cairns of three rocks here and there to mark my way as there are plentiful areas of white stones nearby.  I find I am on the Firebreak trail and see a sign for the Crooked Pine Trail and Verdan Pond which I take to the right.  When I come to the "pond", I see an open area full of tall reedy grass, but no water, and follow the flagstone path around it.  Soon, the tall grass envelopes the path, but I push on through it as I can see a kiosk on the other side.  There, an arrow points to Crooked Pine Trail.  I take it and see no crooked pine unless it is the tree that has fallen across the entrance.
For a long time, I am walking and come to a sign pointing in both directions for the Firebreak Trail again.
I have no idea which one to take so I take the one where I can see light through the trees as opposed to the dark forest.  Suffice it to say that after a long hike, I returned to my car.

I like this forest very much and will return when I have more time to spare. There are trails named Lost Creek, Eagle, Stewardship, Discovery, Midlands Mountain (near the river) and Spider Woman II which has a natural rock garden.

I wonder if my cairns will be there when I return.  I wonder if I was lost under the spell of the fairies and may have to return on the night of the full moon to walk backwards.  Some say that you can wear a hat or a disguise to fool the fairies, or that you can dress completely in green from head to toe so that they cannot see you.