Beech Hill Trail Bridge Repair at Walterboro Wildlife Sanctuary

City Of Walterboro Parks Crew at Beech Hill Trail Bridge

Exploring the Walterboro Wildlife Sanctuary just got a little bit more interesting, with restored access to the Beech Hill trail. Readers may recall a report from December sharing how winter viewing in the swamp is much improved with the leaves off the trees. Also in the report was how part of the bike path was closed due to regular maintenance repairs to the boardwalk. The Beech Hill Bridge repairs are now complete and City of Walterboro Parks Director Ryan McLeod wants Colletonians to hike into and enjoy the interior Beech Hill loop.

            

On a cool February morning, with 50-degre temperatures and light cloud cover, I met up with McLeod and Parks Superintendent Riv Temple near the Beech Hill Trail. The closest parking option is the kayak launch parking lot at Jeffries Blvd. and Ivanhoe Road, right by the new sign for the Walterboro Wildlife Sanctuary. A short walk along the wide shoulder on Ivanhoe, provides a safe path to the Beech Hill trail, which has is paved to improve bike riding. It’s less than a half-mile walk to the Beech Hill Bridge, but what anyone can see is that the swamp begins to change over into a climax forest that remains in pristine condition.

            

“We are excited to say that the Beech Hill Bridge is back open,” said McLeod. “The work we did here is part of a new maintenance plan where each section of the boardwalk will be checked on a 5-year rotation. One thing that is different from the past is that we used screws in the wood repair, which will allow easier access in the future for spot repairs. The old plan of using nails is a little more haphazard since nails can pop up under seasonal temperature stress to the wood.”

To view the entire feature article in the newspaper click on Colletonian.

To view past blog entries from the Walterboro Wildlife Sanctuary click on Wet Winter Weather 

To view past blog entries about hardwood bottomlands click on Congaree National Park - Hunting Wood Ducks - Hunting Wild Turkey 

To view past blog entries about trees click on Laurel Oak Disease - Dendrochronology