March 6-8 South Carolina Adventure Route 2026

We have discussed this trip a few times at the meeting.

Saturday: Meet up in Harleyville on I-26 @9:00AM at the Shell at Exit 177 and ride the SCAR counterclockwise toward I-77 along the Northeast Route.



Stay in Florence at the Comfort Inn & Suites

Comfort Inn & Suites Florence Center Area
527 Woody Jones Blvd, Florence, SC 29501
https://maps.app.goo.gl/Di7WNa1j6hxpQESD8

Sunday: Hop back on the trail and head back toward Columbia. Go as long as we dare.


The South Carolina Adventure Route (SCAR) loops through approximately 1,000 miles of rural South Carolina. Follow it, and you will see mountains, ocean, forests, countryside, state parks, historical sites, and quaint towns--all on a mix of paved and un-paved public roads (approximately 55%/45%). The SCAR also connects to the Smokey Mountains 500, the Georgia Traverse, and the Trans-America Trail (TAT), providing TAT riders with an additional rural coast-to-coast option. SCAR GPS files (.gpx tracks) are available on the "Download" page of this site.

https://www.scadventuresroute.com/interactive

The whole family won't be able to make this one, but me and maybe Bennett could. We'll have to see closer to time.

I've updated the first post to cover the hotel change we discussed at the meeting last night.

Looking to stay in Florence Saturday night. I've listed two hotel options if yall want to dig into those or if you have another request.

I saw others that were more convenient to our route, but the reviews were terrible.

Just booked our room at the Comfort Inn for this trip.

Expedia is a little cheaper than direct through the hotel.

I think Eddie booked through Booking.com

Comfort Inn & Suites Florence Center Area
527 Woody Jones Blvd, Florence, SC 29501
https://maps.app.goo.gl/Di7WNa1j6hxpQESD8

Arlene and I will be riding along and staying at Comfort Inn.

I assume you meant Harleyville for the meet up spot on Sat morning? I might be able to make it for the ride on Sat, but may have to bail out that evening and head home. Likely will be celebrating our son's birthday on Sunday....

We're not going to make it. Nora wants me to shoot in the parents match at the archery tournament...

"Dead Eye Nora"! Good luck to you both

Looks like we will still have a decent group. I need to check with miller.

We will meet at Exit 177 at the shell station here:

Unfortunately, I had something come up that is going to keep me from coming. Have fun and be safe!

Boo! Hope you can join us next time.

I need to get a head count of those driving this weekend.

Brooks
Hugh
Eddie
David
Miller
Scott
Kris

Who else said they were going?

Plans have changed once again. I will be able to make it! Lauren and Scott will also be coming!

Kris!

Is Eddie Ed & Stacy?

Yes, Ed and Stacy are still joining (and he goes by Eddie most of the time…he is Ed to me 🤣). See you tomorrow!

Looks like a good group, See yall tomorrow!

Please plan to pack a lunch for Saturday. We may end up somewhere you can get food, but I'm not sure yet. It is likely we will be stopping along the route at a park.

Thanks y'all...sorry we split off early Saturday-I was going cross-eyed dodging pot holes, and then boogied Sunday due to the church fire. Had a great time, good to see familiar faces!

Thanks to everyone who came out — we had a great ride.


We got rolling from Harleyville around 9:30 Saturday morning and headed counterclockwise on the SCAR. I had downloaded the latest SCAR route and offline maps to my phone so we’d be set, though I also still had an older version saved in my GAIA GPS app. The day was mostly uneventful in the best way, with some really interesting scenery along the way. There was definitely a stretch through Francis Marion National Forest that was pretty rough with potholes, but after that the roads smoothed out. We ran into a few muddy ruts here and there, but nothing too serious.




At one point we passed a guy grading the roadside ditches with a box blade on a tractor, filling in some of the ruts. That section was extremely dry and dusty except where he had pulled some muck up onto the road. I remember thinking this must be the area where I’d seen photos of a few stuck Jeeps on the SCAR, and we felt pretty lucky that it was so dry. We wrapped up the day with dinner at King Jefe Taco Bar in Florence before calling it a night at the Comfort Inn.





Sunday morning we started the day with a stop at the Florence Buc-ee’s for some fresh breakfast burritos and tots, then got back on the trail. The plan was to keep heading counterclockwise toward I-77 and see how far we could make it. About an hour in we came across a road closed sign pushed off to the shoulder while the road itself looked freshly graded. We figured it must have been an old sign.



About two miles later we realized it probably wasn’t. The road wasn’t technically closed, but it might as well have been unless you were in a SXS with tractor tires. The Jeeps managed to skirt along the edge, but David’s Tundra got sucked in and ended up door-deep. I was able to turn around and winch him out, and then we had to decide whether to keep pushing forward or head back. Around that time I realized my phone had switched us over to the older SCAR route on GAIA whenever it went to sleep. Turns out we had wandered right into the section that had been removed from the current route — and we were already in the thick of it. So we turned around, worked our way back to the main route, and kept moving.


We stopped for lunch around 1:30 at a picnic shelter, then headed back toward Chapin via US-1 through Camden.


All in all it was a great trip and a cool way to see a different side of South Carolina from the backroads. Thanks again to everyone who came along.