I work on top of Hogback Mountain, which is a more prominent peak of the Blue Ridge Mountains, as seen above, center. It is located in Northern Greenville County in SC and has been the site of WSPA-TV's transmitter since 1963 when the two-story facility was built. The elevation is 3211' above mean sea level. One point near the top is where three large tracts of land meet serving as watersheds for the city of Greenville, the town of Landrum, which are both in SC, and the town of Tryon, NC.
I really enjoy the remoteness of the site and the many interesting things to see along the road as I travel up and down the mountain. I like the winter season best as the absense of leaves on the trees affords better views than at any other time. Of course winter gives the opportunity for snow, although rare it seems, which can make for an interesting ride up the mountain. I keep two sets of chains in the vehicle at all times and sometimes have to use the winch mounted on the front to pull downed trees out of the road, or me back into the road.
Spring begins the ever anticipated cycle of flowers which last through the summer. As I make my way along the road, I stop and take snapshots of the latest specimens each year and every year they seem brand new to me holding the same excitement as the year before. I can't help myself.
Fall has its own beauty as the leaves change color and the cool crisp winds start to clear the hazy skys of summer. Like some of the spring flowers, the leaves seem to change overnight and with a sudden drop of the temperature and gusty wind, fall to the ground before you know it.
It's a beautiful area here in the Southern Blue Ridge Mountains seeing such changes happen before your eyes over the period of a year. I benefit by traveling it often enough to see more of the gradual change than the average person. The other huge benefit is traveling only 20 miles from home to the top of Hogback while making an elevation change of over 2000 feet. This allows one to see the changes of spring and fall over a much longer time period. What has come and gone at home is just starting on Hogback in the spring. And in the fall, the leaves on Hogback are several weeks ahead, turning color long before those at the lower elevations.
Snow is usually more abundant on Hogback and since it is generally around 10 degrees colder on average, the snow stays around longer. This year of 2010 has been interesting as there has been a measurable amount on the ground since the first snow storm on December 18th, 2009.
Click on My Photography to see some of my work and click on the link on that page to view and have the option of purchasing prints. Thanks for your interest and enjoy.
I recommend these links of interest regarding the area around Hogback:
Squire of Dark Corner
Tryon Daily Bulletin
Update:
Much of my concentration in 2009 was focused on overseeing the rebuilding of the main tower on Hogback. The winter storm on March 1st of 2009 proved to be more than the tower could withstand. I preface the following as only my opinion: We received over two inches of rain before the snow started that Sunday afternoon and the temperature hovered right at 31 degrees at the base of the tower as the rain fell. It seemed as if the temperature was colder the higher up the tower you went, causing the ice on the tower to vary from one half inch at the base to around 3 inches thick toward the top. This frozen rain with all its jagged edges coupled with the strong North wind toppled the 456 foot tower. When we used to have a weather station, the wind would regularly reach 60 plus miles per hour. There are several recordings of 80 to 100 plus readings from the past and I feel like this was probably the range the March 1st storm reached. The tower was not designed for this combination, which is a rare occurance. The snow started after the tower fell at 2:23pm, Sunday March 1st, 2009. It took 8 months to rebuild the facility.
It seems that much of this year has been spent trying to schedule contract work around snow events. The road has been covered with ice, sleet or snow most of the time. The big ice event of February 4th and 5th snapped many trees, treetops and power lines. It took many hours to clear the road to Hogback for vehicular traffic, and chains on all four tires were needed due to the near 8 inches of frozen mix.