Podcasts about francis marion national forest

In the summer of 2005, six fourteen-year-old Boy Scouts from South Carolina set out to prove they were ready for anything. It was supposed to be their final challenge before aging out of the troop—a week-long wilderness survival test in the Francis Marion National Forest, just northeast of Charleston.Their scoutmaster dropped them at a remote trailhead with only the essentials: a map, a compass, and an emergency radio. No adults. No safety nets. Just a simple plan—hike eight miles into the backcountry, set up a primitive camp, and spend a week living off the skills they'd spent years developing. For the first day or so, everything went according to plan. The boys found a quiet clearing by a creek—secluded, serene, and perfect. They pitched their tents, made camp, and laughed about how easy this was going to be.Then came the second night. The woods fell silent—eerily silent. Then came the howls. Deep, resonant, impossible to place. What began as strange noises quickly escalated into something far more sinister. Over the next two nights, the scouts endured a terrifying series of events that shook their confidence and stripped away any sense of safety. Footsteps circled their tents after midnight—heavy, deliberate. Their food bag, strung high in a tree for bear safety, was ripped down like it was nothing. One tent was pushed in by something large enough to leave massive handprints in the fabric. Rocks the size of baseballs were hurled at them from the darkness with enough force to strip bark from nearby trees. A thick, musky odor hung in the air. And through it all, they saw them—huge, hair-covered figures moving just beyond the tree line.The breaking point came on the third night. Seven pairs of glowing eyes appeared around the campfire—eyes at least eight feet off the ground, unmoving, unblinking, and far too intelligent to be mistaken for animals. The message was clear: you don't belong here.At first light, the boys made the call to leave—three days early. But getting out wasn't simple. Whatever was out there followed them the entire hike back. One scout saw a massive figure standing in broad daylight in the middle of a creek—impossible to mistake or explain away. Later, their path was blocked entirely by the largest creature yet, forcing them to cut through dense brush to escape.This is a firsthand account from one of those scouts—now in his thirties—finally breaking the silence on an experience that's haunted all six of them for nearly two decades. Officially, it was just another uneventful primitive campout. But unofficially? It was three days of something stalking them. Watching them. Controlling whether they left… or didn't.They made a pact to keep it quiet, afraid of being laughed at or called liars. But now, for the first time, one of them is telling the truth about what really happened in those woods.This is the real story of what drove six confident Boy Scouts out of the forest—early, terrified, and forever changed.

A recap of our trip to Francis Marion National Forest!

Our guest on this episode of Herpin' Time Radio is Alexander Griffin Bentley who filmed the video 'About Life' while doing research on venomous snakes in the Francis Marion national Forest in South Carolina. Alexander has done a great deal of wildlife research while working with the Amphibian and Reptile Conservancy (ARC) both in the U.S. and in Ecuador. You can watch the video 'About Life' here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUR-8oyL6W8 You can check out the Amphibian and Reptile Conservancy (ARC) here: http://amphibianandreptileconservancy.org/

Jeff Holmes and the Amphibian and Reptile Conservancy (ARC) have been working overtime in the Francis Marion National Forest in South Carolina documenting rare species of reptiles and amphibians. Learn what has been happening here on Herpin' Time Radio. Check out the ARC at: http://amphibianandreptileconservancy.org/

The swampy, cypress-covered Francis Marion National Forest was once an escape route for a controversial figure in America's fight for independence.

Geology Professor Vijay Vulava and College of Charleston Geology Major Lydia Nickolas earned a summer SURF (Summer Undergraduate Research Funding) for their project entitled "Using Water Isotopes and Dissolved Organic Matter to Delineate Groundwater-surface Water Interactions in Low-gradient Watersheds." Southeastern coasts are among fastest growing communities in the United States. In Charleston area, urban land use has increased over 250% between 1973 and 1994 and is predicted to increase by another 200% by 2030. The resulting urbanization and demand for land has led to significant alteration of coastal watersheds and degradation of associated fresh and estuarine water body health. Compounding this problem are the many effects of climate change-related extreme weather patterns -- e.g., large floods caused by moderate storms -- that could have grave consequences for the ecology and people that live here. The overarching goal of our research program is to understand how climate change related precipitation in coastal environments affects the landscape. Over the past four years, we have established a watershed monitoring research site in the Francis Marion National Forest to study how rainfall is processed by watersheds and how streams form in the aftermath of a storm. We have also developed preliminary conceptual models of how rainwater is processed using chemical ion tracer techniques. These conceptual models will serve as a baseline from which to forecast the impact of urbanization and climate change on coastal watersheds. In this study, we propose to use stable isotopes of water and natural organic matter present to improve the conceptual model. These chemical analytes are expected to be transformed as rainwater is infiltrates soil and become part of the groundwater-surface water system. This information will help us develop a more rigorous model that could be applies in all coastal watersheds.