A kick in the Sassafras

  SASSAFRAS MOUNTAIN, S.C. - At 3,560 feet elevation, it's the high point of South Carolina. And I climbed it.
  You want the truth? OK, but I can't handle the truth. I drove within 0.2 miles of the summit, parked in a huge lot and walked up a decaying asphalt path to the top. The land at the top was recently purchased by the state to protect it from possible development.
  The fun came in trying to find a way to the top. Sure, I could have done some advance work and read how to do it on the Internet, but what fun would that have been?

Kudzu, the great scourge

  ROCKY BOTTOM, S.C. - I'm still discovering the extent of the spread of this vine introduced from Japan in the 20th century.
   Kudzu is everywhere in the Southeast, and can take over fields, poles, trees and even trailers, as seen in the accompanying photo. So far there has been no good method developed to control its growth. It was officially listed as a weed nearly 40 years ago.

  Used as far back as the 1930s for erosion control in the U.S., kudzu now covers about 7 million acres in the Southeast and spreads more than 100,000 acres per year.