I'on Swamp hike

This afternoon we visited the I'on Swamp and Sewee Visitor Center,  Both of these sites are in the Francis Marion National Forest, about 30 minutes north of Charleston.  We 'hiked' just shy of four miles between the two places.  The Visitor Center was far more interesting - they have three red wolves on site and a nice trail out to see them.  On the trail we also saw a glass lizard, some green anoles, and a velvet ant.  The glass lizard looks a lot like a snake because they don't have legs, but when you look closely the head just looks wrong for a snake.  Beth was with us on the hike and she really doesn't like snakes.  She thought we were just telling her it was a legless lizard so she wouldn't be afraid of it!  Unfortunately, I didn't get a good picture of the lizard, but you can find one online if you really want to see one.

The velvet ant was also really neat, and something I've been trying to get a picture of for a while now (they're really fast!).  They are not ants at all, but wingless wasps (I guess we were on a 'looks like something it's not' theme today).  They're big - about 3/4 to 1 inch long and have another nickname - 'cow killers' - because their bite (or sting, I suppose) is so painful.  They are kind of pretty though, and I was able to get a quick picture before it was off the trail and into the woods.

And of course we saw some green anoles.  They're everywhere here, which I like because they're fun to watch.  This one was pretty small, but not the smallest we've ever seen.  We had one on our mailbox that was shorter than my pinky finger, including it's tail!