The office of South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford late Monday cleared up a mystery, and growing concerns, about the sudden disappearance of the governor since last week. After four days of questions that even Sanford's wife could not answer, aides said the Republican had been hiking on the Appalachian Trail.

According to the State, Sanford left the governor's mansion last Thursday in a black Suburban SUV used by his bodyguards. His last known location was near Atlanta, where a cell site received a signal from one of his mobile phones. Since that time, his phones have been switched off.

State Sen. Jake Knotts on Saturday had expressed concerns "about succession of power," but Sanford's office on Monday said the governor "is taking some time away from the office this week to recharge after the stimulus battle and the legislative session, and to work on a couple of projects that have fallen by the wayside. We are not going to discuss the specifics of his travel arrangements or his security arrangements."

Later the same day, a spokesman, Joel Sawyer, said the governor was hiking along the Appalachian Trail.

The 48-year-old Sanford had grabbed national attention early this month when the state Supreme Court ruled against him and he lost his battle to reject, or use to pay off state debts, $700 million in federal stimulus money.

He had declared in March that he was refusing the stimulus money following two rejections from the White House. He had written President Barack Obama twice to ask permission for him to use $700 million of the $2.8 billion in stimulus funds for South Carolina to lower the state deficit.

South Carolina tops southeastern states in per capita debt.

He later wrangled with state lawmakers, who wanted to include the stimulus money in the state's $5.7 billion budget. He vetoed the budget in May, but lawmakers subsequently voted to override him.

The South Carolina Association of School Administrators and former S.C. Democratic Party Chairman Dick Harpootlian then filed separate lawsuits with the state Supreme Court asking that the governor be directed to accept the money, which the White House has allocated for education reforms such as pre-K-to-college-and-career data systems, tougher college and career-ready standards, and improvements in the quality and distribution of teachers.

Sanford had attempted to transfer the suit filed by school administrators to federal court, but a federal judge ordered both suits back to the state Supreme Court.

Obama had signed the stimulus plan, or American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), into law in February amid Republican criticisms and declarations from several GOP governors, that they would refuse the $100 million for federal unemployment assistance in the stimulus for their states because they would be forced to raise taxes on employment when the stimulus money runs out.

Sanford is the first governor to try to reject the funds through legal action. He has complied with the court ruling and does not plan to appeal.