Colleton and Little Pee Dee State Parks, South Carolina

Wednesday, April 8, 2015

Greg booked a two night reservation for us at Colleton State Park. We needed someplace to stay for the Easter weekend. Everything was booked up elsewhere, so we drove north to the small 35 acre park not too far off of I-95 in South Carolina. The campground was full as we pulled in. The toad had to be unhitched before we could back into the site. It didn't take long, but I expect Greg will get faster at it as we will need to do this in most places from now on. Unless we find a rare pull-though site, we can't back up with the toad hitched-up, so this is our new routine.

Colleton Campsite on the bluff above the Edisto River

The park sits along the Edisto River that flows to the Atlantic Ocean. It is the longest unimpeded blackwater river in North America. It truly is black as it carries the richness of the swamps of the Low Country out to sea. We hiked along the river and back through the woods. It didn't take long to explore the park because it's small. It's main attraction is as a put-in and pull-out for canoers and kayakers.

The boardwalk to the canoe launch

23 miles of blackwater to canoe down to the next state park

We spent the one full day and two nights there catching our collective breaths after the stress of our Jacksonville “hitch” visit. The first night it cooled down and we slept under the down comforter for the first time since we returned south. Spring is just beginning in South Carolina, and after spending the week in summery Florida, with full foliage, it was refreshing to see the bright green leaves starting on the trees, and the flowering bushes and trees. The only downside was that there was a busy, noisy US 15 crossing the bridge over the river just below us. Also the gunshots just off the property on Sunday morning were a bit disturbing. “Let's go fire our guns for Jesus. It's Easter!”

By Monday morning Greg had secured us two nights at the Little Pee Dee State Park a few hours north up I-95. We debated grabbing a cancellation at Myrtle Beach State Park, but decided that a full campground with hundreds of families on Spring Break, wasn't worth the extra expense, so we drove to the quieter, cheaper Little Pee Dee. Good Choice! The weekend crowds are gone and we are camped on one of South Carolina's famous inland “Bays”. This part of the state has numerous small bodies of water formed in depressions running northwest to southeast. It remains a geological mystery how they formed. The only consistent origin hypothesis by geologists since the 1930's has been Pleistocene-age meteorite impacts but the recent mineral evidence does not support this. No other geologic hypothesis has better supporting evidence, so the origin of the Carolina Bays remains a mystery. Anyway, for us it makes a nice lake to enjoy camping along.

Little Pee Dee camp

We were frequently inspected by very critical supervisors!

Our view of Norton Lake in the Bay

The Beaver Pond - a more overgrown part of the Bay

We decided to stay a third night and tried to find someplace to pay. Apparently the State Park Superintendent quit on Good Friday, and left his assistant to work the busy weekend, and the rest of the week alone. The assistant took off after the weekend for a few days leaving the office locked up tight. Greg talked to the campground hosts, who are living in a pop-up camper, rare for full-timers, and found out they volunteered to be hosts just last Friday when the ranger quit. They decided to help out. They took our payment, so we aren't freeloading.

One of the nature trails

Dogwoods blooming everywhere!

Wisteria running wild

Yesterday we walked through the campground and along the lake. Then we walked the Beaver Dam Nature Trail. Nice 1.5 mile walk through the piney woods that took us along a swampy, marshy area with some “frisky” ducks, after all it is Spring! Didn't see any evidence of beavers. There are ducks and geese on the lake being equally noisy and frisky. There's a pair of mallards that wander through our site looking for handouts. Yesterday we started hearing a loud growly sound and realized that it is mating season for alligators and we are hearing one or several all day and night bellowing across the lake.

The spillway for the small earthdam

Looking up the length of Norton Lake

We had rain yesterday afternoon and last night. The sun is out now, but the rain has spiked the humidity. Greg unracked his bike and took off for a ride. I am sitting here wondering how we could drive this far north from Florida and still have 80's and high humidity. Tomorrow we drive a few hours to the Greensboro, North Carolina area and get to be grandparents while our daughter and son-in-law attend a wedding. The only campground in the area is on a golf course. Guess we'll be living in a gated, golf course community for a few days. So “chi-chi”!