roadtripper378330

We stayed here for a long first weekend in November 2023. This was our 2nd camping trip here and our first since they added some FHU sites, which we got.

They have 3 loops, Lake, Wooded and Paved. The paved loop has the FHU sites and 3 FHU buddy sites. Appears they close the lake loop for the winter. It would be challenging getting level in the lake loop sites. Our site, 122, we had to raise the left side of the TT ½ inch to level which isn’t bad. Some of the days are packed in rather close to each other. For FHU sites I would recommend 114, 117, 119 and 120. For non FHU I would recommend 87, 38, 16, 5 or 38.

This park is a hiker’s paradise. There are 7 trails listed, however there are really 8. For some reason they don’t mention the Palmetto Trail. There are also tons of hiking nearby outside of the park. Lots of waterfalls as well. At this time this area is in a drought and the waterfalls may not be worth the effort. For instance, we went to Issaqueena Falls and it was not impressive. We have seen it before when it was impressive.

The bathrooms could use some updating.

All utilities at site were good and placement of them was logical.

The park has a new updated playground along with an older one next to it. They also have the last SC Park miniature golf course.

Nice little store where you check in at. Cell phone service may be an issue. The first time we stayed here we would go to the store and sit on the porch to use the Wi-Fi to plan our day. This trip we had no issues getting cell service with AT&T. While the cell service wasn’t the fastest it was better than a lot of Wi-Fi in hotels we have stayed at.

The nearest town is Walhalla and is a thriving little town. The Oconee Country Museum is worth a visit. I have seen some complaints that there is no shopping nearby. There is a Ingles grocery store about 12 miles away. I consider this close. It is an EXCELLENT grocery store. There is also a Wal-Mart about 18 miles away. There is plenty of shopping within the area.

Table Rock used to be our favorite mountain SP in SC, however Oconee has now taken that spot. Table Rock is an iconic mountain to behold, but Oconee has more to offer in the area. It is a SP in the mountains so be prepared to do some serious leveling. The sites I mentioned above should be doable.

Camped here several years ago. The campground is well maintained. Bathrooms are older, but clean. Bathrooms are heated, in fact, too heated. It was like a sauna and felt hard to breathe. They need to adjust the heat and probably save a lot of money!

They do currently have a handful of FHU sites. Though some of them are quite small. Getting into some sites can be tricky due to large trees.

While we did not do the canoe trail on the Edisto this trip, we have done it in the past and it is well worth it. You can relax and go with the flow of the river just paddling enough to steer.

The Jungle trail is nice; however, it is not currently a loop due to issues from a few years back. There are no signs giving current information about the section of trail that is closed, you just hit a dead end.

The town of Aiken was a very vibrant little town. Worth a visit. Hope Gardens in Aiken is also very much worth a visit.

Our first camping trip of 2024 was at Little Pee Dee SP. This is a small park.

We had what I think was the best site in the campground, site 8. It was on the lake and very private. No sites really close by. This was not a FHU site but there are some FHU sites. The RV sites are 30 amp only. Study the listing of each site as some sites have water only or no hookups at all.

A lot of the utilities are not in a good location, so plan for that. To put the camper in the best location I had to use a 30amp extension for the electricity and two lengths of hoses for the water. A lot of the water taps seem like a quicky setup and prone to damage. In most cases non medal pipes. Not very sturdy. Sites were clean and the host blow them off prior to expected arrivals, which was nice.

The bathrooms were clean and well kept. We did not shower in them, but the shower areas appeared fine.

There is a small office/store that was never open. They did not list any hours in which it would be open. In fact, we never dealt with any staff at all during our visit, not even the camp host. Parking tags were posted on post at the site.

They are building a swimming area. Swimming at our site would not have been good due to plant growth in the water. Fishing from our site would not have been good either due to the plant growth. Site #9 looked like it had a good little fishing area.
The campground is suitable for kids riding their bikes around. The two park trails would also be suitable for bikes, not many roots. The trails were nice. Don’t get overly excited about Beaver Pond. You are not going to see much even in the wintertime. If there were beavers around there was no hint of them, not even tree damage from them.

There are references to a Carolina Bay. There is absolutely no information on where and how to visit it. We found some information doing a Google search and tried to get there and ran into a flooded Little Pee Dee river. The Little Pee Dee for which the park is named is not accessible from the main part of the park. However, the river borders one area of the park. They really need a hiking trail to the river. I imagine boardwalks would be needed as well for when the river is flooded. Interesting that a park is named after a river to which you have no access to. There are a couple sands roads within the park boundary, one of which we attempted to get to the Carolina Bay, but absolutely no signage or information on getting to the river.

The local area really has nothing of interest to explore. Restaurants are limited when you start reading reviews and get the impression that no one serves beer or wine.
We use AT&T and it was suitable for our needs. No connection issues but not fast either. We do not stream.

It is a nice campground. We had a long weekend and that is enough as there isn’t enough around to warrant more time. It is a great place to just hang around and relax. That said, we probably will not go back. We like to go exploring. They do point out that they are close to Myrtle Beach, it is over an hour away, and not worth the drive. If you want a beach day I recommend Sunset Beach, NC. South of The Border is a TOURIST TRAP, stay away!