roadtripper8580221

This was our second time here and will probably not be our last. There are 98 sites with about half of them backing on to South Creek, a tidal blackwater stream which you can kayak down. More sites backup to hiking and biking trails. If you have a big rig pay attention to the site sizes and talk with the rangers. Some sites can be tight. State park website says maximum length is 36 feet. There are a few pull through sites. Our site was very private and we saw plenty of wildlife including our own pet raccoon and heron!

There is a kayak launch from within the park that takes you along South Creek or you can paddle out to the Gulf of Mexico. You can launch your own or rent.

The Legacy Trail is accessible from within the park, and runs north toward Sarasota and south to Venice. You can also pick up the Venetian Waterway Park trail in Venice and continue on to hunt for sharks teeth at Caspersen Beach.

Sand fleas were bad when we were there, but a little bug spray and pants would have taken care of that problem.

There is WiFi at the nature center. (Not sure how good it is though) Bathhouse's are nice but not the new ones some of the FL parks have. There is a washer and dryer at the bathhouse.

Walmart is approximately 4 miles away.

This is a nice park. A LOT of money has been spent on this park, in some areas. The campground bathrooms should be next on their list. They were clean, but could use with updating and replacing falling off tile in showers and power washing of tile. New loo seats would be nice too! Pressure and hot water were good.

Sites: we stayed at 2 different sites. One back in and one pull through. Sewer and electric at most if not all RV sites.

This is a huge campground with monthly campers. There are weekly and monthly prices in winter. If you check online and don’t see spots call the campground. Most sites are not private. Some may have foliage between but generally not.

There are what seemed like new bike paths both asphalt and wood in the park. Water fountains, restrooms and a bike fixit station were available along path. New path signs were installed while we were there.

Some things to know before you go:
•WiFi did not work while we where there. Hosts didn’t seemed surprised.
•The beach is not in the campground. It is across four lane highway. There are pedestrian walkways that will take you over the road. Depending on where your site is it could be up to a approximately mile walk via the board walk.
• Pier pass and parking pass for beach is included with your site.
• The restaurant in the park opened while we were there.
• Recycling except glass
• ice on demand machines
• Laundry room. (Bring your own chairs for comfortable seating.)
• Small camp store but Walmart is close
• Nature Center, horse shoe pit, pool, tennis.
• check the weekly calendar for activities

Cost: There were various fees and taxes applied to our bill. See photo.

We enjoyed Big Beach Brewery.good beer and music.

Small campground with 9 rv electric and water sites. A small “winter view” glimpse of water from some of the sites. Road up to sites is a little narrow and slightly steep. I wouldn’t have thought a big class a could have made it but there was one snuggly backed into a site.
The non electric tent area has 14 sites. They all looked to have newish raised tent pads.
One clean bathroom down hill from rv sites and up hill from tent sites.
Notes:
NO TRASH DISPOSAL! You must carry all your trash out.
The lake trail says easy but it is down hill so up hill on the way back. Just be warned if you have limited mobility or tiny tots.
Two pull through sites
Restaurants we visited:
Victoria Vally Vinyards, wine tasting and lunch.)
Steak House Cafeteria, Walhalla, SC. Meat and three with the Best fried chicken! No steak here.

Three stars because of cost and no online or over phone reservations during COVID-19 restrictions. They earned a star for closing playgrounds and beach.

Stayed at end of March during trip home due to COVID-19. Park looked like it would be a nice place to spend some time. Sites looked to need a little up dating. Electric and water on the curbside of site. Probably very crowded in summer. Looked like there were possibly long term rentals/campers. There was rv storage too which we’ve seen at our only other AL state park, Gulf Shores.
Playgrounds and beach were taped off due to COVID precautions which was good.
We stayed in the back loop without lake view to social distance and have more privacy.

Two downsides to this park, price and no online reservations.

Price for ONE night, $39.00
Campsite: $30.00
In person registration fee: $4.75
Tax: $3.30
Resort fee: $1.13

Not sure how this changes for consecutive nights.

No online reservations: pull up, you are handed a clipboard with paper to fill out. Go back in, pay and you are handed paperwork and then you go pick your site. Not a good system for social distancing.

Very sketchy Verizon. Got a FaceTime call to work then couldn’t get a text to go through.

Didn’t use washrooms.
Back loop very quiet.

We stayed one night in July. Price is now $5.00. No assigned spots seems like you just park wherever. Quite night but... BRING MOSQUITOE SPRAY in summer! Absolutely the worst mosquitoes I’ve ever seen. There’s a river behind the park must contribute to the amount. There was a softball game and small farmers market going on.
Bathrooms were near ball park and were average.

Notes:
• The Hitching Post Cafe had great breakfast! Omelette with fresh mushrooms!

• Don’t Miss the Bowdoin National Wildlife Refuge. I’ve never seen so many birds. Islands full of white pelicans. It’s a migratory bird refuge. There’s a drive around the park and is worth it even if you can’t leave the car because of mosquitoes.

• The small dinosaur museum in town was a neat stop. They have discovered a new dinosaur and there’s a lot of fossils from the area. It’s $5.00

Loved this campground. Our site was on Loop C. Not too much privacy on the sites but you should be at the beach anyway. Beautiful soft white sand! We had the beach to ourselves in November.
You might want to ask about which sites flood with heavy rain. We had 24hrs of rain and there were some sites that looked like people had to move.
Notes:
•Beach about 1/2 mile walk over a boardwalk
•From campground to beach to fort and back to campground on the Florida trail was a nice 3 mile loop.
•Campground checkin station had big tire beach wheelchair. Double check though that it’s available for your visit.
•Pegleg Pete’s had good food. The gumbo was almost as good as my Moms! 😉
•The Tom Thumb convenamce store next to Pete’s had Talenti and Ben and Jerry’s ice cream!!
•The Naval Air Museum is free and worth a trip over.

Site quality is only 3 stars because our site was dirty and I had to ask host to clean.

This was good for driving into Waco to visit the Magnolia shops. Our site did have a nice view of lake. However we had reserved site 2 that was supposed to have a shaded picnic table only to find out that it was rotted, along with a bunch of other shade structures. We moved to site 1 that sorta had a cover. Can’t say this was the best run A.C.E. Park we’ve stayed at but it was convenient. 

Good to know:
No heat in bathrooms
Site 2 cover rotted
Waco Mammoth National Monument is a nice stop.
Bare Arms Brewery, good beer, nice people.
Have the Lemon Lavender cupcakes at Magnolia Bakery

Hanging rock sp

Beautiful and quite state park in NC at an elevation 1800ish . We were here at beginning of May, it was breezy but already getting warm. We arrived after office closed and there was a list of available sites for that night. If you’re looking for a site for a couple of nights you will have to check Reserve America and see what’s available. Ranger came around later and collected cash for the site. He also had fire wood for sale.

There are some great moderate hikes to various rock formations and waterfalls. There is a lake with a “beach” for swimming in summer. Kayaking on the nearby Dan River is an option also.

Bathhouses are old and probably need updating but fairly clean. Behind bath house on the lower loop there are four concrete sinks for dishes. Double check which loops have hot water during winter months.
Visitor center and check in closed at 4:45.
Park gates do close at night and do not open back up till morning. No gate code.
WiFi is available inside visitors center.
Verizon 3g. To 1-2 Lte Sometimes you could get a text through and sometimes you could surf slowly in the on the internet.
73 sites no electric - no water
10 cabins

3 stars for cleanliness is for the bathrooms. Campsite and park would be 5

Notes:
Google says closest grocery store is approximately 7 miles away.

Daytrips
* Mount Airy “Mayberry” town that inspired the Andy Griffith Show. There’s a museum, soda shop ect..

* Pilot Mountain State Park. You can hike to top if birds are not nesting or you can drive to a vantage point and look across and see the mountain.

* Danbury: The Artist Way, Coffee, ice cream and art.

We were expecting a parking lot this near to Myrtle Beach (which if you’re not from the area, it is a big spring break destination.) but we’re pleasantly surprised to find a nice wooded park.

We stayed one week in two sites, 17 & 64 both level, semi private. It’s a short walk on a paved path to get to the beach. Beach was clean. Park was not to crowed in mid September, but it was hot and the mosquitoes were still hanging around. We did notice some standing water in some of the other loops.

Pier was closed but pier store was open. (Hand dipped ice cream available there)

Good to know
* You CAN NOT see the beach from campground.
* Planes. This campground is on the local airport flight path. One day coming and next going. You can read the numbers on the planes as they come in over the beach. You just need to stop talking and wait till it passes. I will say we did get immune to them after day 3.
* pier store had pvc beach wheel chair. Call to double check if needed.
* You will be asked to sign that you were told about no alcohol policy
* Laundry rooms
* Two dump bays
* Sites 18- 20AA are in-front of said dump bays
* Two large shower houses without air conditioners. (The one near camp store needs new shower heads it’s like needles!)
* Trees block most of wind from ocean which can be good or bad depending on time of year
* 2 Walmarts and a neighbor Walmart very close. Garden city one was nice
* Grilled cheese and Crab Cake sandwich shop was great!
* Small Nature center and short trails in the park.
* Cars, including park rangers, drive through this park to fast so if you have kids watch them.