The best excursion on our entire road trip! A short walk along the path through the forest brings you to the observation deck. We then chose to climb down past the deck to the bottom of the falls which wasn't too difficult and a great place to take a picture. It gets misty down there though!
Additionally, off of the path to the observation deck (on the right hand side when you're going TO the deck) is a small trail that leads to the top of the waterfall! We were able to look over the drop off which was incredibly cool.
Only $26 for hours of fun! We rented kayaks. The river is very slow, clear, and shallow (6 inches-4ft) so we were able to get out several times to play in the water. There are occasional obstacles like fallen tree branches, but they kayaks were easy to navigate. The greenery lining the water is beautiful and provides great shade for most the the trip. It takes about 3 hours at a regular pace, but you can take as long as you want. There's a rope swing about half way down that was a blast to jump off of! I definitely recommend this activity!!
Nice campgrounds with free wifi at the office and access to the lake that is absolutely GORGEOUS. The clearest, calmest water I have ever seen, with beautiful smooth rocks lining the bottom. When we went, we laid on the beach and watched the Perseid meteor shower--saw over 50 comets!
Decent shower facilities. Picnic tables and fire pits provided, huge bundles of firewood available for $6. They called us in the afternoon to confirm we were coming, since payment is due in person.
Be prepared! Bring lots of water and consider wearing shoes with arch support. A 1.3 mile walk/hike through the dunes took us 40 minutes and we're all college students in good shape! A great workout, for sure. When we finally made it to the lake, the beach was very rocky and the water was cold and wavy but still beautiful! Not the best kind of beach for relaxing/swimming though.
Stayed at the campground for a night--that was great! Walking distance from the beach/lighthouse pier. Very nice shower facilities. It was surprising that the campground was not grass and dirt, but sand... which became kind of a pain with the wind blowing it into our tent all night long. Also, we were the only people camped in a tent that I saw--everyone else had RVs.
Awesome stop on our road trip! The only cost was $8 for parking. The beach was smooth and sandy, not rocky and not crowded! Visited mid August, weather read upper 70s, but it felt much warmer and the cool water was perfect. Not too cold at all and very clean!
There was a concession stand and bathrooms/changing rooms, but no showers.