“A Close Up View of Nature!”
Woods Bay State Park offers a close-up look at one of the last remaining largeCarolina Bays on the Mid-Atlantic Coastal Plain. The 1,590-acre park, located in the coastal plains region, features a wide range of habitats including marsh, sandhills, oak-hickory forest and shrub bog. The habitats of Woods Bay can be explored by taking the nature trail encircling the mill pond or by walking the length of the 1,150 foot boardwalk, which provides views of alligators in the cypress tupelo swamp. The best way to see the park is by following a canoe trail which takes paddlers past the Carolina Bays, elliptical depressions which appear swampy but remain dry.
The reason Woods Bay State park is special is because it's one of the last large Carolina Bays on the Atlantic Coastal Plain. It's remarkable for its unique geology, and the park rangers are pretty friendly. Great place to stretch your legs while driving I-95.
Hey y'all!! Yesterday we went to #WoodsbayStatePark !
We got to do a little jungle hike, see alligators, turtles, fish, dragonflies and much much more! We found some poison ivy to identify as well. Because my 9 year old homeschooler said "I need to see them in real life, not just pictures!"
This park is in South Carolina and its FREEEE!!!
I suggest if you use the road trippers app ( we use it for everything and have for years! It's our favorite app!) that you do NOT follow the GPS through that app to get to this park. It WILL take you down some shady dirt roads and you will not make it there. Search it in your google maps outside of the app.
When you get there, there is not much room to get lost. It is pretty small. You follow the sign that points all directions to hiking, boardwalk and fishing. Walk a little ways and you will see the boardwalk. It is unfinished. But you walk down this board walk and you just have alligators all around you. They may be hard to spot at first. There is nothing separating you from these alligators, so show caution.
We went back and took the nature trail. It was a good little hike for all of us and it had tons to see. Also they are no longer renting out kayaks for the river. BYOK :D
Perfect place for our 2 and 4 year old to stretch their legs. Clean restrooms, and a great up close look at the gators. The boardwalk is short enough to not get too far off schedule and long enough to get out some wiggles. It’s easy to get lost from the highway so just go slow on the back roads so you don’t miss the turns. Bring bug spray!
This was a great small state park. We drove a few miles off the interstate and walked the boardwalk trail. We had lunch on the picnic tables and enjoyed our day. We saw birds and turtles. The boardwalk was nice not too long great for kids.
Be prepared for lots of mosquitos. So bring bug spray. Nice boardwalk though.
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Woods Bay State Park
Hours
- Sun - Sat: 9:00 am - 6:00 pm
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