Huntington Beach State Park

I am writing this on Friday, March 9th from Lake Hartwell in northern South Carolina. We have had a great trip across the state, which I will write about in the next few entries. I have a beautiful view out of my window of the lake, but it is about 50 degrees outside with a strong north wind. It was much warmer at the beach a couple of weeks ago.

We left Buck Hall Recreation area on February 23 and made the short drive up the coast through the town of Georgetown and on to Huntington Beach SP. We were in a very unpopulated area around Buck Hall, but now it was getting populated as we approached the resort town of Myrtle Beach. I have to admit I was concerned that we would be surrounded by high rise condos and tourist traps. I was pleasantly surprised when we pulled into the SP. This SP was donated to the State of South Carolina by Archer and Anna Huntington. It is the site of their winter home. Mrs. Huntington was a famous sculptor. The SP is now an oasis of non-development along this very developed coast. 

The park itself is very nice with large well spaced sites that are a short walk through the dunes from the beautiful beach. All sites are a mix of gravel and sand. Ours was back in the woods, but some are out in an open grassy area. The rate was $22 per night while we were there, but will increase to $55 per night starting March 1 for water and electric. We had excellent Verizon and OTA signals.

It was about a quarter mile walk to the beach and I was amazed when we went through the dunes and it opened up into this view:

Looking left

Looking right 

The sand is beautiful white and soft. There are plenty of shells to gather and the water is clean and beautiful. Huntington Beach is one of the best beaches we have ever been to. It was just gorgeous.

I could not wait to get back to the campsite to get my fishing gear together and hit the surf. It was close to 80 degrees and I knew the fishing would not be great, but who really cares when you have surroundings like these.

I fished for the rest of the day with no luck except the wonderful day.

It was so warm, I could wade out in the water. I even took my shirt off to get some sun and keep my shirt dry. 

Kim, of course, walked along the beach looking and finding some very cool shells.

The next day we decided to take a walk to a jetty that was at the north end of the SP. This jetty was protection to the entrance of the bay and docks just to the north. As it tuned out it was much further than we thought. We ended up walking about 7 miles to get to the end and back. We had a blast and got a bit more sun than we expected.

Some birds along the way

Seashell decorated plant

The jetty was paved to the end

The end channel marker

Waves breaking on the rocks looking back to the SP. Notice the lack of development.

Life is good

The fishing was slow, but this guy was catching a few.

Happy Birthday to our Grandson Cameron

The next day, I had to go out and try my luck on the jetty. So, I packed up my gear and drove as far that direction as I could and then walked the last 2 miles to get to the end. I was all by myself on that Monday. It was a beautiful day, but still no fish.

The tide was lower than the previous day. I saw this sailboat that had ended up on the rocks. If you look close you can see the winches.

My view for the day. 

When I got back from my fishing trip, I had a conversation with our neighbor from Illinois. Jerry and Kathy have 24 grandchildren and are awesome folks. We enjoyed talking and even went to the beach together the next day. I tried to fish some more, but ended up 0 for South Carolina.

We saw this little alligator in the marshy area near the beach. 

 We stayed busy most of the time we were at Huntington Beach. They have some nice boardwalks that go out over the marshes.

I have to take pictures of Military hardware - There was a Marine base close by.

Jerry and Kathy had told us about touring Atalaya. This is the house of Archer and Anna Huntington. It is just $2 each to take the tour. The house is made totally of bricks. It is worth taking the time to see it. 

Every room was heated by a fireplace. The place was very impressive. 

We ended our last day with some silly pictures in the oversized chairs at the visitor center. You just have to do that.

This ranks up there as one of our favorite stops on this entire trip. That is saying someting because we have had some great stops along the way. We stayed for 5 nights and never even left the park. We were planning to see Myrtle Beach, but we never had the desire to go see the large high-rise buildings and tourist traps. Some will tell us we really missed it, but I guess that tells you something about how we roll. 

Next up was a trip north through the great state of South Carolina. I will tell you now, it did not dissapoint. Come back to see what we did next.