Best Tent Camping near Jackson, SC

I was originally a little nervous about booking this because I tent camp and the only sites available were full RV ones. I like to be more alone and tucked in the back somewhere. The RV sites do not offer much for privacy as the trees are spread out and far between, however each site is spread out enough that it’s not terrible. The sites were shaded and the whole park was very clean and well maintained. Even the trails after days of heavy rain was cleared and looked good. Camp host was super nice and offered us his axe to help us with wood. You had the option to rent kayaks and little paddle boats that was closed due to Covid 19. There was like 6 different trails to choose from that we enjoyed. We took advantage of the lake and did a lot of fishing. I would definitely go back and hopefully will have the opportunity to stay in a tent site because they looked awesome!

Whether camping in a tent or renting a cabin, all are $20 per night. 🤔 Beautiful lake, flushing toilets and hot showers. I am passing through but see others boating, fishing and hunting. Laundry available upon request and current availability.

I was passing thru SC on the SCAR headed down to the Palmetto Rally and stopped here to camp. It was a very nice campground with level pads, picnic table and fire ring (bring your own wood). As well there were several vault toilets and there was even a water faucet. It was a good campground and I would stay here again. It is not reservable so first come first served. There was some cell coverage as well. I tent camped so can not comment on RV as the others in the campground were tent camping as well.

This State Park is large with camping for everyone, RV’s, tent camping. On lake Thurmond between Plum S. C. And Modoc S. C. On hey 28.

Mistletoe takes very good care of their sites.  There are plenty of RV/tent sites to choose from as well as a few walk-in sites, a group site, and even a few back country sites.  The facilities are always extremely clean.  They also have laundry facilities available.

We tent camped and stayed right on the water. Sites were very clean and spacious. Bath houses were pretty clean. There is water and electric at each site for those who are in a RV but the dump sites are pretty close by. We will definitely be back! We saw quite a lot of wildlife during our stay and enjoy taking the trail around the lake.

Magnolia Springs State Park is a nice Georgia State Park. Located just north of Millen, GA, the park offers ample camping for both RVs and tents.

Spots are flat and easy to park campers and set up tents with enough room between each for a bit of privacy and a few walk-in tent sites for increased privacy. Cabin rentals are available as well as a group lodge. There is a bath house in the main campground that is well kept complete with flush toilets and showers, as well as a coin laundry machines.

Kayak, canoe, pedal boat and bike rentals are all available from the visitor center to explore the spring fed lake and mostly flat trails in the park.

This is a lovely park to camp and spend time in, but is a 2-3 hour drive to Atlanta or Savannah if you are interested in exploring GA. The town of Millen has fast food options, as well as ample opportunity to pick up essential goods.

A lot of the sites are on the waters edge and offers beautiful views. The red clay was horrible though, especially with a white dog and after it rained. We had site 145, beautiful views but difficult to maneuver into the site and access the water, but we made it work. We would return though. Site 144 and 143 had gorgeous views of the sunset...I’ve heard 108 and 77 are prime spots. Be aware of booking a site and how you’re awning will face! Bathhouse is about 1/2 mile away, so too far to walk when you have to go. Not many bathhouses either so there was a line for the shower (only 2 shower stalls and 3 toilets for at least 75 campsites with the tent sites included). Only 2 single access dump stations for the entire park, so there was a line of 8-10 campers at both on a Sunday morning!

The main campground is flat making it easy to back up campers or RV’s in slots. Some pull through spots. We were tent camping and choose a walk in slot. 27, 28 & 29. Our site was 29 it is about 100 yards from the main campground down a single lane sandy road that leads into a wooded area. We saw vehicles on the other 2 spots and decided to just pull in by our space as well. I really like the walk in spaces because they are away from the main campground. I do like seeing stars at night but the tree canopy blocked them. The spigot on this spot was leaky. We did watch chickadees take an evening bath in the puddle. We noticed some little pieces of broken glass on the tent pad. The bathhouse was clean. The 28 acre lake and trails throughout the property are well maintained. Signs to watch out for gators are posted. We saw 2. The springs are so pretty and clear, so many turtles and fish to see. I would’ve liked to paddle board in the springs but wasn’t sure if that was permitted. We did paddle board and kayak in the lake.
If you are up to a history lesson the Camp Lawton museum is a bargain at $2 ! It is very informative. We had lovely weather and would return in the fall or spring. Summer may be to buggy and hot.

We had a great experience that unfortunately ended a day early due to some heavy rain. We checked in on a Thursday evening from the drive from Florida. Campsite was chosen from a map, which seemed to have an upfront water access. Apron arrival, we found out there was actually another campsite squeezed directly in front of us and a RV showed up to obstruct the breeze and view of the water. We wanted our own water entrance and the view, so we moved to campsite 103. Best decision we made was moving to campsite 103, highly recommend. It’s on its own point, more secluded from the other sites, almost no visibility from your neighbors. The best part was the view, sunsets over the water were beautiful. There is a slightly steep step down to get to a lower ridge that walks into the water, be careful in the rain, but that’s where we scattered our hammocks throughout. Campground wise, we had 2 tents set up, trucks parked about 20’ away and still had room for Cornhole boards, fire pit and tables. The lake access was awesome because we bring inflatable paddle boards and there was a small island about 1/2 mile out that we would paddle around and back

The drive in is easy and paved. I do always hope for that off-road, overland kind of drive in but not here. Campground is huge with multiple sections so pay attention to the signs. Campsite #s where spray painted yellow on the ground if I recall correctly.

Overall, great getaway, the cell service was almost gone, every now and then a bar would pop up so just throw it in airplane mode to truly escape. Make sure you get a site on the water if you are tent camping. It would suck to have your view impeded and not have a back up campsite so choose wisely.

Seclusion might be an issue at some sites but they do have a couple sets of bathrooms around that are well maintained at the campground. Nothing crazy but they are clean.

This is a review of the four walk-in tent sites at Mistletoe State Park.  I personally stayed in #4 and had a look at the others. 

The best site is definitely #2 -- feet from the water, spacious, suitable for more than one tent or hammock (better for tents as it is mostly open, but there are places for hammocks along the edges). 

Site #4 is probably second best, better for a hammocks probably (which is what I had) as no great level ground. It is not right on the water but has it's own private path to the water(couple hundred feet to the water).

Sites #1 & #3 do not really have access to the water without climbing down something steeply dangerous or through thick trees.  (The water access from the other sites is right in the middle of those other sites so you couldn't really share that unless they are empty or occupied by friends.)  Still #1 is a pretty good site.  #3 is the least interesting and smallest, but still secluded -- I wouldn't call any of these bad.

None of these sites have groomed tent pads -- just gravelly ground.   They do each have a table, fire pit, and lantern pole.  #1 & #2 are best for tents.  There is good separation between all sites.  Sites #2 & #3 are within shouting distance of each other and you'd be able to see tents, etc at one from the other.  There is an outhouse between sites #1 & #2, and another another between sites #3 & #4.  It is a 5 minute (or so) walk to the real bathroom (which also has showers) back in the main campground.

Other than the lake itself at sites #2 & #4, I didn't see any dedicated water source for these sites.  (The lake is silty -- pre-filtering recommended if you are using a filter.)  So you'd have to bring in water or get it from the bathroom area or maybe from an empty RV site which all have spigots.  You'll have to pack out your trash, and there are definitely critters around that will get in your trash so it should be secured somehow.  (Hanging it from the lantern pole isn't good enough -- you'll wake up to find a hole in the bag and it strewn around, ask me how I know.)

Everything in the park was very clean and well-maintained, although when I was here in September (during the week), the whole place was basically deserted anyway.

The water access at sites #2 & #4 is nice but it is not a real beach -- it is all large rocks for the most part and they were very slippery even when dry so be careful.  The water level was also extremely low when I was there so some of those rocks are probably covered by water earlier in the year.

We went camping at Hamilton Branch State Park in October 2019 for a week. There are so many wonderful things to say about this campground. 

1. Almost ALL sites are lakefront- There are very few sites that are not right on the water. There are some sites that have a steep drop off to the water(mostly the tent sites around the sites 123-128 range). We found several sites that we thought were the best. Sites 77, 168, 98, 97, 103, 105, and a couple of others I can’t remember. Nice views and access to the water. 

2. Sites are very spaced out- We were there during a quieter time, so we had several sites around us that were empty, but even if they had been full, we thought there was a lot of space between them, and most faced the water, so they all kind of faced away from each other. So, it seems to be very private. 

3. Park is LARGE- This is a huge park, and even though there are 200 sites, those are all distributed over 9 different areas, each area consisting of at least 1 loop each. So, again, very spaced out and private. 

4. Clean Bath Houses- Obviously we stuck to the bath house closest to our site, but it was extremely clean and appointed. Toilets cleaned every morning. Shower clean with good shower curtains! If you have camped before, you have likely encountered shower curtains that were hanging on by their last 2 or 3 loops. We even brought our own, in case that was the case here. Nope, it was very nice to have the bathroom so well taken care of. 

5. Friendly Staff- We had originally booked a specific site, and when we got there, we wanted to change it(due to the steep drop to the water, that would be hard to do every day with kayaks). We looked around the park to see what else would be available and Amanda at the front office was very helpful in checking for availability and helping us change our site. In addition to the very helpful Amanda, we encountered several camp hosts. Since the park is so big, there are multiple camp hosts. Everyone we encountered was friendly, helpful and seemed to enjoy being there. 

6. Beautiful Lake/Nature- Obviously the big attraction here is the lake. Thurmond Lake is ENORMOUS. And the park is on one small part of it. We kayaked a few days and saw a lot of fish, bald eagles, geese, blue herons, white egrets, etc. At our campsite we saw a couple of deer and a few raccoons. For a 6-night stay, we only saw the raccoons one night. We must not have had very good tidbits ad they gave up on us. 

We stated several times that we will be coming back to this campground, and that it might be one of the best we have ever been to. I hope this gave you some info and insight into this park.

We camped in one of the tent only walk-in sites located on a peninsula jutting into the lake. We had a ton of stuff, not realizing it was an uphill and pretty long trek, but it was totally worth it. We had the whole place to ourselves, no neighbors, in late March. The sun setting over the water was beautiful, it was quiet even as a few motor boats came in for the night. There is a tiny beach on the tip of the peninsula, picnic tables, and an outhouse. It was my favorite spot of everywhere we stayed on an Alabama-Georgia-South Carolina roadtrip including AirBnB and bed and breakfast.

Winfield is a compartively little-known USACE campground situated on a peninsula near the more heavily-traffic Mistletoe State Park. Quiet and peaceful, it's tucked up the Little River and therefore not on the main body of Clarks Hill Lake (Lake Strom Thurmond, if you're form South Carolina) which sees a good deal of boat traffic (pontoon boats in particular) in the summer months. Great for water activities (kayaking, SUP, etc) with awesome evening views.

This was my kid's favorite place that we have been so far. Our site 49 was right in the water. There was a drop of about 2 feet to get in, but we made it work. My kids played in the lake and we used our kayak and paddleboards. The beach was nice as well. We drove about 20 minutes to South Carolina and the J. Strom Thurmond Dam. Call ahead to listen to the recording to know when they are releasing water.

We have a 30ft TT and as we left my husband said anything else would be tricky getting out due to some trees on each side. The shape of the pull through site was fairly tight, but we didn't face any real issues with it.

There are little black ants everywhere. By our third night they found some food which wasn't tightly sealed and there were ants everywhere. I got rid of most of them but it was too late at that point. We got some ant traps when we went home the next morning. Even though this was a pain, we would still go back, just with ant traps.

We stayed 3 nights in the “walk in” tent area of this state park. The park called the day prior to our reservation to see if we would need firewood, a big plus. “Walk in” is a little deceiving, because, gladly, you can drive to the 3 tent spots and park a vehicle in this area. We stayed in spot 29. The three tent spots all have water at each site. They all have spacious tent pads in a wooded, heavily shaded area. 29 has the tent pad very close to the “road/trail”, but there was very little traffic on it. We arrived at night, and the camp host was friendly and directed us to the site. The park was full, but the sites were spaced well and the park was pretty quiet. The bathrooms were very clean and did have hot water. There were numerous signs posted for alligators and bears. I didn’t put a lot of stock into the bear signs due to the fact that none of the garbage cans or anything were “bear-proof”. We did finally see one gator as we walked by the spring one of the days. I thought that we had seen on their site that no hammocks were allowed, or anything tied to the trees, so we didn’t take our hammocks. This was not the case, as there were many hammocks up when we were there. You can look up the history of this place on their website. We were there May 8-11 and only had one colder evening and weather in the 70’s during the day. We would definitely go back.

This place is awesome! We slept in the primative tent section. It was nice and peaceful. Facilities are clean. Great views ❤️

However you want to camp you can. Tent, RV, you name it. With lake access on virtually every spot you’ll wake up to amazing views and great days in the sun. Almost every spot has a walkable path to the water. It’s pet friendly and has amenities for even the least experienced (and least willing) campers.

This review is for campsite 82 at Mistletoe State Park. An absolutely commanding view of the lake! It lacked shade in late March but once the sun went down, it was perfect! Beautiful sunsets! We camped in 2 tents and there was more than enough room, the tent pads were level, and the crusher run was comfortable under the tarp and tent. There is a unique lookout structure with a rolling gate. This was useful for corralling our cocker spaniel. We also set chairs up there. Accessing the lake was no problem, just down an easy incline, and there was a little beach area, perfect for sitting with your feet in the cold water. There are multiple trails but we loved walking around both campsite loops. It’s fun to see the different set ups. The comfort station near us was average, but adequate. The shower design isn’t super for drainage but it works! The toilet stalls and sink area were very clean. It looked like at least one comfort station on the right fork loop was more updated, with family bathrooms. I’m with AT&T and I had very few issues with cellular data. The hosts were friendly and welcoming. The gift shop was lovely. We would love to go back and rent a pontoon boat and try one of the cabins. We would like the record to show that at 2:00 AM on the Saturday we were there, an airboat with purple and green lights and very loud music came upon the shoreline of the state park. It was like a spaceship had landed. After thinking about it, we think they may have been bow fishing. Of course our kids slept through the whole thing, no idea how! They took “disturbance of the peace” to a new level! No reflection on the park itself, just a bizarre occurrence and a funny memory for us!

First and foremost, Mistletoe is beautiful. It’s tucked away and the greenery is outstanding. The hiking is lengthy and gorgeous (if somewhat difficult to navigate) with an easy grade that’ll keep the huffing and puffing to a minimum. I wish the signage around the park aimed in both directions of the road. Navigating on your way in was easily enough, but getting out was tougher.

The staff at the visitor’s center were friendly, and the toilets and showers were kept very clean.

A fair warning, though: if you’re a tent camper who’s looking to enjoy some quiet time by the water, avoid the loop with the boat ramp. We stayed on site 30, and were surrounded by RVs and boats coming and going: between the sound and the lights, it wasn’t exactly peaceful. Add in the extraordinary winds that were coming in off the lake the weekend we were there, and certain moments of our trip felt very tedious. The Park can’t exactly do anything about wind and neighbors with boats, but we intend to camp further from the boat ramp next time. We got a look at the spots closer to the walk in sites, and think those might be more conducive to anyone who’s going for a more low-key tent experience.