Best Tent Camping in South Carolina

We had a wonderful time camping at Devil's Fork State Park. Our group took up rustic tent sites T1, T3, and T5. On the map, these sites seem not ideal, as they are not on the water. However, they are more isolated, more wooded (plenty of trees for hammocking), and seemingly larger than the other tent sites. They are a short walk from the tent-camper parking area, a short walk from the two water spigots in the parking area, and a short walk from the restrooms. The bonus is that, behind sites T1 and T3, is a jumping rock into a gorgeous cove of Lake Jocassee with beautiful blue-green water. It's a great place to enjoy kayaks, rafts, and other inflatables. 

While site T13 books up quick because of its waterfront location on the point, the walk from the parking lot is no joke. 

Notes about the rustic tent sites: They have been recently renovated. Each has a picnic table and a fire ring. Only 1 vehicle is allowed to park, per site, unless you pay for the extra vehicle and park in the overflow lot. There is no electricity, and two water spigots located in the parking area. The entire camping area (25 tent sites and 59 RV sites) share 2 restrooms (which were muddy and gross while we were there). No generators are allowed in the tent area. We did have a bear visit us multiple times in one night, putting teeth puncture marks in our cooler. And if the bear don't get ya, the raccoons will!

Campground Review:

In March 2017, our family of 6 went on our 1st overnight backpacking trip. A friend had recommended the Chattooga River Trail in South Carolina. After acquiring some extra gear for the kids, we headed up from Florida. The forecast was showing 30's as low and we were a little worried. Our plan was to start on the north end of River trail and hike for a few days camping in between. The Ranger there sold us a map of the trail since the ones online were not so great. We were anxious to see some of the beautiful waterfalls along the way(not well marked). Day 1 was a nice walk from Fish Hatchery Parking lot to Burrell's Ford campground, mostly along the river. We noticed that the temps seemed to be dropping along our walk and there was actually a little snow/sleet falling on us.... uh oh! We set up camp after about 4.5 miles at Burrell's Ford.It was primitive of course with a picnic table, fire ring and high wire system for storing food, etc. from the animals. All the sites were fairly level and clear for tents. There was a vault toilet at the top of the hill and a parking lot about .5 miles away for easy access. (Of course, we parked in the lot 4.5 miles away)

Before we could get our tents set up, dinner made and gear stowed up high for the night, we were freezing! It dropped to 17 degrees and our plan to stay in 2 tents quickly changed to everybody in the 4-man / 3-season tent that we had just purchased. The wind was whistling down the river next to us and we debated making the trip back to the parking lot over and over. In the end, we stuck it out and hunkered down for a long, cold night. Morning couldn't come soon enough. I think that I slept a total of 2 hours on and off. My husband had fallen the night before and injured his leg so walking back to the Fish Hatchery lot wasn't really an option. At daybreak, he asked for a ride from a nearby camper fishing on the river. He consulted with his group and they said "yes". Overjoyed that we would be rescued from the cold soon, I quickly began packing up camp; ignoring my frozen fingers and toes. After he hadn't returned in what seemed like several hours, I began to worry. I grabbed my 2 little guys (8 & 9 years old) and as much as we could carry and began walking the 1/2 mile to the nearest parking lot at Burrell's Ford. Soon after, he pulled in the lot and we were rescued from the cold!

Long story short..... this was a beautiful hike spoiled by a crazy weather pattern and we will definitely be going back for a do-over!

Product Review:

As a Ranger for The Dyrt, I get to test products. At this campground, I tested some [Cold Pruf](http://Cold Pruf) base layers: women's honeycomb pant and performance crew. I was very pleased with the softness of the ployester/spandex blend fabric. It was comfortable and lightweight. No scratchy areas on seams and it is tagless. This kept my core warm in 17 degree weather. Very thankful to have worn them. It was a necessity in this situation and I recommend to always be prepared for the cold.

http://www.coldpruf.com/products/performance-womens-crew/

http://www.coldpruf.com/products/honeycomb-womens-pant/

Little Pee Dee State Park is a quiet and clean campground on the banks of Lake Norton. Locals often come here for fishing and non-motorized boating.  We were fortunate to witness a mass crayfish event--the recent flooding had brought them out of the swamp and up the spillway, much to the delight of seafood lovers.

The campground had two different campground hosts, and they kept the restrooms and campsites immaculately clean.

Campsites have a fire ring/grate and a picnic table, but no trash cans, and you'll need to bring your trash to a large bin located at the edge of the campsites.

There are some nice sites right at the edge of Lake Norton, but the abundant water plants don't allow you to fish from the side of the lake, and it's not really a swimming lake. These sites accommodate RVs and have water & electric.  If you're on a budget, there are tent-only sites off the water.

The campground recently built a sleeping cabin, which is a cute structure with air conditioning/heat, bunk beds, and a free-standing bed (the cabin sleeps four, total). Guests can use a fire ring and Adirondack chairs, hammock, and grill.

The park also has a nice shelter for use.

There is no WiFi here, and cellular internet is spotty. There isn't a camp store, but the Ranger Station does have ice, firewood, and a small number of souvenirs for sale.

Pros The pond was beautiful, nice walking trail for beginners, would never consider this a hiking park. Location was close to Colombia and all it offers. Bathhouse was acceptable but nothing to brag about. Toilets were three flushers is you cared about the next guy.

Cons Guessing I may have had the worst site (41) but walking through there were others similar. Site 41 is a pull through lot which declines quickly upon entry and is marred by deep ra9n crevices. You then incline to the area you should probably land as there is an obvious flat spot. Unfortunately in you stop there, your camper door will open on the neighboring fire ring which is the only fire ring on the back side of the neighboring spot in in the fore ground of yours. Asinine. I had to manipulate my camper for an hour to a spot level enough yet not in my neighbor's fire and dealt with a large tree and had to tie back branches to extend my awning. Uggg

Effing covid. The state of South Carolina, the City of Columbia don't have mask mandates. But this state park requires a mask to pee in the urinal. The boss says the county still mandates it.

To get to this campground, you have to drive two and a half miles down a forest road, and then you hike about a third of a mile to the campsites. You have to backpack in and take everything you need. Make sure to take lots of water or a good water filter. When I first arrived, I was a little disappointed that the pit toilet was not open(I think perhaps due to the pandemic). The hike to the campsites is an easy, slightly downhill roadbed. When I went, it was the perfect time for the black-eyed susans to bloom, so it was a pretty hike. 

This is a primitive campground, so there is no electricity, drinking water, or sewer hookups. However, it is peaceful, and if you want to get away from the conglomeration of RVs and tent campers, this is great. 

When I got to my campsite, I was surprised to find a nice large picnic table and lantern pole. Most hike-in sites don’t have these amenities. There was also a hanging system for food since this place is in bear country. The thing I did not like was the gravel pad. It is a good thing I had a freestanding tent that didn’t require tent stakes. The site was really a good one with trees all around and the sounds of the creek, which is a tributary of the Chatooga River. 

I was the only camper, which from what I understand is unusual. This is partly because school had started and it was during the week. This made it easy to gather firewood, but the wood was wet because of the recent rains. Fortunately, I had a little alcohol stove to cook my meals. 

The reasons people come to this campground are because of access to water for fishing, the solitude, and King Creek waterfall. The trail to the waterfall is over a half mile (my estimation), and you have to cross a log footbridge. There was a huge downed tree that you also have to cross, but you have to be careful since the log was slimy. 

Overall, this is a pretty good place to camp, but you can’t just run to your car if you forget something. Well, I guess you could, but it would be a third of a mile slightly uphill. All of your private hygiene has to be done backcountry also, which is not a problem if you are accustomed to backpacking.

Campground Review:

When we pull into a free, national forest campground in the dark, it’s really hard to get a perspective of where you are – everything seems just a bit spooky. When I saw the sun rise, I popped out of Hamlet (our adventure rig) to take a look around. Wow…this remote dispersed campground was AWESOME! We parked under a gorgeous live oak dripping in Spanish moss which was backlit by the morning sun. We decided to stay for a few days and explore the area.

This campground has drinking water (still a bit rusty this time of year) and very clean pit toilets. There are no picnic tables or tent pads. Sites are not established, so you can park wherever there is space. The large lawn area in the back of the campground can accommodate a couple very large RV's, but keep in mind there are no hook-ups. There were just a few campers there in March, so plenty of space from which to choose. And, the best part…absolutely no mosquitoes this time of year. The only downside of this campground are the lack of established firepits, so people tend to build fires (and leave scars/remnants) all over the place. We had our new Primus Kamoto OpenFire Pit with us, and this was the perfect place to use it for a “leave no trace” fire. Hutch cooked me Belgian waffles for my birthday with our Amish waffle iron…what a treat!

We cycled through the national forest, stopping at both the Hampton Plantation (historic rice plantation) as well as St. James-Santee Church (beautiful 17th century church) – both within a few miles of the campground. The following day, we drove to the Sewee Visitor and Environmental Education Center on Hwy 17 and spent the afternoon learning from “Wolfman Rob” about the conservation efforts of the Red Wolf as well as touring the ancient native shell mounds in the area. In addition to all of this, there is a canoe put-in for Wambaw Creek just a few miles down the road from the campground.

Note: While there is a general store a few miles away, they didn't have much, so come prepared with groceries as it's about 20+ miles to the nearest grocery store in Georgetown! McClellanville is much closer, but only has a Dollar General.

It’s official folks, we’ve fallen in love with the coast that lies between Georgetown and Charleston, SC! Check out our blog on The Dyrt's Online Magazine about our experience on the coast of South Carolina.

Product Review:

As Rangers for The Dyrt, we’ve been testing out these products in various boondocking and beach locations around the southeast. We will admit that we are “foodie vegetarians” who love to cook over an open fire, but don’t often use campground or picnic stop grills to put our food on directly. They are often rusty, greasy, and somewhat gross. We had been using a propane grill (using the same propane connection that we use for heating our adventure rig), but found that it didn’t have quite enough power to cook things quickly especially for the amount of space it took up in the truck. Now, if we have access to a bit of dry wood, we can easily create a fire anywhere (that is legal and safe, of course!).

What we like about these products:

1. Firepits and grills in campgrounds are often so large that to build a fire big enough to cook over and/or add some warmth to your evening’s activities, you must have a lot of wood and spend a good deal of time maintaining the fire. This unit allows you to build a small, focused fire for cooking, or a slightly larger one for warmth. We were surprised how much warmth we got from the heat radiating off the metal sides. You, of course, can also use charcoal.
2. Firepits in campgrounds are often wet and soggy, filled with trash from not-so-leave-no-trace focused campers, and the grill is often quite rusty. This unit allows you to start with a dry pit and the airholes on the “V” shaped bowl and sides help to increase the amount of oxygen to the fire, while the bottom allows ash to drop out like a wood stove.
3. Robustly constructed overall. Grill top is sturdy enough to hold a pan without bending, and the tight “weave” is perfect for burgers, dogs, and even grilled pizza!
4. No need for propane, just collect some downed wood from your campsite and you have all the fuel you need for a nice cooking fire.
5. Great for use on backcountry canoe and rafting trips where there may not be an existing fire pit or grill. Also, great for tailgates, beach parties, or anywhere else you may want to cook with wood or charcoal.
6. Folds down to an easy to store size, whether you keep it in your vehicle or garage.
7. The spatula (sold separately) is a nice design. Sturdy, long enough to reach the food on the grill top without having your arms directly over the fire, and stores nicely inside the fire pit when it is in its folded down position.

What could be improved:

1. It’s a bit heavier than it looks, so it’s not something you are going to want carry very far.
2. We’ve used it about 6 times and left it out in the rain one night. There is already some rust developing on the non-enameled surfaces.
3. While perfect for a canoe trip or rafting trip, it doesn’t fit well in our sea kayaks. A smaller version for sea kayak camping would be a great addition to the line!

Product Link: https://primus.us/products/kamoto-fire-pit?variant=30578573842

Product Video: https://youtu.be/6ooC6kDfjKI

Stayed here for a few nights with a friend for spring break. The staff were very friendly and answered all the questions that we had. We were tent camping and the campsite was perfect! Had a picnic table, fire ring, plenty of space to pull the car in, level ground for the tent, and trees for hammocking. The bathroom facilities were very clean, and were right by the campsites. In terms of activities, there are plenty of hiking trails and a beautiful lake right in front of the visitor center. We rented a paddleboat and got to see some wildlife on the water (cranes, turtles, and even a couple little gators). Overall, this was a perfect state park, great for a quiet getaway.

(Side note: the bugs were practically nonexistent in March when we visited, but we were told that they can get bad in the summer months)