Well that last update went much faster than expected (Yay free library WIFI) so I figure I might as well get this site right up to date with the rest of our pictures.
So our days here in Huntington Beach State Park, SC usually consist of a walk of some kind. When we go fishing on the jetty, the walk from the parking lot is about 1.5 miles plus the jetty itself is around a quarter mile. So those days we do about 3-4 miles plus all the rock jumping putting on more bait and trying to unhook snagged tackle (which happens way too much on all the jetty rocks!) . When we fish is also dependent on when high tide is, in that we need to avoid it. We haul a wagon full of fishing stuff back and forth so doing that when the tide is low is key because the sand is harder then, thus making the hauling easier.
We also typically fish later in the day because it’s warmer then but when the sun goes down, the walk back usually includes an amazing sunset like this one.
Other walks include a stroll around the campground where we check out the accomodations of the other residents. Surprised to see quite a few other truck campers although we are still in the minority. 5th wheels and motor homes still seem to be the most popular. The one unexpected thing we’ve seen on the campground walk was baby gators. That was a first for us, especially in the wild! The ranger figured these little guys were about 8 months old based on their stripes and that they were about 8-9 inches long. Their Mom likely lived in the drain pipe under the bridge where they were hanging out. But they’re gone now, once it got cold they hunkered down in the mud somewhere else or Mom moved them.
We also have a 2 mile circuit that takes us from the campsite, around the park's various wildlife viewing areas including the causeway through the marsh where there are always birds and occasionally more gators. You just never know what you’re going to see like the day we came upon a great blue heron with a 2 ft snake. He must of just caught it because we watched him stab it multiple times and ulitmately choke the entire thing down its throat in one big long piece. We had no idea that herons did that!
If we just want to walk the beach, it’s a 6 mile round trip from our campsite to the jetty and back. And, if we really feel ambitious, we can walk 10 miles round trip to the other end of the beach and back. We haven’t done that yet on foot but we have via bike. A walk or ride on the beach can reveal anything from shells, sand dollars or horseshoe crabs.
Bike wise, there are also bike paths into Murrells Inlet where there are many places to eat and drink (gotta love the half off happy hours) including seafood markets where lots of good stuff like fresh smoked mackerel are just waiting to be tasted. If we go south we can bike into Lychfield and Pawleys island but we haven’t gone that way yet. We’ll get there though.
If interested, here’s the fish, sunsets, birds and gators we’ve seen so far.