Edisto Island State Park "Take Two"

 

We have now officially become an Edisto Isand Groupie. One thing is forsure about the people that come to this island, they fall in love the first time they laid eyes on her. Some of the comments we heard on this trip: "I have been coming here since 1961" , "We come here every spring and fall", and "We dont tell anyone about this place".

We visited the interpretive center and it was very nice.They have several aquariums with all types of sea life.

 

Weather Conditions: Our trip was about mid October and the weather was mid to high 60's during he day and high 40's low 50's at night.

 

Light/Noise: Who would have know there were so many stars. We even used on app on the cell phone to identify some of them. The only sounds you will hear are those of nature and the tranquil sound of the oceans surft.

 

Phone/TV/Radio: They say they have wifi; however, I never picked up the signal. We had great cell phone coverage.

 

Elevation/Lanscape/Terrain: Flat and Sandy

 

Comfort Stations: Last year we commented on the bathrooms being old but clean. This year it was worse, infact I made a comment that I felt as though I was showering in a third world country's prison. They really need to put more money in the state parks that are making money before they fall apart.

 

Accessibility: The park seems to accessible just about everywhere.

Dog Friendly: Yes, the park is dog friendly as well as the beach. I know that there are two restaurants that have outdoor seating that is dog friendly as too (McConkey's as mentioned below and Sea Cow Eatery).

Wild Life: Blue Heron, Erged

 

Resturants: We normally don't eat out while camping because camping and cooking just go together. But since we were on the coast and frying fish is such a mess we did eat out several nights. We ate a McConkey's Jungle Shack as usual. We also tried the Waterfront Resturant, they were okay, but nothing compares to Flowers Seafood. The only bad thing about Flowers is they only cook Thursday - Sunday. What's a person to do Monday - Wednesday?

 

Comments: If you want souviners from the state park I hope you want a t-shirt because that is it. They do have things with Edisto printed on them but not the state park. The landmark, "Piggly Wiggly" has now been bought out by BiLo. Be sure to take water for drinking, cooking, coffee, and pets. The water on the island is salty.

 

Hiking/Walking: The park has about 7 miles of hiking trails and they are ADA compliant. We hiked along parts of the "Spanish Mount Trail", "Scotts Creek Trail", "Bache Trail", "The Big Bay Trail". They were accessible for mobility chairs. The Scotts Creek Trail is the only trail that really has a view and it is beautiful. We also walked out to the Bache Monument and the Spanish Mount. They both are very short easy walks.

 

Our Opinion: This was our third time to the island and the second time camping there; we love it. It is truely a peaceful island. Almost everything on the island is Ma' and Pa' owned. We have already booked at dates for next year.

 

Site Description: We had sites 44 and 46 they were on the the marsh side and where nice and spaceous with beautiful views of the marshland, sunsets, and ergrets.

 

Favorite Site: If we were to go by our selves we would look at site 24. We would stay away from 38-40. One of those sites seem to be very unlevel.

 

 

 

Edisto Beach State Park




Welcome to Edisto Beach State Park, Edisto S.C.

 













We camped at Edisto Beach State Park in September.  We have never been much for the beach.  When you say, "beach," I think of fake pink flamingos, tattoo parlors, bars, trashed hotels, lights and noisy air planes with an adverting banner attached to it.  Not so here.  This is a very natural beach and feels very much like any other state park with one exception; a HUGE ocean.

Weather during Stay: Cool at night and mid 80’s during the day
Phone/tv/radio: Phone Service, yes,
Elevation/landscape/terrain: Flat and sandy
Light/noise: Amazing Stars
Dog friendly: Yes, the park is dog friendly as well as the beach. I know that there are two restaurants that have outdoor seating that is dog friendly as well (McConkey's as mentioned below and Sea Cow Eatery).

Comments:

There are very little amenities in this park. The office has a couple of t-shirts, caps, and a freezer of ice-cream bars.  We would like to see the park sell a few more items.  One of the things we like to collect are park patches and walking stick medallions.  This would help the park raise more money.  You will probably need to go to town for any souvenirs. The Piggly Wiggly is directly across the street which is extremely convenient.  The store is very small but well managed.  A Piggly Wiggly, what else do you need?!?

The bathrooms are very old and are in need of repair; however, they were fairly clean considering all of the traffic. None of the beach camp site bath rooms are handicap friendly.  For example, the stalls are too small and the showers have a step.  It is my understanding that overflow camping area is more modern and is handicap friendly.





Beach Access Camp Site #53

  












Most of the beach access points are short and fairly easy walking. The fire station has beach friendly wheelchairs for those in need.  The wheelchairs have big wheels and will glide you across the sand.  The waves are surprisingly large and at high tide there is little beach. Once the tide goes out it is easy walking with plenty of beautiful sea shells for the picking. I hear there are large shells at the point; however, we never made it that far.

We ate dinner at McConkey’s Jungle Shack one evening and the food was great as well as the service. It has outdoor patio seating that is dog friendly (How cool is that?)  Buck’s Pizza was okay; nothing to write home about just cheap pizza. We were going to get fresh seafood from Edisto Seafood, however they do not steam crabs. So we chose to go to Flowers Seafood. These guys were friendly and we decided to let them do all the work. The crab legs were the best we have ever had.

Hiking/walking:
The parks website advertises the trails to be ADA; however, the staff does not know what a mobility scooter is (which Tommy uses) and seems to be reluctant for you to use it.  Even the 2 sites we saw that are designated for handicap use, did not look friendly with the exception, they are close to the bath house.  Overall, wheelchair users will be challenged at this park.

Our Opinion:
All in all if you are looking for a quite campground with beach access this is the one.

Site Description:
We had site 53 in the beach campground. This was a good site until heavy winds came in. There is not anything to shield you from the wind and the wind did get rocky. The access to the beach is right there and it is close to the bathhouse. This site is well shaded and very heavy in lose sand. We also had site 55 the ground was much more firm.

Favorite Sites:
Sites we will look at next time: Single: 010, 053 Double: 061 and 008

Most of the campsites in the last loop have no shade.

Tommy & Heather

Beach

Sally sun tanning

Sand Everywhere!

Heather having a great time