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Passed thru Beaufort and on to SavannahDec 20, 2011
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Hunting Is. St. Pk., in the jungle
the beach with top of lighthouse in distance
afternoon happy hour, tide comin in
| December 20, 2011 We had a nice easy drive on a beautiful day all of 76 miles south to Hunting Island State Park about 20 miles outside of Beaufort, SC. We had camped here back in the early 90’s and I was impressed with the place. I was equally impressed this time. The reason? There is the greatest mix of pine trees and palm trees that I have ever seen. The CG is like a jungle with narrow twisty roads. So it was heads up to make sure we didn’t take the roof off again. We could have camped very close to the ocean but it was more crowded and cramped on that loop. We ended up in a secluded spot just a short walk away. The beach here is not as nice as at Huntington Beach SP but still fun to walk. The water is very shallow a long way out and at low tide the ocean is several hundred feet below the high tide mark near the campground but about ½ mile away it goes out at least ¼ of a mile. There is a lot of erosion taking out many trees along the beach. Since these are barrier islands the sand is always shifting. Wednesday and Thursday we didn’t do much of anything. Took walks and read books. On Friday we hiked to an old lighthouse about 2 miles away thru the woods. It is much shorter by the beach but they said we should only walk that way at low tide. It is 160’ tall and we climbed 171 steps to get the view. What is amazing is that the lighthouse was built in 1873 but had to be moved in 1889 because of erosion. It is steel and was built in sections but the entire interior is lined with bricks. Back in the 1930’s a CCC camp was here building the park and the guys had to take shelter from a hurricane in the lighthouse for about 30 hours. It was just a gorgeous day but they all have been. Sunny and 70 or so. We walked the beach back passing thru a forest of dead trees that the ocean is claiming. Such a strange sight with the pines and palms all akimbo along the beach. Today we headed into historic old Beaufort. It is a small interesting town. There are a bunch of big old antebellum shacks built around town. We walked around and saw most of them. The oldest was built in 1720 with many in the very early 1800’s. A lot of huge live oaks with Spanish moss hanging everywhere. The movie “The Big Chill” was shot here and Barb wanted to see that house and most of the movie “Forrest Gump” was also shot around here. It was just a nice feeling town right on the Intracoastal Waterway. Sunday morn we hitched up and headed further south mostly on 2 lane roads down to Savannah, GA. So one more state down. Another beautiful day for traveling. We drove into town and found our way to the visitor center. We were heading for Skidaway St. Pk. just outside of Savannah. The park is nice, heavily treed and very quiet. The place is pretty empty, we had expected more folks here. We spent Monday just kickin back and then today we went into Savannah and wandered the streets. We got a book of walking tours to see some sights. I have to say that Savannah has one of the neatest waterfronts I have seen. It is on the Savannah River and large ocean going ships come and go up the river. Since so much cotton was shipped out of there back in the old days the waterfront was built up with many large warehouses. It also has many cobblestone and brick streets along there that definitely date way back. Now the area has many shops, restaurants and bars. It is just a very unique area. It was just another gorgeous day to be out. 70’s and no wind which has been the norm for days now. Just can’t complain on that account. |
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