South Carolina's Huntington Beach State Park is a beautiful park, and only 8 miles north of our front door. SC's HBSP was one of the main instigators behind out moving to move here. We used to walk the beach at SoCal's HBSP about once a week and thought of it as "OUR BEACH", and we were volunteering two days a week as docent's in Newport Back Bay, so estuaries were important to us. One day we were looking for a new place to vacation and put a ruler down east to west. It started at HBSP West) and landed on HBSP East ... We hadn't known SC's HBSP even existed. (Turns out the same Huntington family owned both lands). Of course, we had to check it out. When we got here, we were astounded at how beautiful and pristine the estuary and the beach is, and how much wildlife it supports. It started us seriously considering South Carolina as a future home.
The three and a half miles of pristine beach is the most popular attraction in HBSP. In the winter you can have it almost to yourself. On Summers days you can expect it to be more crowded.
But there are other draws as well. The jetty at the North end of the park is a popular fishing place.
HBSP's Freshwater Mullet Lagoon is filled with wildlife.
Both Mullet and Mallard Lagoons are home to Alligators which are a protected species in South Carolina; They are very popular with HBSP visitors. Other popular forms of local wildlife include mink and sea turtles.
HPSP is home to dozens of hundreds of bird species) In the freshwater lagoons alone you can see egret, heron, eagles, swallow tail kite, and osprey. It is also on the flight path of dozens of exotic migratory birds like spoonbill, American stork, and ibis. The maritime forest and woodland/water edge have owls, hawks, and dozens of small colourful birds including the painted bunting. Shorebirds abound ( and nest) on the beach and dunes. This place is a bird watcher's paradise.
There are several short hiking trails within HBSP.
A Board Walk over the salt water marsh leads to Oak Creek.
A shelter on the Oak Creek Board Walk provides another great place for bird watching.
The Sandpiper trail leads through the maritime forest.
A shaded 4-mile bike trail through the front forest of the park connects to a much longer trail that runs the length of the Waccamaw Neck (22 miles).
Atalayas the former winter home of Anna and Archer Huntington. Archer designed the building in the style of a Moorish castle in Spain of the same name. The building is on the National Register of Historic places and can be toured by the public.
A campground supports 133 RV sites, and 6 tent sites,
(Plus primitive camping for up to 100 individuals in non-profit groups.)
The ranger station and gift shop also house the camper registration where CC works.
For more information go to:
http://southcarolinaparks.com/huntingtonbeach/introduction.aspx
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