Hunting Island: South Carolina

We stumbled upon one of the most beautiful state parks that was situated on Hunting Island in South Carolina- with a campsite a one minute walk to the beach and trails galore all around us, we decided to immediately book 3 nights at the campground.

We took a boat ride to Philip‘s Island one day, a protected undeveloped piece of land that is home to abundant species of wildlife that can only be visited with the certified state park guide. We saw coyote tracks, encountered two alligators, had baby dolphins playfully jumping next to our boat, and spotted two bald eagles and tons of other birds.

One of the most amazing parts about this area was the meeting of two landscapes that never fit together in my mind- one being the coniferous forests‘ flora and fauna (lots of pine trees, fat gray squirrels, monarch butterflies, coyotes, salt marshes and estuaries) that I recognized from my childhood in eastern Massachusetts; the second being the subtropical landscape, riddled with towering old oak trees draped in Spanish moss, dense swamps, carnivorous plants like the Venus fly trap, snakes, alligators, and palmetto trees.

We were shown such kindness while we there too- so many people on our tour gave us suggestions of where to go next, and our camping neighbors even went out of their way to come by before we left to offer us a free place to stay in their driveway if we ever come back to the area 🥰

I am really falling in love with the south and can definitely imagine making it back here again someday 😊Read more