A Visit to Buck Hall - Thursday - September 15, 2011

We have wanted to scout out Buck Hall for some time.  Buck Hall is a small Federal Recreation Area with a campground and a boat launch. It is located in the Francis Marion National Forest.  Nancy had to work today, so I asked a good friend of ours, Bill Jordan, to go on a mini-road trip.

Click Photos to Enlarge

Buck Hall Recreation Area is about 55 miles south of us,

between Georgetown and Charleston, South Carolina. 

 

Red Dot is Buck Hall Recreation Area

Zooming in a little closer

.

Red line is Buck Hall Road off Highway 17.

Zooming in a little closer and with satellite.

You can see the campground loop near the

Intercoastal Waterway.

It took us about 75 minutes to get their from our house.  So it is certainly a place to consider for both camping and kayaking.  There is a day use fee of $5 ($2.50 with the Senior National Park Pass).  After we paid our $2.50 fee, we decided to check out the campground first and then launch the Sea Eagle.

The campground is small with 14 RV sites and

about 6-7 tent camping sites.

RV Sites are in the large circle.

The Tent Sites are in the lower area of the photo along the water. 

The dump is the small circle attached to the RV circle.

The boat launch is at the end of Buckhall Landing Road

 in the upper part of the photo.

The RV Sites are huge, paved and capable of

handling the Biggest RV’s and a boat.

Each campsite is paved, has 50 amp electric,

water, cement picnic table and fire ring.

Large site facing the intercoastal waterway.

Large fifth wheel and truck.

This site had a trailer, boat and truck.

Tent Camping Area along the intercoastal waterway.

Bath House had showers and was centrally located. 

Nothing special, but functional.

There are no sewer connections, but the dump station is large and easy access.  Most of the campers had boats with them as the intercoastal waterway boat launch is right in the recreation area.

The best part is that the sites were $20 per night (only $10) with the Senior National Park Pass.  What a deal!!  The downside, if you can call it a downside, is the max stay is 14 days and you can only make reservations on-line on Reserve America.  We feel certain, we will be using this campground when we full-time and have to be back in the area to help Nancy's mom. Buck Hall and Huntington Beach will put us near her residence and we could flip-flop the 14 day limits back and forth between the two when we need to stay in the area for an extended time. 

Before we launched the kayak, we drove over to the picnic area.

Nice spot for lunch if we come down just for a day of kayaking.

Next we got the Sea Eagle ready to float and

took is down to the boat launch.

That’s what friends are for ;o))      Thanks Bill J.

We paddled about 4 to 5 miles along the intercoastal waterway.  It feeds the Atlantic Ocean so the kayaking range is limited.  Couple that will all the boat traffic and I think we might need to explore some of the smaller creeks in the area.  There was very limited wildlife, but a dozen “Gone With the Wind” mansions along the waterway that were quite a beautiful sight!!  We timed the tides perfect (thanks to Nancy giving us the tide schedule) so the paddling was easy :o)

All in all, it was a great day!  Beautiful weather, nice campground and a good kayak trip.  We stopped at Lands End, a restaurant at the Georgetown marina, for a late lunch and then headed home.

Good Friends, Good Weather, Good Fun….

Life is Good!!