My All-Time Favorite Beach Campsite

My wife would probably argue with me, but my all-time favorite coastal campground is the one at Huntington Beach State Park in South Carolina. This is not to say that it's my favorite waterfront campground. There are some that I liked a little better at some of the springs and rivers and lakes in various other locales. But for a beachfront campground, this one was my favorite.

One thing I have to get out of the way is that generally I cannot stand South Carolina coastal parks. This is because of one of two problems that plague most of them.

First, I absolutely cannot tolerate Myrtle Beach. I can't stand the traffic congestion, the crowds, and the urban sprawl there. I understand that many people like that stuff...but I ain't one of them.

Second, a lot of beaches in South Carolina suffer horribly from beach erosion. So if the beachfront has been pushed back into what was maritime forest just a few years before...it loses its attraction for me.

The thing that I like most about Huntington Beach is that it largely escaped both of these things. It's far enough away from Myrtle Beach that it doesn't have the monstrous crowds of humans. They do have a yearly art festival there that brings in droves of people, but that's the exception. And somehow Huntington Beach has kept its high dune fields. Don't ask me how, because I don't know. But the big dunes are still there protecting the area beyond the waves.

And the park is packed with wildlife. I have found few other places in South Carolina that offer as much in the way of bird life as I have witnessed there. One time Carole and I were there and watching the array of birds made me feel as if we had somehow been transported back to the age of dinosaurs. Everywhere we looked we saw all kinds of birds, filling any of a number of ecological niches.

The campground has two main areas. The part closest to the beach is open and grassy and is not the kind of spot that I like. But it's popular with people who like being very, very close to the waves (they're  just over the dunes), and who enjoy bathing in full sunlight. The second area is much more to my liking, sitting amidst myrtle and live oaks and awash in deep shade. Both sections have water and electric hookups which makes for very convenient trailer camping. Also, there are bathhouses with flush toilets, sinks, and showers.

So, all things considered, my favorite beachfront campground has to be the one at Huntington Beach State Park in South Carolina.

This was our campsite in 2006 at Huntington Beach. I can't recall the site number. The campsites have water and electric hookups. The front of the camgpround is sunny, but the back half is in the pine and oak forest, which we much preferred.

Carole inspects the campsite as we set up.

Somehow, the dune fields at Huntington Beach are intact, which has eliminated beach erosion.

Great beach front facilities.

Broad, attractive white sand beaches. (Without the horrid crowds present in Myrtle Beach.)

See what I mean? No crowds!!!

Beside the short causeway leading to the beach there are usually a number of big alligators out sunning themselves.

Counting Down...

Only a few more weeks until our first big vacation trip of the year. High in the running was a trip to Pennsylvania, an area where we've never taken our travel trailer. But for years we had been discussing a long trip to a part of our own state that I've never seen, and which my wife hasn't seen in decades: the Outer Banks.

The main reason I have never hauled the trailer there is that it's basically a pain in the ass to access those vast barrier islands. If you go in from the south you face a ferry ride. And there are no big Interstate highways or freeways leading from the central part of the Carolinas to the coast. The closest I've ever been would be Wilmington. The nearest spot to them that we've ever camped is Huntington Beach State Park in South Carolina.

So, we're heading to the Outer Banks.

It'll be all new territory for me. We're going to take the kayaks and get in some time on some blackwater rivers in the Croatan National Park. And we're going to stop at the Alligator Wildlife Refuge to try to get a glimpse of the packs of Red wolves who live there.

And, of course, we'll travel to see the lighthouses, Kill Devil Hills, and Jockeys Ridge where the Wright Brothers had their first flight.

This was our campsite at Huntington Beach State Park in South Carolina. To date, this has been the closest we've ever camped to the Outer Banks. This was also an exceptionally pretty campsite at what, to me, is the finest unspoiled coastal area that is easily accessible in South Carolina. And that's our old Nissan Frontier...the only motor vehicle for which I ever developed any kind of emotional attachment..

Getting the little travel trailer ready for a long road trip. That's part of the fun, too.

Random Shots

Below are some things I've seen over the past few years without having to travel very far. Mainly stuff within a couple of hundred miles of home. We live here in the Piedmont so a relatively short drive east takes us to the coastal plains, and about the same distance west will find us in the Carolina high country. So we've been able to vacation in some really neat spots without having to travel a great distance. Whatever shortcomings the South has, at least it does contain a variety of geography.

Here's something I never would have guess I'd someday witness. The return of the elk to the Appalachian Mountains. This is part of the herd that now makes its home in Cataloochee, in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Now several hundred strong, and growing.

One part of South Carolina that I absolutely loathe is Myrtle Beach. I've never been able to understand its appeal to so many. I hate the place. However, some miles south of that hideous town is Huntington Beach State Park. It's a gorgeous spot and relatively unspoiled. Here's a view in one of the picnic areas on the land side of the dunes, complete with shady cedar tree.

This is one half of the twin summit of Sam's Knob. Sam's Knob is one of my favorite mountains. It's one of our sixers and stands in at 6,040 feet above sea level. It's also one of the most easily accessible sixers and offers unimpeded views from its treeless summit. It's one of the few places in the North Carolina highlands that I keep visiting every year. I really like it there.

I love hiking around on exposed rock. We really don't have much of that type of territory here in the south, so what we do have seems unique. I took this self-portrait a few years ago on Stone Mountain...not the one in Georgia, but the one here in North Carolina. I can get there in about one and three-quarters hours of moderate driving.

I took this one on a kayak trip Carole and I made on the Blackwater River in South Carolina. This is the trip we took when we realized that we enjoyed kayaking more than canoeing. We have yet to buy kayaks, though, and still paddle around in our canoe.

I took this one several Christmases ago in one of the Mast General Stores. I forget which one this is--but I think it's the one near Boone. I like those stores and I've bought several items there for my hiking lifestyle. I've purchased a number of pairs of boots there.

Sometimes I like to go bushwhacking. I don't do that as often as I once did because Carole is deathly afraid I'll get killt way off trail never be located and my body will just lie lost there and rot and my bones will be chew toys for coyotes and mice and such. But I still do some off trail hiking from time to time. This was a self-portrait a few years ago on a mountain called Stony Knob. Despite its name, it was very un-stony looking. But it was a great place to nap in the leaves and take it easy after a long hike.


The writing went well today. I produced over 2100 words on the new novel. I'm once more slightly ahead of schedule.



Call it what it is: MURDER.

Another Damned Diet

My weight has fluctuated quite a lot over the course of my adult life. Since the age of 17, I've been as light as 172 pounds, or as heavy as 250 pounds.

Fuck it. I like to eat.

However, I don't enjoy being fat. If you've ever been thin and also fat, you know how much more fun it is to be thin. When you have a tendency to go to fat, the problem is in weighing the difference between the constant struggle to stay thin and the pleasures of eating lots of good food. Generally, my will power is not able to overcome my need to enjoy lots of good and very fattening foods.

The last time I altered my diet, in 2006, I lost a bit over forty pounds. I had not started out the heaviest I'd ever been (but close to it) and I didn't end up the lightest I've ever been (but relatively close, especially considering my age). Now that I'm 50 years old (almost 51) I know better than to expect my body to ever snap back to the way it looked at 26. It ain't gonna happen. However, I do enjoy being lighter. There's just that problem of fighting the urge to over-indulge in the kinds of meals that I seek out when I'm not paying close attention to what is, in reality, best for me.

When I started my dieting in 2006, I went from a size "40" pants to a size "36". And the 36 waist sizes were getting loose when the Holiday season rolled around. I opted to leave the confines of my diet around November so that I could enjoy the various dinners that I knew would be coming along. I managed not to gain much weight through the beginning of 2007. However, my weight slowly began to creep north. Until last week when I had to face the fact that, while I can still wear the size "36" slacks and shorts, they're getting tight. I've managed, since October of 2006, to gain back about twenty pounds.

Ugh.

Time to go back on the diet.

2005, before a two-day backpack in the Black Mountains. Probably the heaviest I'd been in a long time. I'd guess I was around 240 pounds. One thing about me is that even when I'm fat I'm still physically active. My weight has never stopped me from hiking, backpacking, or scrambling.

Mid-2006, goofing off with my wife at Huntington Beach in South Carolina. This was about the lightest I got that year. Somewhat south of 200 pounds, but more than 180.

This was taken recently on a hike to Green Knob in the Black Mountains of North Carolina. My weight is around 215 or so. Time to go back on the diet. Ugh!

An amusing encounter.

This little fellow is a ghost crab.



We encountered one another on my recent vacation as my wife and I sat on a stretch of pristine beach the last evening of our vacation.

More on him tomorrow, when I've rested from the long drive.