We took a little getaway to Hickory Knob State Resort Park for a long weekend in July. Hickory Knob is 1,091 acres on Lake Thurmond in McCormick, SC with tons of amenities. You could spend days here without leaving. We are on a mission to get a stamp in our passport books at all of our South Carolina State Parks though, so obviously we explored nearby while here.
We arrived Thursday night and checked into our lodge room for the weekend. We stayed in one of the 70+ lodge rooms. Some of the rooms overlook Lake Thurmond, but we choose one in the middle section. The room was clean and very basic with a small table, dresser, bed, 2 chairs, closet space, coffee maker and tiny bathroom.
The main building had a large space with TV’s, couches, games, pool table and table tennis. They also had a restaurant and camp store along with lots of outdoor games and pool. You could checkout fishing gear for free and rent kayaks, canoes and SUPs. There’s a skeet shooting and archery range. Oh, and a campground too! If we didn’t have our 5 month old, we would have checked these areas out. Maybe next time when he’s a little older. A big draw to this state park is the 18-hole championship golf course.
On Friday morning we drove about 40 minutes to Calhoun Falls State Park. Calhoun Falls is about 318 acres with campsites, picnic shelters, boat access, trails and a swimming area. This park is on a peninsula on Lake Russell. We hiked the Cedar Bluff Nature Trail while here. It was 1.9 miles through the woods and took us a little under an hour. There was a TON of spider webs that we had to fight 🙃. Obviously we were the first ones on the trail that day. The swimming area and beach were clean and well maintained with a volleyball court on the beach. Overall we really enjoyed Calhoun Falls and would like to camp here in the future.
While Traxton napped, Tim decided to hike Beaver Run Trail. It starts across from the Lodge area and is 2.5 miles. He enjoyed his hike. Friday night we ventured into town to find supper – needless to say there are not many options here and what we chose was not very good. On the way back we decided to stop for ice cream at The Ice Cream Parlor. Holy moly the dark chocolate raspberry truffle was to die for! It was delicious and pretty cheap.
Saturday Tim had a 2pm tee time, so we went to Baker Creek State Park (17 minutes away). We ended up only riding through the park and getting our stamp as we could not figure out where to park for the trail. This campground is only open half the year. There was a large pavilion overlooking Lake Thurmond, but is was reserved so we did not go in it. We went back to Hickory Knob and hiked Turkey Loop Trail. This trail is 1.8 miles and starts across from The Barn. Along the hike we could hear turkeys and birds chirping.
Traxton and Cassie decided to join Tim on the front 9, but it was hot so they hung out in the pro shop while Tim finished up. The pro shop and employees were nice. They had sandwiches, hot dogs and drinks for sale. Tim said it was one of the nicest courses he’s played (minus Hilton Head/Bluffton area ones). After 2pm it’s only $25 with a golf cart! For supper we ended up picking up Chinese in town since we were both worn out. The food at China 1 was good and the tables clean. We drove across the bridge into Georgia and saw there were more food options in Lincolnton. We called it an early night and watched the Olympics.
Sunday morning we checked out and headed for Hamilton Branch State Park in Plum Branch. This 731 acre park has 150+ campsites, boat access and a playground. There are 2 trails within the park — 1.5 mile Paleo Trail and a short bike trail connector to the 12 mile Stevens Creek Bike Trail. We played on the playground and watched a family fish.
Hickory Knob has a third trail that we did not hike – Lakeview Trail. It is 7 miles and starts/ends at The Barn. We enjoyed all of the parks we visited and would recommend others visiting them. I wish we could have had a campfire one evening to make it feel more like camping. Now to go home and wash laundry and go back to work tomorrow morning. Hope you enjoy your state park visits!
Baker Creek State Park costs $3/adult.
Calhoun Falls State Park costs $3/adult.
Hamilton Branch State Park costs $3/adult.
Hickory Knob State Park is free to enjoy.
