4/9 Hunting Island State Park, SC

I originally had been thinking of going to Hilton Head to spend a few days, but this place was recommended to me as more scenic and quieter, with a better beach.  It is a long drive out here, and my attempts to stop at a grocery chain did not work out because the parking lot was so cramped.  Luckily, I always have enough for a few days, so I just kept driving.  Can you tell that I tend to take the "center" lane on a two-lane bridge when it is very narrow?  When other cars came, I slowed almost to a stop to prevent scraping along the railing.  A truck made the decision to wait at the end until I got off, no doubt so that he could use the center lane!

It took two spotters to help me get into my narrow camping spot because there were two very large pine trees just where I had to cut my wheels to back into the spot.  Photos of offending trees to come tomorrow.  Anyhow, here are a couple photos of the beach taken yesterday when I got here.

Today, I took advantage of the low tide to walk about half a mile down the beach to a lighthouse.  You can see how flat the beach is.  This made it a great place for little kids to play in the water as it was very shallow and no big waves on this day.

This is an island on the move.  You can see how the trees have drowned in this area and are now under water at high tide.  Note the barnacles.

 

Here is the lighthouse.  I climbed up the 167 steps.  Not as tall as the Ponce Inlet light, but very nice view from the top.  The arrow on the one photo shows the original location of this lighthouse.  It was build of metal plates, lined with brick, and was intended to be moveable, if necessary.  It is a couple of hundred feet from the shore, so it is safe until the island moves more.

 

 

Heading home, the tide was coming in, so I got my feet and shoes wet in the shallow waves as I weaved around the dead trees.  

 

And here is a small flock of willets.  I suspect they are on their way home to the northern Atlantic coast.