The journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step, and this is mine.

Tag: DiscoverSC UltimateOutsider SouthCarolina StatePark

Santee SP Camp at night

Hiking South Carolina – Santee State Park (with a Free recipe!)

It’s been almost 10 years since I’ve last camped at Santee. It was nice to get back out to this park. Working with a youth group this time, we camped in the primitive “Scout Camping” area at Santee State Park. Santee is yet another State Park gem in the South Carolina State Park system.

Santee SP boat ramp looking over Lake Marion
Santee SP boat ramp looking over Lake Marion

Set on the wester bank of Lake Marion, this park offers ready access to the lake, fishing, and camping. This 2500 acre park park in Santee Cooper County is easy to get to. It’s just 3 miles north of I-95 and the town of Santee. It’s a popular camping and recreation site for anyone seeking a break from the daily grind. While I’m usually found in the group or primitive campsite, there are about 158 standard camping sites, including 30 cabins. This park also has about 10 miles of bike/hiking trail. Somehow I’ve overlooked these in the past. I defiantly need to add these to my things-to-explore list for my next trip.

I’ve been to this camp dozens of times over the years. After a long hiatus, it was interesting to find virtually nothing had changed, at least at the primitive site. While functional, the primitive area old cold water bathrooms seemed exactly the same, down to the same peeling paint. Again functional, but unchanged in over a decade. I was able to get out of camp for a short walk. See a video of the hike here and let me know what you think.

Cooking class table layout
Cooking class

Our main purpose for this trip was to teach and model different cooking techniques for new campers. We included base camp and backpack style recipes, foods and food preparation, and cooking methods.

Free Recipe

Here is one simple quick backpacker recipe which everyone seemed to enjoy.

Chicken & Stuffing
Ingredients: 
1 Package of Chicken/Turkey Flavored Seasoned Stuffing Mix
1 or 2 Foil Pouches of cooked chicken.
1/2 to 1 Cup of water

In a group size pot (+- 1 liter), boil the cup of water and remove from heat. Add the cooked chicken, stir. Add the stuffing mix, stir well. Serve.

A 12-once package of stuffing mix can feed about two hikers. Adding a couple 2 or 3-ounce packs of chicken will boost up the protein. You can fancy the meal up with a few cranberry raisins and chopped nuts stirred in from your trail mix too.  

Favorite Time of year: Anytime for camping.

Things to Know: The breeze off the lake can be refreshing in the summer. However can lower the chill factor in the winter.

Camping: Camping is available at Santee State Park (reservations required).

Pet friendly: Must be leashed at all times, including the forest, okay everywhere outdoors except cabin and lodging areas of the park.

Getting There: Santee State Park is just North of I-95 and the town of Santee. It’s about an 1 hour drive from the Charleston. area.

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2019 Palmetto Challenge

He doesn’t know yet …

I signed us up for the 2019 Palmetto Trail Challenge and Radar is going to be my plus one. He just doesn’t know it yet.

This 48 day event is hosted by the Palmetto Conservation Foundation (PCF) and is intended to inspire teams to hike or bike as many miles as possible between March 11 and April 28 “on the state’s trails, greenways, sidewalks, and hallways” (yes, they said hallways).

This is great motivation to get out and hike more. I needed some trail time to help me prepare for this summer’s Appalachian Trail section hike with our volunteer group this summer. I’ve been doing fair amount of daily walking (along with other fitness stuff) around the neighborhood, but I want to get out more and see some of the local trails too. The challenge sounds kind of open ended if it includes “hallways” but I intend to use the challenge to close some of the trail section gaps I have in the Palmetto Trail, as well as hit the local trails around me. For Radar, he loves taking walks and hikes with me. He regularly walks with me in the neighborhood and we have done a couple day hikes in state parks like Lee and Croft, he has been a really great trail partner. With this challenge I hope to include at least one overnighter with him. I fully expect to work him (and me) up to both our longer hikes and our first over night camping experience. This should be a great learning experience for both of us. I’m excited for him. He just doesn’t know it yet but he’ll be excited too.

Radar sporting his Ruffwear day pack
Radar Radar sporting his Ruffwear day pack

So, whats a challenge without a goal? I’m going to put 200 miles on the table as our goal. We’ll see. I thing it’s obtainable with enough stretch to be motivating. But I’m not including any hallways.

Each week the teams send in their prior week total mileage, it gets recorded and displayed on the PCF website to help motivate the other teams. It seems last years participants hiked 8,000 mikes. If you are interested in taking up the challenge, then March 4th (noon) is the last day to register!

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