Austin’s family visits North Litchfield Beach every summer so we booked a week at Huntington Beach State Park to coincide with their trip. The campground was super convenient to their house and right on the Grand Strand Beach! We spent our weekday mornings working and were easily able to hang out with everyone in the afternoons. On Friday of that week we checked out of the park and spent the weekend in their driveway!
The campground itself has a ton to do. The park has daily programming to educate and entertain. There is also Atalaya Castle – a former winter home of a philanthropist and sculptor, Archer and Anna Huntington. One of Anna’s sculptures can be seen at the entrance to the nearby Brookgreen Gardens. There are also great bike trails in the park and Austin was able to go on several enjoyable rides with his brothers.
There is the North Campground and the South Campground at the park. We stayed at the newer South Campground that has full hookups. The sites are all paved and the bathroom/laundry building is really nice. However, there weren’t a lot of trees and the sites were close to each other. We were hoping for a beach view, but there wasn’t a view of the beach from either campground. Edisto Beach State Park set the bar too high! We were also surprised that the cell/internet reception was horrible. We couldn’t even take phone calls from inside our RV. Our time here definitely pushed a cell booster up on the priority list.
There are tons of birds and alligators in the park. As you enter the park you will drive down a causeway with a freshwater pond on one side and the saltwater marsh on the other. The alligators live in the pond and the marsh attracts all kinds of coastal birds. We went on a bike ride around the park one night and happened upon a remarkable evening! As it turns out, the alligators CROSS THE ROAD at low tide to willingly get into the saltwater marsh. They wait for the tide to turn and eat as the tide brings in their food. Then, they crawl back out of the marsh and cross the street back into the pond. It was super cool to experience this! We saw five different alligators cross the road that evening. At one point there were alligators on either side of us!! I went back the next morning at low tide and was fortunate to see another gator cross! It was incredible.
There are also tons of birds in the park, but a fan favorite is the unique Roseate Spoonbill. It has pink wings and a very interesting bill. It feeds in a crazy way too! It walks through the marsh and swings its head back and forth through the pluff mud. It can sort through what it finds by feel and find food. I loved watching this beauty wade around and feed.
Despite the frustration of spotty internet and cell service, we had a great week at Huntington Beach State Park. There is a lot to do, the beach is gorgeous and the nearby Murrell’s Inlet has a wonderful selection of shops and restaurants on the water.
South Campground Review:
- We were at Site 157. It’s one of the further sites from the beach access, but we were fortunate to have one of the few trees on our site which was nice.
- Facilities were very new and nice and the gift shop is well stocked.
- The beach is gorgeous!
- Lots to do in the park and in the area.
- Very poor internet/cell service
- Sites in the South Campground close to each other