Stamp #5: Lee State Park

After leaving Sesquicentennial State Park in Columbia, about half-way down I 20 to our home, near Bishopville, SC, we spotted an exit sign for Lee Sate Park, so we took the exit. Just about a mile from the exit, through a rural, run down area, is the entrance to Lee State Park. At 6 pm, the gate was open so we drove in. We circled the loop road and found the park office closed and restrooms open. We walked the boardwalk through the swamp, but saw no alligators there today. The boardwalk came to a dead end with a nice sitting area with benches for relaxing (as much as one can relax in the middle of the alligator and mosquito habitat). After our walk on the boardwalk, we took a quick drive through the park and campground. We were searching for artesian wells that were built in the 1930's, but after consulting the park map, it appears we would need to walk the nature trails to find the wells. Since it was getting late, we decided to save that for another time. The park was deserted at the time of our visit with just a few campers scattered in the campground.

Rating: **
Entrance fee: donations accepted
Restrooms: clean, dated
Parking: plentiful
Rangers: none available
Trails: boardwalk, nature trails
Amenities: camping, group camping area, education center, picnic shelters, access to Lynches River, kayaking, gift shop, equestrian stable & trails, artesian wells  
Park Stamp: Located in box near water fountain just outside park office/gift shop.

Stamp#4: Sesquicentennial State Park

Stamp #4!

For our next adventure on our way to becoming an #UtimateOutsider, we visited Sesquicentennial State Park. This park is a wonderful gem located 124 miles, or two hours, from my house. It is situated just outside the Columbia, SC city limits. We have passed the exit to this park so many times in our travels north to the mountains and beyond, but we have never veered off I20 to check it out. The Ultimate Outsider quest has brought us to "Sesqui" for our first time!

 At first, I didn't think this adventure was going to actually get started. In my research, I read that this park has a biking trail. We love biking, so I wanted to bring along our bikes. Unfortunately, our bikes were locked in my son's shed at his house next door. (Marty had stored them there last December when he cleared our garage for Christmas parties.) Just my luck, my son was not home when we were ready to leave. Within the hour though, my son returned home and were able to load our bikes and begin our journey. My friend Cindy always says that a delay like this is often the Lord's way of protecting us from danger or something else in our path. Today, that advice rang true when we encountered a highway patrol detouring traffic off the main road, through four miles of farm roads around cotton fields and even through a country club neighborhood before getting us back to the main road leading to the interstate. We have no idea what happened ahead to cause the detour, but surely our delay earlier loading the bikes kept us out of harms way!

Well-marked trails.

Sesquicentennial State park is a fabulous park that has a little bit of everything to keep the family entertained for a great day outside. One of the main features of the park is the 30 acre lake that is calm and inviting for kayaking, paddling, and fishing. Boat rentals are available by the hour. After getting "stamped" and browsing quickly through the park office/gift shop, we hiked the 2 mile trail around the lake. The trail is well-marked and features wooden bridges and several boardwalks through the adjacent swampland. The trail was mostly peaceful except for the occasional traffic noise from nearby Interstate 20 which runs through Columbia.

Next, we unloaded our bikes and headed for the mountain bike trail. This part of the adventure did not go as planned. You see, Marty rides a 3-speed bike, but I have one of those cute cruiser-type bikes. My bike is best ridden on flat, paved surfaces. However, the park trail began in the sandiest part of this park located in the sandhills of SC! Most of these sandy parts were washed out, bumpy, and dangerous especially as I flew down hill and came upon washed-out sand holes quickly! It was hard to maneuver my cruiser through the thick sand as well. Eventually, the trail turned into sandy, pine straw strewn winding paths that weave through the forest. We went 2 miles on the bike trail before we decided we truly needed mountain bikes for this trail. My cruiser just would not cut it. :(

Even Marty had to walk his bike on the thick sandy trails.

30 acre lake for kayaking.

Before calling it a day in Sesquicentennial Sate Park, we took a self-guided driving tour (in our truck) to see all the park had to offer. For dog lovers, the park features a 2-acre fenced-in dog park. Owners must purchase a $4 dog permit (vaccination records required) before visiting the dog park. For the kids, a "splash park" is open seasonally and features various water sprinklers. A lake house is located near the lake shore where wading is permitted. After checking out the camping area, we posed at the park sign for the required photo shoot and then headed for dinner!

Marty wants a kayak now!

The park is a great place for a picnic, but we decided to forego sandwiches and opted for barbecue at Maurice's Barbecue restaurant, located just across the busy street from the park. After our strenuous biking adventures, we decided this was the perfect place for an early dinner before heading home! The food was good, the service was great, and Marty let me have the last order of baked macaroni and cheese. (He knows I love baked mac & cheese!) Other than the biking fiasco, I call this a great day!

Rating: ****
Entrance fee: $5 each
Restrooms: clean
Parking: plentiful
Rangers: available
Trails: 2 mile nature trail around lake (easy), 4 mile mountain bike trail (strenuous)
Amenities: camping, picnic shelters, lake fishing, kayak and no-motor boat rentals, gift shop, playground, dog park, & splash park. 
Park Stamp: Located in box just outside park office/gift shop.

The view of the park from Maurice's.

Stamp #3: Woods Bay State Park

Woods Bay State Park is 60 miles north of Little Pee Dee State Park, so we headed that way, passing through Florence on I 95. We stopped in Florence for a late lunch which was a good thing since Woods Bay State Park is also located in a rural area off I 95 near Olanta, SC. The main feature of this park is to preserve one of the last remaining Carolina bays. The park features an 1,150 foot boardwalk through a cypress swamp. Signs posted near the boardwalk warn visitors of the alligator habitat, however, we did  not see alligators during our visit. The boardwalk dead ends at a sign boasting of future development to the Carolina Bay.

Rating: ***
Entrance fee: none
Restrooms: clean
Parking: limited
Rangers: not available
Trails: boardwalk into cypress swamp, nature trail
Amenities: picnic shelter, fishing, canoe trail, Nature Center
Park Stamp: Located in box on sign near restrooms

Stamp #2: Little Pee Dee State Park

Stamp #2

On Sunday, March 18, I visited the second park on my journey to become an Ultimate Outsider. From my home, Little Pee Dee State Park is just a 35 minute drive through lots of farmland, cow pastures, and swamps. The park is situated in the middle of a very rural area. Be sure to pack a lunch because there are no restaurants in the area. We passed through Fork, but there is no food there to stick a fork into. Lake Norton is the main feature of this park, however, the dam was severely damaged during the last hurricane, so there is little water in the lake. The lake features a fishing pier, but it barely reaches what's left of the water in Lake Norman. There is also a boat ramp, but it currently does not reach the water of Lake Norman because of the damage to the dam. When we arrived early on Sunday afternoon, the park was nearly empty and the office/gift shop was closed.

Rating: **
Entrance fee: none
Restrooms: clean, just mopped
Parking: plentiful
Rangers: not available
Trails: Short path to pier, nature trail
Amenities: camping, picnic shelters, pier fishing (no cost to walk on pier), small gift shop, boat ramp, playground
Park Stamp: Located in box on sign near office

Stamp# 1 Myrtle Beach State Park

Stamp #1

Since I live just 35 miles from Myrtle Beach State Park, I have visited this park many times. My family has had cook-outs there under the large oak trees more than 25 years ago. We've watched fishermen reel in a fresh catch from the ocean pier many times. We've sat in the over-sized wooden beach chair on the pier and posed for touristy pictures. But, our favorite thing to do at the park, by far, is to relax on the beach in the warm ocean breeze under the bright sunshine on a hot summer day. In all those years of visiting Myrtle Beach State Park, I never knew about the Ultimate Outsider program and about collecting park stamps. Being a "local," I could have more than three dozen stamps from all of our many visits to this park.

Sand castles on the beach!

Now that I am informed, I've set out to make 2018 the year I become an Ultimate Outsider. Myrtle Beach  State Park was my first park stamp! I "got stamped" on March 3, 2018 when my friend Cindy convinced me to participate in the Myrtle Beach State Park Amazing Race Challenge. This event is held on the first Saturday of March each year and is modeled after the TV Show, Amazing Race. The state park rangers choose a theme each year for the challenges. This year's theme is "sea turtles". There were 19 challenges that each team of two (26 this year) raced to complete. The top 3 teams with the quickest time received 1st, 2nd, 3rd place awards respectively. Each participant received a turtle-shaped medal as well.

The challenges were not too difficult, but each challenge required much reading and running from location to location in order to complete each challenge. Racers were sent from the beach, back to the camping area, to the Nature Center, and back to the beach over and over. Challenges included digging for turtle eggs (ping pong balls), drawing a sea turtle in the sand, creating a proper sea turtle nest, identifying specific sea turtle skulls, identifying specific sea turtle shells, identifying sea turtle facts, completing sea turtle quizzes, etc. and collecting cigarette butts littered on the ground by park visitors.  This bag of butts can be turned into the park ranger for minutes shaved off our final time. Collecting the butts was the most disgusting part since we did not have gloves to shield our hands from the germs! Cindy and I worked like scavengers to collect those butts. We knew we needed several minutes shaved off our final time. This was our first time competing in an event like this. We needed any and all help along the way! But as we were checking in for our final finish time, Cindy could not find the little zip-lock bag with all of our collected cigarette butts! She checked every coat and pants pocket three times. I was ready to disown her, as I have a particular dislike for cigarettes and germs! To our great fortune, a team who was checking in next to us turned in to the ranger a cigarette butt bag for team #28 (our team number!) who dropped it at the last challenge! Their kindness saved Cindy's life! :)

We finished with a time of 3:20. We were exhausted, mostly from the back and forth running to each challenge. Would we do it again? Sure! Now that we know what to expect, we should be able to improve our finish time next year!

We got our Amazing Race Turtle medals!

As for Myrtle Beach State Park:
Rating: ****
Entrance fee: $5 per person
Restrooms: clean
Parking: plentiful
Rangers: friendly & helpful
Trails: Short boardwalk borders beach, miles of beaches, nature trail
Amenities: camping, picnic shelters, cabins, ocean views, clean beach, pier fishing (no cost to walk on pier), gift shop, ice cream in pier shop, equestrian riding allowed in winter, & Nature Center
Park Stamp: See a volunteer in the park office located on the right just past the ticket gate