Kings Mountain State Park, SC

Camping at Kings Mnt. S.P. and a hike on the Battlefield Trail.

I had a great time on my recent visit to Kings Mountain State Park in South Carolina which is adjacent to Kings Mountain National Military Park. These parks offer camping, 16 miles of hiking trails,16 miles of horse trails, two fishing lakes, a museum, 1800's farm/homestead, swimming and boat rental.

The campground was nice and the restrooms were clean. The campsites were spaced fairly close together. I may suggest camping on the inside of the camping loops because some sites on the outside of the loops had very steep drop offs. Literally if you stepped one foot behind your picnic table you would be tumbling down a hill.

The Battlefield Trail was a nice 1.5 mile hike on a paved surface located next to the museum. It has many monuments erected in honor of the people who fought in the battle that turned the tide of the revolutionary war.

The park's replica 1800's homestead/farm was really nice. It consisted of a home and various outbuildings and a barn with animals as well. The museum was very educational with theater which showed an movie about the battle. It also contained many artifacts on display and animated displays on how the battle progressed.

The natural beauty of this park was amazing. I saw some mushroom types i had never seen before. This park was abundant in wildlife and I hold no grudge toward the little critter who made off with my peanuts and cappuccino one night.  Eat well little fellow.

Happy Hiking,

Trail Hiker Chick

Hamilton Branch State Park

Camping at Hamilton Branch S.P.

Hey everybody ! This past weekend I did some camping at Hamilton Branch State Park in Plum Branch SC.

This was my first time to this park and I was blown away, as it seemed every site had an amazing lake view! Some sites were surrounded by water on two or three sides. Some sites were set up with their  own private driveways and others were two sites that shared a single driveway ( in the shape of a T). This is the type of site that I had and i didn't mind this set-up, as the sites were spaced well apart and I had awesome camping neighbors. This type of site may not be ideal for everyone though because they may have concerns about the "traffic" in the shared driveway if they have small children or if you are a light sleeper you may be bothered by the headlights of your neighbors cars at night shining directly on your tent.

These sites are spaced well apart form each other which is usually a super great thing, but as I was camping with a group this trip, the distance between sites made socializing as a group a little more difficult. Depending on your site location, the restroom facilities could be quite a distance away and the one in our loop only had one shower in the women's room.
It rained for about 2 hours on Saturday. This was the first time this tent has experienced rain and I did get a small puddle of water on the inside of my tent. It was about a 4 inch round puddle. I wasn't sure how the water had entered the tent but when i was packing up i noticed I had placed my tent on a small red ant mound and there were a considerable amount of ants very active under that spot. They may have damaged the floor of my tent.

This trip was planned as part of a women's camping group . It was my first time camping with this group and my first time meeting the ladies. i had a great time and met so many really nice people.

This park did have a hiking trail  that was blazed with blue arrows and a connector trail but I didn't get the chance to hike them. I will definitely like to hike them on my next visit. This park also offer a boat ramp, gift shop, playground and multiple pavilions for picnicers.

 
 

                                                                                                                                         

Happy Hiking and Camping,

Trail Hiker Chick