Santee State Park

We really enjoyed this very quiet park. Our space was a decent size and level. We had a gravel pad but we noticed some concrete pads. We stayed in cypress view and are glad we did. We drive over to lakeshore and it is more rustic looking. We had water and electric. The bathrooms were clean. The nice thing about this park is it’s close to lots of trails, other state parks and Congaree National Park. The office also has a tiny display/museum which Is very informative.

So, there’s a LOT going on here. Being Labor Day weekend this may not be the norm, but although this campground was full basically and has at least 50% or more tent campers alongside RV/travel trailers, it was an awesome mix of friendly people all having a blast. Kids and old alike. We didn’t realize how “on the lake” it was nor did we know there was a whole other campground closer to the main visitors center and camp store (which is at least 3-4 miles away-this place is HUGE!!!) That being said-I’d love to try the other side but we weren’t disappointed. We were right next to the bath house which was one of two RV sites available for the days we wanted and being sensitive to light I was dreading the major bright pole lights that are always around bath houses and bathrooms. Here-to the glory of the forest gods-no pole lights anywhere!!! The bath houses are lit from underneath the roofs so as to not be obnoxious and obtrusive and after 9000 miles and numerous campgrounds and stare parks-this for me was by far a show stopper. I enjoyed people noise-because they were having fun-not rude. The trails are awesome and even the unmarked ones were cool to explore. Lots of cool fungi and wildlife. Birding is glorious here which made my 3 days even better! First time geocaching and hit 2 close to the campground but there are over 60 locations along the Lake trail-being 7.5 miles-plenty of time to explore! People were friendly here too. One thing is the actual park attendant at the gate was far from helpful. At check in she basically waved us in saying, “you know where you’re going?” And waved and I was like-ummm no-we dont. Maps, brochures-the usual at a state park was expected, at least the rules-nothing-until the next day when she wondered where our tag was and we had never been issued one. “It’s on your post” well, that wasn’t too easy to see but not impossible but as busy as it was and the lack of info and the lack of contact with anyone doing that lately we didn’t look. She didn’t know if they locked the gates (they don’t) and said to call. To me, they should be informed. Otherwise an amazing experience. The limestone trail was so cool as well as the sinkhole trail where you will see numerous sinkholes, a couple large ones. Enjoy!!! Go go go!!

The park is located down a long, wooded road on the edge of a beautiful lake. Campsites are adequately spaced apart giving a fair amount of privacy. The bathrooms seem to be clean and tidy, although we didn’t actually use them except to drop off some trash. Very quiet and peaceful with the exception of a few passing boats from the nearby boat ramp.

This was a nice quiet campground (not here on a weekend though) that was clean. There’s not privacy between sites, but decent space and on the outer loops lots of space behind our site. The playground was really nice, we saw lots of people catching fish, and there were fireflies at night. Two showers stalls in each bathroom. Never had an issue of running out of hot water. Flushing toilets. I never once saw the camp hosts out, but things were tidy and our hang tag was waiting for us at our site. 45 minutes from Congaree NP (beware that there was only one gas station between these two parks, and it was a little mom and pop type place that wasn’t open when I went by) which was a beautiful place. We also visited the nearby Santee national wildlife refuge. The 1ish mile trail around the burial mound area was cool.

The wifi at the park store was totally unusable.

We stayed in the southern campground, right across from the water. We needed a campsite that was inexpensive with good data connection for working. The site was clean. The cleanliness of the women’s bathroom by site 95 was split: the toilet side and sinks were VERY clean but the showers looked like they needed some grout mold control. The bathrooms never smelled like bleach but a cleaner I haven’t smelled before. So it’s possible the cleaner wasn’t a mold fighter. Also, the lake waterline/beaches were lined with small bits of trash so that kind of took away some of the magic of the park.

On the recreational side of things, there are hiking trails between the two campgrounds with TONS of geocaching! I wish I had more time to explore and find them all.

For those who work and travel like us, on Speedtest at 12pm on a Thursday–Verizon via iPhone 12: 14 mbps down and 2 mbps up with 41 ms ping; T-Mobile via Nighthawk MR1100: 22 mbps down and 2 mbps up with 96 ms ping.

Very clean. Lots of woods for hiking and a Great Lake for fishing or boating. We made last reservations and got one of the last open sites. Site 55 was small for our 23 ft trailer but we could pull thru the trees into the site positioning ourselves lengthways in the site. This is probable the worst site there as far as size and level but once we got in and level it had great views. We do want to go back but will get another site. Most looked east to get into and had level areas large enough to fit most rv. Cell service is very limited

We were on the Cypress View Campground and had a very level W/E site. There is a dump station at the entrance/exit of the loops, which is convenient. We reserved online, so were able to go straight to our site with no check in process. The views of Lake Marion are nice and there is a nature trail + playground on site.

A couple tips: 1. Dont get a site on the inner ring of the loops, as you will likely have people cutting through your site to get to the bathhouses, which are in the center of each loop. 2. Don't come on the first day of duck hunting season! We didnt realize that when we booked and woke up at 6am to what sounded like artillery fire in a war zone.