April 25 – Walk around the State Park

It was an overcast and gloomy day but at least it wasn’t raining. We did a short hike through the forest in the park and then went for a long walk up and back on the beach.

Into the forest we go. The path was only about a mile long and looped from the campground at one end of the park to the beach at the far end.

A short stop at a small pond.

This tiny guy caught my eye as we crossed a bridge. They say there are copperhead snakes in the park. Let’s hope we don’t meet one.

There were information signs telling us about the local flora. We had really liked the Tulip Tree that we had seen two years ago on the Blue Ridge Parkway trip.

There were lots of sprawling, many limbed trees.

I even did a photosphere here.

Out to the beach.

It sure is empty.

Some local residents.

There were lots of these jellies washed up onshore,’

There was a crab inside this one.

We headed up towards the north end of the park.

Everybody has to do one of these pictures.

And a photosphere.

The beach is somewhat busier near the hotels in Myrtle Beach proper.

We turned around here and headed back to the RV for some lunch.

Later it got sunny out so we went back out but the sun disappeared as soon as we were on the beach. This time we went down past the south end of the park. Here it is all large rental homes.

Most were built up on piers to protect from storm surges and the eventual sea level rise.

This one looked to be in kind of rough shape and hadn’t been used in a while. It seemed like a waste because with a bit of fixing up, I am sure these places rent for a fortune.

 

These guys said they were catching a bunch of sharks and some other fish I had not heard of.

We saw them catch and release a ray.

Very carefully.

One of the guys said that they have been seeing a lot of loggerhead turtles just off shore. They use these beaches to lay their eggs starting this time of year. Once we started looking we could see a lot of their heads pop up out of the water.

Another tiny resident.

Farther down was a massive RV park that seemed to go as far as the eye could see. It sure didn’t have much character and you couldn’t even see the ocean because of the dunes.

By now it was almost 6 pm so we headed back. It’s great that at least some of the shore is protected by the park.

The one problem with this location is the nearby airport. Thankfully there are not that many flights a day.

This is some of Jennie’s haul for the day. Notice the little plastic shark. At first she was afraid to touch it (as was I).

The weather forecast is much better for tomorrow.