If you haven't spent a day just exploring the unpaved roads and trails with your 4x4, you need to. It's absolutely gorgeous and some areas have been completely untouched and make for a fun 4x4 experience.
Great place but terrible roads and lots of dead trees over huge areas from recent forest fires. Used to see lots of wild life. Where did they go?
It was a very pretty area with nice wildflowers and trees and wetland. We just pulled down an access road and had the world to ourselves. Just could have used some maps and signage. If you're headed here, plan ahead for exact locations (including backup locations) and don't count on road signs, shelter signs, or GPS at all unless you have an offline GPS.
The most breathtaking area of the state I had the opportunity to visit. camping, kayaking, and visiting centuries old cemeteries are just a few of the ways to indulge mother nature in all her splendor.
My son and I made a quick trip to the Charleston area and were delayed overnight. We had our pitbull and 250 pound mastiff with us. It's difficult to find tourist hotels that accept our dogs. I found a description of a free primitive campsite on the web. The directions were a little off and my 4wd jeep got stuck on one of the dirt roads canted at an angle. We were setting up camp when a truck full of citadel cadets came by and were happy to help a damsel in distress. They were on their way to help out friends who also got stuck. We had a great night camping and I had to force our dogs to get in the jeep the next day. On the way out we found the official campsite and the directions were wrong. Still it was a fun adventure
So to be fair to the rangers, we did go during eclipse day. We wanted to go somewhere natural and not jammed with people and noise. Three of us (one car) drove down from Raleigh-Durham. Ranger station was closed down with a gate out front (hey, I'm sure they wanted to watch the eclipse as well and didn't want 1000 people in their parking lot!), but there were no signs or maps at all to be seen most anywhere.
I've been to about a half dozen national forests this year, and all of them have little brown road signs and wooden sheltered maps all over the place for hiking trails, camping areas, and where to park and what to see -- not like the national parks where there are signs and exhibits everywhere, but enough that you can get around. The only map I saw was inside of the locked ranger station and nothing on the outside. And hint, hint -- there is no cell signal in the forest on three different carriers tested, and road atlases don't show things like hiking trails or picnic areas.
I'll visit again one day when not everybody on the continent is trying to cram into the Charleston area and update if things are easier to find.
Francis Marion National Forest is a US Park based in Huger, South Carolina. Francis Marion National Forest is located at 2967 Steed Creek Rd, Huger, SC 29450, USA.
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