Easter Weekend at Briarcliff RV Resort

Tammy and I finally got back on the road to spend Easter weekend down in Mrytle Beach SC at Briarcliffe RV Resort with our good friends Mark and Jane.

This was our first overnight trip this year and I spent Tuesday and Wednesday getting the motorhome ready. I drained the antifreeze out of the fresh water tank and closed all the connections. We keep it at a storage facility so I don’t have access to water, which meant I couldn’t put water pressure to the system until we got to the campground. So we are crossing our fingers that when we hook up that the motorhome doesn’t become a sprinkler system.

I also installed a Tire Monitoring Pressure System  (TMPS) on the motorhome.  It’s a neat wireless system that monitors each tire’s air pressure and temperature.  Most causes of tire failure on the road are the tires running to hot or to much or to little air pressure.  It took me awhile to get it programmed, but works good and let’s you see the air pressure and temperature of each tire as up roll down the road.  It also alarms when a tire get’s out of the settings.

We left Wilmington on Thursday morning and headed south on Highway 17 to Myrtle Beach SC, planning to stay until Sunday. Weather was good and traffic was light. Briarcliffe is located on N. Kings Highway, beside Barefoot Landing and the GPS took us around on Hwy 31 and Hwy 22.  This dumped us back on Kings Highway south of the campground  and being that we were towing the Jeep, we had an easy left turn into the campground.

Check in was simple and painless except for the price, rates this time of the year are running about $73.00 a night and they also have a high tax which is added in.  Their store was small and the office was only open from 8:30am – 5:00pm during the month of April.

Campground entrance

Everything locks up at 5:00pm, the only way to enter the campground is entering the gate and you have to give a $10.00 deposit for the gate key. This is also a membership campground and a lot of the folks I talked with were members.  It sounded like a good deal if you wanted to go there a lot.  Check out their website for further information.

We were on site 159, easy to find and back into with the help of my lovely co-pilot Tammy.  All sites are paved with a patio and full hook ups with cable. This campground had the best wi-fi that we have ever had. Nothing fancy about this campground, our site was full of leaves and they provided “rake stations” that you could get a yard broom to clean your site. No I’m not kidding, I forgot to take a picture of it. Also no trash pick up, they do provide dumpsters to take your trash too

Now to be fair it was a nice campground and we would go back sometime.  They have a nice clubhouse and pool located at the back of the campground on the Inter-coastal Waterway with a boat ramp, they also had a small kids putt putt course. They have church services on Sunday at the clubhouse also. The back of the campground had park models set up and some long term RV’s. The area was very clean and everyone had things fixed up real nice. It looked like most of the folks back there were retired. Saw a lot of New York and Pennsylvania license plates parked around.

Our weather was beautiful, it rained just a little on Thursday evening and after that it was clear sailing.  Had a great time with our friends Mark & Jane who are enjoying their Forest River FR-3. We had good times exploring the campground, riding our bicycles checking out our neighbors and the area. Also enjoyed good food, had some time to rest and enjoy the slower pace for a couple of days.

Mark & Jane enjoying the afternoon.

However, I did contribute to the local economy a little bit to much. If you are familiar with Myrtle Beach SC, you know that it is very commercial  and a vacation hotspot. The campground is located right beside Barefoot Landing, so of course we had to go there, and Tanger Outlets, Camping World and the Kite store to name a few. But it was fun. Sometimes when we go camping for the weekend, we won’t even leave the campground, but these trips like this are different.

This was a great weekend, we had a lot of fun, enjoyed time with our friends and looking forward to the next trip seeking fun and sun!

Thanks for stopping by and please check  back!

 

 

Hammocks Beach State Park

Tammy and I hit the road to check out a campground in Swansboro NC, and took advantage of stopping by and checking out Hammocks Beach State Park which is off Highway 24 near Swansboro.

The state park is unique that the visitors center, kayak launching area and dock for ferry boat is the only thing on the mainland.  The main attraction is the three primitive  islands (Bear, Huggins and Jones) that are located off the mainland with one side facing the Atlantic ocean and the other being in the marsh lands. Bear Island is about 2.5 miles from the ferry dock and has primitive backpack camping, a designated swimming area, bird nesting areas, picnic shelters bathhouse and a concession stand which is open Memorial Day through Labor Day.

Bear Island contains 892 acres bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the south and by salt marshes, estuarine creeks and the Intracoastal Waterway to the north.  It has about 4 miles of white sandy beaches, shrub thickets and maritime forest.  Early in the twentieth century, Dr. William Sharpe, a neurosurgeon from New York, came to Bear Island to hunt.  He fell in love with the area and brought it after his retirement.  He intended to give the land to John Hurst who was his long time hunting guide.  Hurst persuaded him to donate it to the North Carolina Teachers’ Association, which was an organization of African American teachers.  In 1950 the group attempted to develop the Island, but limited funds and the island’s remoteness rendered their efforts unsuccessful.  In 1961 the association donated the island to the state of North Carolina for a park.

Huggins Park is located east of Bear Island, at the mouth of Bogue Inlet and is visible from downtown Swansboro. The island consists of 115 acres of upland area and 96 acres of lowland marsh.  It is home to a maritime swamp-forest and is listed as a “Globally Rare and Significant Area.”  It is ric in North Carolina’s  coastal history being a American Indian fishing and hunting ground to being home to a Confederate six-cannon battery from 1861-62.

Jones Island has 23 acres, located along the mouth of the White Oak River and is visible from the Swansboro Highway 24 bridge.  It is a unique coastal fringe evergreen forest island containing a small wetland area. The eastern painted bunting, a considerable rare breeding bird for North Carolina is known to nest there.

We took a few minutes to visit the Visitors Center and browse the exhibits and informationthey had on the islands about the local birds and sea shells that are found in the area.

Checking out the displays

The Visitors Center

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is at the kayak launch looking toward one of the islands.

 

Most of your state parks have hiking trails, well this one has kayaking trails instead.  They have marked trails though the marshy wetlands.  Two lead to Bear Island,  one takes you to the east side of the island and the second branches off the first and follows the island along the sound front to the ferry basin.  The third takes you around Huggins Island.

If you like backpack camping along with canoeing or kayaking, this would be a good state park for you.  The wind was blowing hard the day we were there and it was cold.  This definitely would be a warm, calm day adventure place.

So if you are ever in North Carolina around the Jacksonville, Camp Lejeune, or Swansboro areas be sure to check this state park out.

Oh, the campground we went to look at was a bust, we’ll be in the Myrtle Beach SC area for Easter.

Thanks for stopping by and please come back!