The Beaver family was fortunate to have a long weekend this February, so we took the opportunity to head to the Pee Dee / Grand Strand region of our state (roughly the northeastern quadrant of our state, including the coastline). We visited four state parks on this trip, Little Pee Dee being the first.
A quick word on the ‘Pee Dee’ name–this is a name to describe Native American groups from the area. In this area, you’ll see many things named after the Pee Dee and the Waccamaw tribes, both of which still have a small presence today. Here’s a link to the Wikipedia article on the Pee Dee people, which I would love to read more on myself (so the link is for both you and me).
For starters, Little Pee Dee State Park is in a fairly remote area in Dillon County. We didn’t see any signs for it until we were very close, and I even lost GPS signal at one point, but we fortunately found the park with no problems. The drive close to the park features driving over wetlands and black water, which is so prevalent in the area.
On the drive in, you pass over the sand rim of a Carolina bay, which, as those of you paying attention to this blog will know, is a geological feature of unknown origin marked by an elliptical impression in the ground and surrounded by a sand rim. (Click here for our trip to Woods Bay State Park, which highlights another Carolina bay.)
Once we finally parked, we had a short amount of time to explore the Beaver Pond Nature Trail, which is an easy 1-point-something-mile trail through the pines. It ends up at the wetlands at the upper end of the lake that is in the park. While we didn’t see any beavers, we did see plenty of wildlife, including a turtle and two snakes slithering around on this warm February day. Teagan, our very own Junior Ranger, also noticed the chattering of bats in a bat house near the park office. (Sage, a nascent Junior Ranger, enjoyed drawing a ladybug in the sand…see the picture below.)
We didn’t have a chance to explore near the lake this time, as we had to quickly scarf down our sandwiches at the picnic shelter before hitting the road towards the coast.
We determined that for people living in the area, this would be a nice place to go spend a Saturday. I’m sure the fishing and boating in the lake would be nice for those who want to enjoy the outdoors. The ranger there was very nice, and we’re glad we got a chance to briefly stop by.
Have any of you ventured out to Little Pee Dee State Park? If you’re from there, did/do you visit there often? Keep exploring!
Be sure to check out the Maps link above to see a map of where we’ve been so far and to get a quick link to that park’s post. It also allows you to see where Little Pee Dee State Park is in the state.
Our next stop on our tour was Huntington Beach State Park. Check out our visit here.
Beavers in the Park 