Twin Lakes Campground, Lake Hartwell, Pendleton, South Carolina

Well we finally left the 1000 Trails campground and moved just a little way East to Twin Lakes Recreation Area in Pendleton , South Carolina just a few miles from Clemson University.  This is a very nice Army Corps Of Engineers campground on Lake Hartwell  which is a about 50 miles long and has 962 miles of coastline. 

I didn't do a map of the trip since it was so short but in its place is a map of our travels since we left NH on August 9th including where we expect to be for the next couple weeks.  We are at #23 this week and will be at #24 next week which is another 1000 Trails campground (we are going to try them one more time).  

Our site - we are on a little point surrounded on three sides by water

Part of the lake from behind our camper looking North

Looking South

View of our campsite from the lake

Blue Heron near the camper

View across the lake with the Blue Ridge Mountains in the background 

Another view of the lake

We hiked the shore for a few miles today and found quite a variety of terrain from white sand beaches to a large rock quarry to long stretches of red clay - I took this pic because it reminded me of a Mars landscape

1000 Trails Campground Fairplay, GA, Stumphouse Tunnel

Wednesday we moved from McKinney Campground in Ackworth, Georgia to Carolina Landing in Fairplay, South Carolina.  Carolina Landing is owned by "1000 Trails",  a membership campground organization that has campgrounds throughout the country.  We were given a 1000 trails membership when we bought our camper and this is the first time we have used it (we actually tried before at other locations but they either had no vacancies or were closed for the season. Well, we were not impressed - they advertise 227  sites but in actuality the majority of them are rented out to seasonal campers and there are only a handful of sites available for travelers.  The park is old and outdated, very hilly and tough to navigate - our first experience with 1000 Trails was not a good one although in fairness, the people that worked there were very pleasant and helpful.  I guess we shouldn't complain as we got a free membership and it cost nothing to stay here.

Our Route

Our Site - We were jammed in between two permanently occupied campsites - very little extra space - barely enough to use the awning.  This is not the worst place we have stayed in the last year and a half but it is in the top three. 

We went hiking on Stumphouse Mountain and stopped to see Stumphouse Tunnel which was part of a plan to build the Blue Ridge Railroad from Anderson, SC to Knoxville, TN.  The railroad ran out of money and ceased work on the tunnel in 1859.  Then the Civil War came along and ultimately work on the railroad never resumed.  The tunnel was hand dug and goes about 1/2 way through the mountain.

There is also a large waterfall nearby that we hiked to.  The falls were nice but there has been a drought and I understand they are normally more impressive.