What, no swimming?
by jackie_skye55 - Written: Aug 25 '08
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Pros: Nice way to spend an afternoon. Quiet. Relaxing.
Cons: No swimming.
The Bottom Line: We had fun and would like to try the camping someday. We wouldn't have far to travel and we'd still feel like we were getting away.
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| jackie_skye55's Full Review: Sesquicentennial State Park |
I took the kids here one day because I was curious. I had read about on columbia4kids.com and it was so close to us that there was really no reason not to pass the time there for a day.
It's really kind of weird when you're looking for the park. It's located off of a really busy road, so while you're riding around looking for it, you're thinking to yourself, "there's no way a park should be located here". There it is though. You pull in and it really is like entering another world. It's kind of cool.
I drove a little way through the trees before coming to the little station where they take your money. I don't know if anybody is usually inside of this but when we went, it was vacant and there was an envelope available for you to put your fees in. It's $2 for adults and free for children 15 and under. I put my $2 in and tore off my parking permit and off we went, following the signs for the lake.
As we were driving through, I saw signs for a dog park, a campground and some trails, all which I'll get to later.
The parking area is not that far from the lake, which was great since I had to carry my daughter in the backpack, which really strains my back. I was unsure about swimming at this point. I couldn't find any information about it online, so I didn't really know if it was allowed or not. I made that clear to my son as we made our way to the water's edge to take a peek. Didn't look very clean and we saw nobody inside. I wandered over to what I thought was an information type booth, but it was closed. O.k. There was absolutely nobody in sight. It was actually a little creepy.
Then off past the playground, I noticed a much larger building and thought there should be somebody in there. We made our way over that way and sure enough, it was the rangers station. We went in and asked the gentleman about swimming. He said they used to allow it until some sort of weird fungus took over the lake. Ew.
I then asked about the paddle boat rentals I had read about online. They did indeed rent these and for a very reasonable price, I thought. It was $5/hour for a two person and $8/hour for a 4 person. You could also rent the boat for the day for $15. We took the 2 person boat for an hour after being assured that my 15month old would be o.k. sitting between us. Incidentally, I also noticed that they had fishing boat rentals (fishing is allowed at this park) for $12/day but I didn't see any of these at the dock, so I'm not sure about those and I didn't really ask.
One tired and sweltering hour later, I was more than ready to return that boat! The lake is really small and there isn't that many places to explore. Plus, it's loaded with lily pads so thick that it almost makes you think the boat will get stuck if you venture through them. We did see a turtle or two but didn't see any fish in the water since you couldn't really see in the water.
After that little adventure we made our way over to the playground where the kids played for a good hour. By this time there were a lot of kids and parents here and everyone was friendly and had fun together. Plus it was shady over here, unlike the water, so that made me happy.
Although this was the extent of our trip, I was curious about the camping and dog park, so I went home and checked them out online. You can learn all you need to know here: http://www.southcarolinaparks.com/park-finder/state-park/469.aspx
As far as the camping goes, there are 84 sites available that have electric and water hookups, 17 for RV's and 4 that have a tent pad already on them. The rest are sand packed. It runs $16-$18/night for these sites but if you don't care about the water and electric, you can ask about primitive camping which is a little cheaper at $10-$12.50/night. I didn't drive through the camping area but I did speak to a woman at the playground who was staying there for the summer. She said that her daughter could ride her bike all around the campground without her worrying about her.
The dog park is a 2 acre fenced in are where you can let your pups run free. There is a permit charge for this as well which runs either $4/day or $25/year.
I'd like to go back and utilize their trails at some point. The website states that they have 4 altogether, a 3.5 mile road trail, a 1.9 mile hiking trail, a .4 mile nature trail and a 6.1 mile bike trail.
If you plan to take a big group to the park, like a company picnic, you can rent the shelter houses for $25-$38/day, which I think is a little steep considering that the $2 admission fee is not included. I suppose for a company this would be a reasonable amount to pay for accommodations for a large group though. They also have one of those team building challenge courses that some companies like their employees to partake in. This runs $65/day.
Recommended:
Yes
Best time to go: September-November
Recommended for: Familes
Review Topic: Overview
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