Francis Marion National Forest — Attraction in Moncks Corner

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.

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.

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...

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...

If you live in South Carolina, love exploring in the great outdoors, wanna take the bike/horse out or just wanna run, the Francis Marion National Forest is for you. A couple notes though. Parking is only in designated areas, trails aren’t what I would call “wide open.” Most have grass up to ankles or higher with brush on both sides(no asphalt walk paths). Terrain is super flat and very easy to walk. Will get muddy if you walk/hike right after a lot of rain though. If you have a horse there are tons of trials to ride on and even bike trails too. There’s a boat launch and rifle tangle as well. There’s over 250,000 acres of woods with over 150 miles of trails so I’m sure you will find something that suits...