Table Rock State Park — Attraction in Pickens

We went over Veterans Day weekend and it was absolutely stunning with the fall foliage. My husband and I agreed that the park is highly underrated and offers so much! We didn’t get to take advantage of all of it in our 3 day trip, but below is a review of each part we did:

Table rock trail - the first 2 miles are pretty tough and it picks back up a little closer to the summit, but SO worth it. There are several incredible views along the hike. It’s about 3.5 miles one way and my husband and I made it up in 2 hours and down in about 1.5 hours. The park estimates 3 up and 2 back, so based on your speed, you’ll need 3.5-5 ish hours, but definitely give yourself time to enjoy the views. 2-3 liters of water is perfect for the trip.

Mill Creek Falls spur trail - this is a short hike going around a lake. There are benches where you can sit and take in the view of table rock across the lake. They also have seasonal swimming and kayak rentals. It’s a great place to picnic and also runs right past the Gains Lodge (see below).

Gains Lodge - available for rental use and where some of the park events are held. They had bluegrass bands playing there the weekend we went, which was so fantastic. The lodge has a great view and leads to the mill creek falls spur trail.

Primitive camp sites - if I were rating this alone, I would probably give it 4 stars just because the campsites were closer together and further from the lake than we expected based on the website. The sites are pretty clustered, but they all have hooks to hang bags, picnic tables, fire pits, and tent squares. We stayed at tent site 5 which was right in the middle of the cluster. Sites 4 and 6 probably have the most space. The walk in from the parking lot is 3-5 minutes, which was pretty nice. The walk to the privy and water was probably longer than that, so we only did that once (if the visitor center at the parking lot was open, we went there to use the restroom and fill up water). The camp sites are up on a hill above the lake and surrounded by trees that block the view of the lake quite a bit, but still very nice sites. Overall we loved the experience! Also, park entrance fee is covered by the campground pass, so be sure to sign in at the...

If I could give more stars I would. This place was simply amazing. We camped in the main camping site and was first greeted by the lady in the park store. It was 8:30pm when we arrived and she was super sweet and nice. Gave us all the information that we needed for our stay and how to find our campsite. Throughout the weekend park rangers/ staff emptied the campsite trash cans and cleaned the shower rooms. On Sunday we went to the camp store for ice and but they were out so we were sent to the information station. We were greeted by Crystal and Doreen and got into great conversation with them about our experience. We then talked to them about the military discount for S.C. national guardsmen and informed them that we couldn’t find the area on the reservation site to put it in. That evening a park ranger showed up to our campsite and informed us that he had caught wind of our having trouble of putting in for the discount and he wanted to ensure we got some sort of discount. He comped us a night stay and thanked us for our service. The hiking trails were wonderful. We did the Carrick creek trail because we had small kids with us. The views and scenery were refreshing. Every ranger and park staff we encountered were professional and courteous. I have absolutely no complaints about this park. I only have a suggestion to fix the shower knobs so that they work properly. Especially in the restrooms across from campsite 75. Other than that we will be returning here throughout the summer. One of the best areas to camp at. Gets cool at night and no mosquitoes to...

What a shame. We made reservations to camp at Table Rock campground for Memorial day weekend. We had camped at Devils Fork State Park 15 miles away the previous weekend and loved it there. There was night and day difference between the two even though both are SC state parks. Table Rock State Park campground has so much potential and could be wonderful but:

All the common areas are grown up and in bad need of weed eating.

The paved roads in the campground are in terrible shape. There are many areas of broken pavement that could easily damage a camper tire.

There are many low lying branches that could catch on antennas and AC units on tops of RV's.

At least 75% of the campsites were badly washed out with gullies and bare mud where there used to be gravel. The campsites need to be bordered with timbers or RR ties and leveled out with pea gravel.

We arrived around 7pm the first day of our stay. The campground host was very gruff and not friendly at all. However, a young female park range came around while we were setting up and checked us in and gave us our vehicle pass right at the campsite. She was very polite and nice.

We came to this campground for the hiking trails up table rock mountain. Those were nice but the campground needs some serious work. As I write this on Memorial day week probably only 10% of the campsites are taken. Most campgrounds would be booked up with a waiting list. They need to wake up and do some maintenance. Go down the road to Devils Fork State park and see how they do it. That state park is full...