Camping at Paris Mountain State Park
“There may not be wifi in the forest, but you’ll find a better connection.”
This is partly true. We do love the connection found in nature, but South Carolina State Parks offer wifi and I’m not mad about it!
My family booked our very first (tent) camping trip last weekend. We chose the campground at Paris Mountain State Park so we could be close to home. It’s less than five miles from my driveway!
The forecast called for “mostly sunny & 75 degrees” when I reserved our spot. As the weekend approached, rain popped up on the radar.
Pro Tip: tents aren’t meant to handle multiple days of hard rain. Rocket science, I know.
Everything was good the first night it rained – nature’s sound machine. Unfortunately, the tent didn’t have the opportunity to dry out before round two. There wasn’t a lot of leakage, but enough to signal an evacuation before dark! Like I said, it’s good we were close to home. The good news? Everything dried out super quick once the rain stopped two days later.
A grocery bag filled with marshmallows, Hershey bars, and graham crackers sat idly on the picnic table while we learned that wet wood is not conducive to building fires. The boys took turns holding the lighter to “roast” their marshmallows. I’m no Girl Scout, but I think they’d agree it wasn’t a total fail.
We learned a lot. The oversized tarp to cover the top of our tent is in my Amazon cart as I type this.
Eleven of the forty seven South Carolina State Parks are less than fifty-five miles from Greenville.
With or without a tent, Paris Mountain is one of our favorites. It is one of sixteen parks built by the Civilian Conservation Corps.Many of the seventeen miles of hiking/biking trails are family-friendly, especially Lake Placid. The campground was much larger than expected. There are thirty- nine paved campsites, thirteen offering tent pads. The bathhouse was one of the cleanest I’ve seen – and heated! Campground hosts visited our site more than once to check on us and make sure we weren’t getting too wet. (We didn’t tell them we chickened out and drove home to sleep). Once the sun goes down, it is pitch black. Pack plenty of lights if you plan to relax outside.
We 10/10 recommend Paris Mountain State Park campground.
Where else can you stroll Main Street one hour and be lost in nature the next? Gotta love where we live!