SC State Park Hickory Knob State Park

Hickory Knob is located on Lake Strom Thurmond (Lake Clarks Hill if you are from Georgia). SC calls this park a resort as it does include a lodge with restaurant and conference center plus an 18 hole golf course. This place is large and does have a lot of activities especially near the lodge including skeet shooting and an archery range. There are tennis courts, beach volleyball courts, & corn hole too. Lake Strom Thurmond is the southern most of the 3 lakes along the SC-Ga border where the Savannah River has been dammed up. The middle one, Lake Russell is a pretty short drive from this place. (See my write up about Calhoun Falls State Park). Nearest grocery stores are going to be in McCormick(which is the county you are in here) or up in Abbeville, SC. Abbeville is an old historic town in the area and worth the drive up to. Several good restaurants and the Abbeville Opera House is there and puts on plays throughout much of the year. The movie Sleeping with the Enemy was filmed there. The park is mostly surrounded by part of the Sumter National Forest.

The campground was a bit of disappointment compared to the quality of the rest of the park. Not horrible but the sites were close together and the dirt was pretty washed out in one spot making driving a camper a bit of a challenge. The sites were shady and some were on the water. If I was camping in this area I would choose either Hamilton Branch State Park on this same lake or Calhoun Falls State Park on Lake Russell about 20 minutes away from here. This area is pretty remote from towns of any size so I would check food supplies before going in to this area. The area is beautiful with a lot of outdoor activities on the lake or in the nearby forest, it is remote and sometimes that is what I want in a campground. Also, a good option if you are meeting up with non-campers even you if you end up camping in of the other parks as you will be 20 minutes from here at any of the others. Baker Creek is the closest but was not open when we went by, it is seasonal and does not open until March.
Hickory Knob | South Carolina Parks Official Site