HUNTING ISLAND STATE PARK

Hunting Island State Park is absolutely magical. It is definitely one of my favorite camping trips. It is cozy, peaceful, and will bring you back to life! … that sounds dramatic, but really - it is awesome!

For Fall Break, we had planned this elaborate road trip to Big Bend National Park, and we were super pumped. Unfortunately in the weeks leading up the big trip, we had MULTIPLE car issues with our Prius… like one after another… they just kept coming. So we decided to stay a bit closer to home. We searched for something a bit different than our usual camping spots, and we always love camping by the beach, so once we found Hunting Island, we went for it! We spent two nights + three days in the Hunting Island paradise.

We arrived pretty late in the day, so we stopped to check in and then tried to quickly set up our spot (site #12) before sundown. We decided not to use the Habitent, since it is so windy at the beach, but we did bring out new trifold mattress.. which was amazing! We LOVED site 12.. a cozy little secluded corner of the property with a swamp/bayou… it was a dream really.

The next morning, we woke up early to watch the sunrise. The awesome part about Hunting Island is that you have the beach almost entirely to yourself. The only people there are fellow campers, so it is so peaceful.

After sunrise, we walked back to our camping spot to get ready for the day and made some tea. We had a special visitor for breakfast - can you spot him?

After breakfast, we headed out to explore the state park. We ventured to the lighthouse and walked along the beach.

After exploring the park for a bit, we decided to head in to town to Beaufort, but there were a lot of people walking around and in the shops, so (due to Covid-19), we decided to head back to the campsite for the night. We stopped by the campsite store to get some firewood (check out Vinay’s Covid “get-up”. haha) We made ate some fajitas for dinner, made s’mores, and were about to head to bed when…. I kept hearing a rustling sound in the lagoon. Vinay turned his headlamp on and saw some beady eyes across the lagoon. We were hoping the light would make the animal run away, but instead.. it ran closer. It was a big, fat, fluffy raccoon coming for our s’mores. We quickly cleaned up and headed in to the tent for the night.

The next morning was our last morning at the beach, and we were really feeling bummed. We woke up early to run out to the sunrise, and it did not disappoint!

After sunrise, we dragged our feet back to the campsite to pack up. We were pretty bummed to be leaving so soon… Hunting Island is so very special, but it was time to head back to our jobs in TN. We can’t wait to go back! Do you have a favorite beach camping spot? We’d love to hear about it!