Trails: Sculpted Oak and Yaupon Nature Trails
Hike Location: Myrtle Beach
State Park
Geographic Location: south side of Myrtle Beach , SC (33.65213, -78.92930)
Length: 1.7 miles
Difficulty: 1/10 (Easy)
Date Hiked: December 2014
Overview: A flat lollipop loop nature hike to a world-famous
beach.
Park Information: https://southcarolinaparks.com/myrtle-beach
Directions to the trailhead: From downtown Myrtle
Beach , drive Kings Highway
(US 17 Business) south 4 miles to the signed state park entrance on the
left. Turn left to enter the park, and
pay the small entrance fee. Park in the
Activity/Nature Center parking area on the left, which is reached immediately
after passing the park office on the right.
The hike: So you want to go to world-famous Myrtle
Beach , but you also want to lose the crowds and do some
hiking. This combination sounds
impossible, but it is obtainable if you come in the winter and do the short
nature hike described here. The winter
part of this recommendation is essential: on nice-weather summer weekends the
park can become so crowded that you must wait for someone to exit the park
before you can enter it. When I came
here on a mid-December afternoon, parking lots designed to hold hundreds of
cars had only 5-10 cars in them.
The park
exists today thanks to a land donation from Myrtle Beach Farms in 1934. The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) also
worked here; they built some picnic shelters and other structures that are
still in use. Today the park is an oasis
of trees and sand amidst the development that typifies the Grand Strand.
For hikers,
the park features two short nature trails neither of which form loops by
themselves. However, combining the two
trails with a short beach walk forms the nice lollipop loop described
here. As such, this hike lets you see
everything the park has to offer and get some relaxing beach time in the
process.
 |
| Inland trailhead: Sculpted Oak Nature Trail |
From the
parking area, cross the park entrance road using the marked crosswalk to reach
the signed trailhead for the Sculpted Oak Nature Trail. The single-track dirt trail heads west
through the maritime forest across nearly level land. Some interpretive signs help you identify the
more common trees in this forest, which include oak, witch hazel, and holly.
Just shy of
0.2 miles, the Sculpted Oak Nature Trail turns left where a signed spur trail
to a pond continues straight. The pond
is only a couple hundred feet away, so you may as well hike the short
spur. A small wooden platform overlooks
the shallow algae-covered pond, which featured no observable activity on my
late-afternoon visit. The fact that the
park entrance road lies immediately on the other side of this pond may be one
reason little wildlife frequents this area.
 |
| Algae-covered pond |
The trail
going forward from the pond leads out of the park, so you need to retrace your
steps to the Sculpted Oak Nature Trail and turn right to continue your journey
toward the beach. At 0.3 miles, you
reach the intersection that forms the loop portion of this hike. For no particular reason, I chose to turn
right and begin the Yaupon Nature Trail, thus using the rest of the Sculpted
Oak Nature Trail, which continues straight, as my return route.
 |
| Trails split to form loop |
The trail
meanders through more maritime forest as it gradually curves left while some
man-made dirt mounds appear on the right.
The sounds of busy Kings Highway
remain audible until you get almost to the beach, where they get drowned out by
waves lapping on the shore. 0.7 miles
into the hike, the trail passes a small freshwater wetland on the left.
 |
| Freshwater wetland |
Just after
passing the wetland, you come out beside a picnic shelter and restroom
building, where the Yaupon Nature Trail ends.
To get to the beach and continue the hike, angle right across a parking
area and walk down a concrete walkway labeled “Walk S4.” This walkway uses a wooden boardwalk to cross
a narrow set of sand dunes covered with sea oats to reach famous Myrtle
Beach . Turn
left to begin the beach portion of this hike with the ocean on the right and
sand dunes on the left.
There is
nothing like a walk on the beach. The
soft white sand by the dunes contrasts with the darker firmly wave-packed sand
closer to the water. Sea shells dot the
sand, and small birds comb the shallow water for a meal. The wooden state park fishing pier juts far
into the seemingly infinite ocean. There
were only a few people here when I came in mid-December, but this area becomes
very crowded in the summer.
 |
| Plover |
 |
| State park fishing pier |
The beach
walk lasts for 0.3 miles. To continue
the loop, exit the beach at the point marked “Walk S1,” which is the last beach
access south of the fishing pier. Note
that the state park beach continues another 0.6 miles to the north past the
pier, so a detour may be in order if you wish to spend more time on the beach.
The other
end of Walk S1 deposits you at another parking area, where you need to angle
left to find the signed trailhead for the Sculpted Oak Nature Trail, our return
route. This trailhead is located beside
another restroom/changing building. You
quickly pass some live oak trees with twisted trunks, likely the sculpted oaks
for which this trail is named.
 |
| Beach trailhead: Sculpted Oak Nature Trail |
The trail
soon crosses the freshwater swamp on a short boardwalk as it heads back into
the maritime forest. At 1.4 miles, the
Yaupon Nature Trail enters from the left as you close the loop. Continue straight and retrace your steps 0.3
flat miles to return to the Activity Center
No comments:
Post a Comment