We drove down to Occoneechee State Park for what we hoped would be an exciting stay. John H. Kerr Reservoir! Buggs Island Lake! Whatever you call it, it's BIG. We were expecting some good kayaking and fishing. And our campsite was "waterfront", so that was something to truly look forward to.
And we had been looking forward to it--for months. This trip was originally scheduled for Spring Break, but kept getting bumped forward. First it was the grandbaby's due date (highly worth moving a camping trip!) and then other things. But we finally got down there just before school started.
What a disappointment. First off, when we heard "waterfront", we pictured beautiful campsites on the edge of a wooded lake. What we got was small, awkward parking areas high above a rocky shore with no access to the water. And those (there were about TWO that actually looked out at the main part of the lake!) went first, of course, so the only ones we had to choose from were over little stagnant coves and you *might* could catch a glimpse of the water.
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| I am a master of backing that thing. And may I add, I did it alone. |
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| Not kidding. |
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| This is shooting downhill from the "living area" next to the camper. See? That's "waterfront". Not. |
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| You could climb down the hill and down an extremely steep bank to get to the cove. That wasn't fun with the kayaks! The water was pretty gross and there were literally bubbles coming up from the rotting vegetation below the surface. The water was oily and black, and stunk to high heaven. |
It was hot. And stinky. And the water was downright gross. And there were no fish biting, at all. And we really didn't have any fun.
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| This guy didn't catch any fish, either. |
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| Dave did catch his wallet with his pocket fisherman. |
In fact, we packed up a day early and went home. Bummer.
We did take a side trip and visited Staunton River Park (very nice cabins!) and hiked the Staunton River Battlefield trail over the old railroad tracks. That was a lot of fun. Somehow I took zero photos. Ooops.
Park Rating: Occoneechee
C 3 (small sites, precariously perched, not really "waterfront)
B 2 (old style and weird showers in them!)
W 5 (lake, big, WAVES)
H 2
R 0 (none that I know of)
O 3 small store
S 0 (too many people on the lake!!)
