Camp site review: Keowee-Toxaway State Park

We made a quick trip up to Keowee-Toxaway State Park the weekend of March 25, and we had such an amazing time! It was our first time to this state park to camp, so I thought I’d share our experience with you, in case you’re planning a trip to this spot sometime soon!

Keowee-Toxaway State Park

108 Residence Drive

Sunset, S.C. 29685

Phone: (864) 868-2605

Website: http://southcarolinaparks.com/keoweetoxaway/introduction.aspx

We arrived on Saturday morning (the campsite does require a two-night minimum, but we couldn’t get there until Saturday – so we had to eat the cost of the first night). This is a fairly small camp – only 10 RV sites and 10 tent-only sites.

We reserved RV site #3 through the SC State Parks reservation system. Our site was fairly level, which is ideal when you’re trying to get that travel trailer set! We only had to make minimal adjustments.

Because the trees hadn’t completely leafed out yet, we could actually sneak a glimpse of Lake Keowee through the trees from our camp site – quite an amazing view sitting around the campfire, I can assure you!

We set up camp and then headed out for a hike. There’s a 1.3 mile Natural Bridge loop that starts within the park, as well as the Raven Rock trail (about 3.1 additional miles). We made it over to Raven Rock, and were greeted with some incredible views of Lake Keowee. The weather was even warm enough for the boys to wade in the water!

There’s also a 1 mile trail down to Lake Keowee from the tent camping area – we didn’t venture down there, but according to the map, there’s a dock and some tent-only camping sites there.

The park ranger was extremely helpful in helping us get set up. There’s a nice park office at the front end of the park, with restrooms, maps and history of the area, firewood for sale and more. There’s also WiFi around the park house area – but it doesn’t extend to the campsites.

We hiked back to camp and set up for the evening hours. The park was fairly full, but the sites are well spaced out, so you don’t feel like you’re on top of each other. Everyone abided by the noise restrictions (no noise between 10 p.m. – 7 a.m.), and in the evening after dark, you really felt like you were “off the grid.”

I loved the smaller size of this state park, and the feel that you were off on your own a bit. And the easy access to hiking and the lake was a definite plus. We will definitely plan to come back to this state park. Given the smaller size, though, I imagine this park fills up quite quickly, especially in the warmer weather months.

Keowee-Toxaway State Park

Good for camping with kids: YES

Good for getting off the grid: SORT OF

Easy to access: YES

Good amenities and outdoor activities: YES

Bathroom Conditions (scale of 1 – 10, with 1 being I would rather go in the woods and 10 being sparkling clean): 5

WiFi access: None in the park or camp site areas. There is some WiFi availability at the Keowee-Toxaway State Park ranger station.