Greg & Camille Go Bike

A lot of today's route was awful with Route 17 along the NC/SC border easily one of the worst stretches of the entire trip. Narrow or no shoulder with lots of cars rushing past, often brushing way too close. We turned off 17 as we approached North Myrtle Beach with a short stretch on a multi-use trail followed by a lot of time on sidewalks. Eventually we followed roads parallel to the beach that seemed low traffic. There were lots of people riding in golf carts which probably helped the area to feel more bike friendly.

The stretch between North Myrtle Beach and Myrtle Beach mixed off-road trails (mostly alongside golf courses), some local neighborhoods and a lot of sidewalks including alongside route 17. We didn't actually bike along the beach in Myrtle Beach and we hated all the big box stores, golf courses, mini-golf and other touristy/gimmicky establishments. Overall, we were not impressed with the area.

A bit south of Myrtle Beach seemed much nicer. We were again biking along a road next to the beach and the communities still seemed to have a lot of golf carts and infrastructure to make it golf cart friendly. There was a nice, off-road trail heading further south with frequent road crossings. The same older rider seemed to catch up to us while waiting for the light at every crossing.

We arrived at the park just after sunset (5:30-ish). Taking a few wrong turns while trying to find our site in the dark, we decided to stop at the beach before returning to the hunt. We finally found the site tucked back in the woods. The camp site had a nice raised platform and both hooks and a large metal locker to secure food. We set up camp, ate dinner and passed out pretty early to the sound of nearby crashing waves.