Best Places for Hiking Near Manning, SC

Hiking is a great way to get close to nature and release yourself from the rigors of everyday life. Within easy reach of Manning, South Carolina, are some awesome parks with hiking trails offering a variety of scenery and terrain. Here are some of the best places to hike.

Poinsett State Park

A little over a half hour drive west from Manning is Poinsett State Park on the edge of the Manchester State Forest. It offers over 1,000 acres of diverse landscape with more than 25 miles of hiking trails. Some trails connect to the Palmetto Trail which takes you through the Manchester State Forest.

The hiking areas include the Scout Trail, Hill Top Trail, Laurel Group Trail, and the Coquina Trail. Along the way, you can enjoy the serene setting of the 10-acre Poinsett Park Lake, visit the 1930s coquina bathhouse, and the ruins of the pre-revolutionary grist mill. There is a variety of wildlife habitat in the park and over 300 plant species.

Woods Bay State Park

A similar distance to the northeast of Manning is the 1,590-acre Woods Bay State Park. The park provides the opportunity for you to get a close-up look at one of the last Carolina Bays remaining in the State. The landscape features oak-hickory forest, sandhills, marsh and shrub bog.

Hikers can follow the 0.9-mile Mill Pond Nature Trail, or you can take the 1,150-foot boardwalk which offers the opportunity to see alligators in the cypress-tupelo swamp. Other wildlife you might spot includes more than 80 species of birds, raccoons, otters, tree frogs, and various snakes.

Santee State Park

Santee State Park is located on the western shore of Lake Marion, South Carolina’s largest lake, which was created in 1949 to provide hydro-electric power. The 2,500-acre park is approximately 30 miles south west of Manning and offers four easy to moderate hiking trails covering more than 10 miles.

The twisting trails will take you through thickly wooded areas with mixed pine and hardwood, and around swamplands, ponds, and sinkholes. At some points you’ll have spectacular views of the lake and the cypress forest that flourishes in the middle of it. The lake habitat makes this an ideal location for birdwatching.

Santee National Wildlife Refuge

Located on the north shore of Lake Marion, the Santee National Wildlife Refuge is around 15-miles south of Manning. Set in 13,000 acres, the refuge is divided into four units and features forests of pines and mixed hardwoods, old croplands, marshland, and open water. Over 10 miles of hiking trails meander through this beautiful refuge.

While hiking, you can visit the Santee Indian Mound, a ceremonial temple and burial site dating back over 1,000 years. During the Revolutionary War it was used by the British as an outpost named Fort Watson. Wildlife species you might see include 45 mammals, 54 reptiles, and almost 300 birds, depending on the season.

These stunning locations provide great hiking, and most offer camping facilities enabling you to turn your trip into an overnight adventure.

Image by Tony Webster via Flickr | CC BY 2.0 | Cropped from original

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