Butterflies, Ducks, and Lakeside Livin’: Our End of Summer Hurrah
Hartwell Lakeside KOA: August 17 - 21, 2023
Site #15 (other potentials: #13, #28, #29, #30)
Morning views…not too shabby!
What a beautiful campground! This KOA is situated right on Lake Hartwell in Hartwell, GA. We LOVE this lake! The campground used to be Hart State Park until it was bought and re-vamped by a KOA franchisee. While it doesn’t have some of the amenities of other KOAs (no pool, bathrooms are older, etc.), it is a really nice park - all the things we love about a State Park but managed by the KOA.
A 5-hour drive from home, we left early on Thursday so we could spend some time lakeside upon arrival. After an uneventful trip (thank GOD!), we arrived and first things we did was spend time at the dump station. This was a planned “adventure” - Steve had been researching why we weren’t “getting much out” when we dumped - in particular the back bathroom. So, first thing upon arrival, we attacked the problem from literally both ends! He worked the outside while I forced water from the inside down the “drops” to try to flush out what we knew was a problem. And we were met with success! We *FINALLY* had Geraldine cleaned out and problems were resolved. So, 45 minutes after arrival, we pulled into our site right on the lake.
The site was huge and water access was super easy (Grace was in the water in an instant!).We were greeted by tons of butterflies on several of the trees and around the lakeside. We saw tons of butterflies every day - there was a lot of bottle brush around the site that the butterflies loved. And ducks. LOTS of ducks. Grace immediately made friends with them and named them: Baldalina, Freddie, Davey, Daffy, Daisy and Darla. Because we were right on the water, we had a nice breeze and the sunset… AHHHHHMAZING!
Grace gymnastic’ing by the water as the sun sets… look at that view!!!
The weather was absolutely perfect. Clear and gorgeous. We spent most of Friday just chilling in the lake. The water was really nice and SO clear. I could see Grace as she dove down at least 10-15 feet below. The fish were a little aggressive and kept nipping at us, which freaked Kaety out, but once we got her in Daniel the Dinosaur, she was better. We watched lots of campers pull in - there were some interesting parking techniques and one Reflection that we were concerned was going to end up in the lake on top of us the way the guy had to pull it in.
I got my kayak pumped up and ready to take it out, but determined that somehow we left the rudder at home. Needless to say, Auntie and I still went out on the water, but a rudderless kayak is HARD to steer. We went as far down the cove as we could until it dried up and then headed home. It was SO beautiful. But steering was…challenging!
Saturday was boat rental day. WOO HOO! The marina is directly across from our camp site, so it was super easy. We would HIGHLY recommend Hartwell Marina. The staff was super friendly, the boat was clean and the place just does good business. When I had rented one two weeks ago and we couldn’t come, they didn’t take my deposit, which they could have done, instead, they just applied it to the boat we rented on this trip. Top notch customer service.
Getting out on the lake was AWESOME. Steve was able to bring the boat right to our camp site, dock it, and we loaded up right there. Super easy!
This lake is SO BEAUTIFUL. Grace couldn’t wait to get on the tube and fly behind the boat. We even had Auntie and Kaety out on the tube. Steve decided not to go, but I did get on and had a BLAST. We stopped for swimming and lounging in the water at one of the little islands in the middle (there are a ton) just a ways up from the Hartwell Dam. It’s really interesting how the topography changes just on these little islands. I walked around the island (.3 miles) and there was dense forest in the middle, rocky shoals, a nice sandy beachy area, and a red clay/mud area. Fascinating.
While Steve went to get gas in his truck and pick up my watch from the marina, Auntie, Kaety, Grace and I went for a hike on the Big Cricket Trail. It was definitely hotter in the forest than it was being lakeside, but we made the whole 2 mile hike. Kaety was totally a sweaty mess and ended up with blisters, but she was a trooper. We loved all the signs we got to read as we traversed the trail (we learned about Nurse Oaks, about Pine Beetle Boars which cause the top of the tree to turn red as they kill the tree, and about how Native Americans used different varieties of the trees for medicinal purposes); it was a fun way to keep the trek interesting and learn something in the process! We did leave three Hope Rocks along the trail (since it’s no longer a state park, there was not a rule about it!), so hoping someone finds them and enjoys them.
At the end of the hike, we looped back through the campground and got to see the Tipis (tee pees) that they have to rent on the property. They are really neat, albeit HOT inside - you would definitely need to have a fan! No electricity or water, but a neat concept.
We were surprised at how much the place cleared out. Literally almost all the sites emptied except about 4 or 5! We hung out in the lake and watched as the campers pulled out one by one. Kaety got to ride Daniel her Dinosaur around the cove and we played a couple rounds of Person/Place/Thing and the animal game. It was nice to just relax and hang out, knowing we had one more night before we had to head home. We even had Steve play Skip-Bo with us after the kiddos went to bed - he hardly ever plays card games with us!
As always, we ate a lot of food - we do love to cook outside! This was our first time making smash burger tacos (totally a do-over), and Steve redeemed himself on his chicken lollipops, plus he made his ridiculously good pork tenderloin and we closed out with steak and shrimp yakisoba on the Blackstone. Breakfasts were really brunches, but so yummy. Steve made his famous breakfast sandwiches, stuffed omelets, and we did crab cakes benedict one morning (SO FREAKING GOOD). We definitely don’t skimp on the food when we are camping!
None of us wanted to leave on Monday. The ducks came by as we were packing up and we had a hummingbird buzz Auntie’s head while we were eating breakfast which was super cool. It was a quick pack up and an easy empty at the dump station on our way out. We loved this place and look forward to coming back!!!
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