Skidaway Island State Park

Tuesday, May 6, 2025 we set out on our first long trip of the year.  The next several blog posts will be from our trip that we just completed – enjoy seeing our adventures!

We left the house around 9am and were off to Skidaway Island State Park in Savannah, Georgia.  Our travels indicate this leg of our trip is about 333 miles.  This is a long driving day for us – as last year when we did a long trip I realized that we are much better travelling 250-300 miles per day.

Celebrating 50 years as a park!  1975-2025

We arrived about 4pm which seems to be about when we arrive to most of the parks regardless of the number of miles we travel. When arriving at a Georgia State Park, I always visit the park office - the online reservation system requires you to pay 50% of the cost of your campsite - so I always owe them a little money.

Park details

Skidaway Island State Park is located at 52 Diamond Causeway, Savannah, GA 31411.

Phone Number: (912) 598-2300

Open till 10pm

Park is 588 acres

Senior discount starts at age 62

Military discount

Campground is pretty big in size!  We arrived to find that our campsite, #54 was a pull through (surprised us as we have never had a pull through before).  Our site was near a corner in the campground with no one on one side of us or behind us. A short walk to the bath house/laundry facilities.

In general, the campground is shady and has lots of trees which we prefer to ensure that our air conditioner doesn’t have to run non-stop to keep the camper cool.

Campground details

Our camper is 30 amp, so most of the time I am not looking to see whether or not the campsite also have 50 amp (but I will try to do better! I know some of you want to know that little tidbit of information because you have larger rigs).

• Water/Electric (has dump station but no sewer hookups)
• 30/50 amp electric
• Picnic table, Fire ring
• Pull through/Back in sites
• Shade/Gravel sites
• Playground/Amphitheatre
• Bathrooms/showers/laundry
• Checkin is between 1pm and 5pm
• Checkout is before 12pm noon
• Quiet hours are 10pm till 7am

The above photo shows after we are setup in our site - a better view of the overall campsite.  Note that our camper is small, coming in at 17 feet, so there is plenty of room for bigger rigs in this site.

The dogs and I explored a small area of the campground once we were setup – they are almost always game for a walk when we get done driving all day.  Does this say "We are ready when you are?"  (Yes, Abby was with us too, but she had already snagged a place on one of the beds in the camper).

At this park there are a few deer in the campground – and they aren’t particularly scared of you either.  I was able to get within a street width of the deer and was not prepared when the first encounter occurred (no camera).  The overall lighting when the deer are around is pretty low (either dusk or dawn).

Wednesday, May 7, 2025 – Full day at Skidaway Island State Park

We decided to check out a few of the trails within the park itself.  There is a good amount of diversity in the park – woodlands, swamp area, salt marshes.  Surprising that we didn’t really see much in terms of birds – I expected to see more.

Big Ferry Trail

Our first hike was on the “Big Ferry Trail”.  We hiked this trail for about 2 hours – one reason we turned back was because another hiker coming from the opposite direction warned us of a copperhead snake on the trail and we decided – or maybe me – let’s turn back and not deal with that. This is a beautiful trail with lots of shade within the trail – we did not walk the entire trail, but did walk to the observation tower.

This trail can be walked in a two mile loop or you can include the earthworks loop to make it nearly three miles.  This trail is for hikers and bikers - so if you're hiking, please watch out for the bicycles (including electric bicycles).

After a short walk, the overall trail gets a little narrower and the green grass, trees, etc start to provide a nice shade canopy.

And then you'll come into the area that is labelled as the 'swampy' area aka Alligator ponds on the trail map....and I'm always on the look out when I have dogs especially.  Do you see him? (or her)?  Look closely.  Hiding in the green muck that looks like duckweed.

Jim says, "No", so do you see him now?

Yes - I do.  My eyes are pretty good at picking them out - any little movement and I am looking to see what it was.  This gator was small, probably 3 or 4 feet in size.  After a few photographs, we continue on our walk.  And soon we get our first glimpse of the overlook tower - with those lovely white skies (yuck, but it did make it a little cooler).

We walked down the boardwalk to the tower.  From a distance, it looks like you can go up 2 levels - however, the top level has been boarded off and is not accessible.  The stairs on the observation tower are a little steep and our smaller dogs were challenged to go up and down them.  Didn't see any bird life or any other type of wildlife - so we took a water/snack break and then continued on.

After hiking the trail in the morning, we went back to the camper for a while – it was expected to rain and we weren’t sure whether we would venture back out later or not.  However, the rain didn’t last long and soon we decided after resting up to head out.

Tybee Island

The drive to Tybee Island is about 25 miles. We have been there in the past with Jimbo but it’s been about 10 years.  About 5pm, late afternoon on a cloudy overcast day we arrived in front of the lighthouse.

After visiting to take a few photographs, I was getting hungry. 

Crab Shack

Some google searches gave us the restaurant “The Crab Shack” (40 Estill Hammock Rd, Tybee Island, GA 31328) – and if you like crab, this is the place to go!  A good portion of the menu is crab or some type of crab related meal.  I’m not that big on crab, so I ordered a BBQ sandwich.  It was very good – and good size too. 

This restaurant has a large outdoor area of sitting and we sat with our dogs on the outside edge next to the water.  Good way to keep the dogs from getting into every one’s way.  Our dogs got high marks for being quiet and well behaved – you go girls! (Abby, Ollie and Rue)

Jim spent some time talking with a couple on our way into the restaurant and found out that he had been in the military and the Vietnam War – Jim did a kind act, he did a ‘pay it forward’ and bought the couple’s dinner.

After finishing dinner, Jim took the dogs back to the truck while I went over to see what the sign “Gators” was all about.  And wow, I found out – as soon as you walk into this area you are greeted by a lot of alligators that are about 4-5 feet in length.  These gators are looking for you to feed them.

In the middle is a sign that says “No Swimming” on the little island that also has a small light house (no kidding, I wouldn’t even consider it!).

Thursday, May 8, 2025

We got up early and decided to do another hike to see what the Sandpiper trail was.  I had thought we would see more birds at this park, but we really didn’t see many – there were small song birds (we could hear) but didn’t actually see them.  By 8:15 we were starting our walk on this trail which starts near the park office.

Sandpiper Nature Trail

The Sandpiper trail loop is 1 mile in length.  It is the most popular trail in the park taking you over salt flats and tidal creeks, then through maritime forests on island hammocks.  We stopped at the point where the loop portion of the trail starts.  As we went over the salt flats is was evident that we were seeing low tide as there was a lot of sand exposed with little fiddler crabs running around.

We didn’t do the entire trail but did hike a good portion to get some idea of what the trail was like – again, no birds….but we saw a few small critters and of course the little crabs were running around in the muck below the boardwalk.  The trail is not all boardwalk, but a good portion of what we walked was.

About Skidaway

The origin of Skidaway Island's name has never been authoritatively established.

Skidaway is one of Georgia's inner coastal islands, about 8 miles long and 3 miles wide.  It lies south of the mouth of the Savannah River.

Three barrier islands protect it from the open ocean - Tybee, Wassaw and Ossabaw.

When you arrive at the park, you will receive the "Historic Facts Guide" document for Skidaway Island State Park providing history of this area from the prehistoric times to post Civil war.

Maps

A bit used, but this it the trail map for this park.

Big Ferry Trail Loop is in white on the map

Sandpiper Nature Trail is in red.

Campground map with details - we were in Camping Area #4.

Tourist map that shows information about the area but also gives you a flavor for the distance from the park to Tybee Island.

For more photographs, please visit https://www.vpshoots.com/SkidawayTybee

We packed up and headed to our next stop – Little Pee Dee Park in South Carolina.  Hope to catch you on my next blog post!