Baker Creek State Park, in Sumter National Forest near McCormick, South Carolina, on the shores of Strom Thurmond Lake, is a 1,305-acre regional park built in 1968 to provide recreation access to the 70,000-acre Lake Thurmond. Set in a heavily wooded landscape of rolling hills characteristic of South Carolina's Piedmont, it serves campers, day users, and fishermen and supports water-based recreation as well as multi-use trails for hiking and mountain biking. Its purpose is to provide outdoor recreational and educational opportunities in a natural setting while conserving, protecting, and interpreting natural and cultural resources, with special consideration for the needs of the McCormick community and the surrounding region when compatible with sustainable resource management.