Woods Bay State Park

Woods Bay State Park near Olanta preserves some of the last large Carolina Bays in South Carolina, shallow elliptical depressions that define the landscape and give it unusual scientific and scenic value. Recent U.S. Geological Survey work interprets these bays as relict thermokarst lakes formed several thousand years ago when the climate was colder, drier, and windier, then later reshaped by wind and water. This suggests permafrost once reached this far south during the last ice age or earlier ones. The park also offers picnicking, fishing, hiking, bird watching, geocaching, canoeing through the bay, a boardwalk through cypress-tupelo swamp, a picnic shelter, and a nature center.

Shiloh, South Carolina · United States