Bluff Hike In Camping
We don’t think it should be. Every campground should hold some sites for whoever drives up.Tell your representative →
- Right now
- Taking bookingsSites offered on 30 of the next 30 nights read 15:34 UTC
- A night
- $10From, per site
- Sites
- 6All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 6 notices
In the agency’s own words
This is a hike-in campground that is located at the intersection of the Bluff and Firefly Trails, approximately 1 mile from both the Harry Hampton Visitor Center and the Longleaf Campground. It is surrounded by a mixed pine/hardwood upland forest. This campground is located at a higher elevation than the floodplain and is not subject to the flooding events that occur regularly in other parts of the park. Keep reading
Recreation
Campers with reservations at the Bluff Campground have easy access to the park’s 27 miles of hiking trails. Campers can reach the Harry Hampton Visitor Center, boardwalk, and other hiking trails via either the Firefly or Bluff Trails. At the visitor center you find information on other trails to plan your trip into the old-growth forest of Congaree National Park. Those who would like to explore and experience Congaree via canoe or kayak can launch from one of the park's two landings, located between 5-10 minutes by car from the visitor center. Facilities • Camping at this campground is tent only. • This is a hike-in only campground and cannot be accessed by vehicle. Campers must park at either the Longleaf Campground or Harry Hampton Visitor Center. • All sites have a fire ring and picnic table. • This campground does not provide electric/water/sewer hook-ups. • This campground does not have restroom facilities. Restrooms can be found at the Harry Hampton Visitor Center, and two vault toilets are located at the Longleaf Campground. • Running water is not available at this campground. Potable water is available at filling stations 24/7 at the Harry Hampton Visitor Center. • This campground does not have trash or recycling receptacles. All campers must remember to pack out all trash and/or waste when leaving and can dispose of it at either the Harry Hampton Visitor Center or Longleaf Campground.
Natural Features
Campsites are located on the edges of an open, grassy clearing in the mixed pine/hardwood forest, and is adjacent to an area currently undergoing restoration to a longleaf pine grassland/savanna. Depending on the time of day, sites may be the sun during the morning or afternoon/evening hours. This location offers opportunities to observe wildlife such as birds, butterflies, and other wildlife. Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (803) 647-3970.
Nearby Attractions
Congaree National Park is located near many attractions including state parks, forests and parks. The city of Columbia is a short drive from the park and offers access to many attractions including museums, city parks and shopping.
What the agency tells you
Reservations • All campsites are available for reservation on a first-come, first-serve basis and must be reserved prior to setting up camp. • Check-in time is 12:00 p.m. on the day of arrival. • Check-out time is 11:00 a.m. on the day of departure. • Site must be occupied by the individual listed on the reservation. • Campers may register for no more than 14 consecutive days, and no more than 28 days within a 6-month period. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Campsite Access, Occupation, and Use • This is a hike-in campground only and cannot be accessed by vehicle. Those reserving a site in this campground must park at either the Longleaf Campground (hiking on the Bluff and Longleaf Trails) or the Harry Hampton Visitor Center (hiking on the Firefly Trail) to reach this campground, a hike of approximately 1 mile one-way from either starting location. • Camping at Congaree National Park is tent only. Campers with reservations must be set up on and physically occupy a designated camp site. • Each site may have up to 8 campers and no more than 3 tents and/or structures (e.g., pop-up canopy) per site. • Use of hammocks is permitted and they do not count against a site's tent/structure limit. Hammocks may only be put up using straps and cannot be put up using nails, screws, etc. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Vehicles • Staying overnight in a vehicle (i.e., car, trailer/RV, camper van, etc.) is not permitted. • Please remember to lock your vehicle and take all valuables with you to your site if possible. If an item must be left in a vehicle, please remember to place it in a location where it is not visible. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Everything else this campground posts · 3
Camp Fires • Fires may only be made within established fire rings and must be fully extinguished (cool to the touch) when leaving your campsite or checking out at the end of your stay. • Campers may only gather and use dead or downed branches already on the ground for building a fire. • The only outside firewood that can be brought into the park is that which has been purchased locally and/or has been certified as pest free. You must have the receipt/proof of purchase and/or wrapper with pest free certification to present if requested. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Food Storage and Disposing of Trash • Remember to properly store all food within sealed containers to prevent access by wild animals such as racoons. • Please properly dispose of all uneaten food and trash. This campground does not have any trash or recycling bins, and campers are require to pack out what they packed in. • Please do not burn trash or uneaten food in fire rings, as this can attract wildlife and leave a mess for other campers. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Potable Water and Restrooms • No restroom facilities are available at this campground and campers are asked to practice the Leave No Trace principles for disposal of human waste. If needed, restrooms are available daily between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. at the Harry Hampton Visitor Center, and vault toilets are available at the Longleaf Campground 24/7. • There is no running water available at this campground. Campers should pack in enough potable water for each member of their group, plus enough to fully extinguish their fire when leaving the campsite. Potable water is available at the Harry Hampton Visitor Center 24 hours a day.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 6 · 6 walk-in
- Hookups
- None
- Accessible sites
- None listed
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…Harry Hampton Visitor Center, and two vault toilets are located at the Longleaf Campground. • Running…”
Around the campground
- Backpacking
- Birding
- Canoeing
- Hiking
- Ranger programs
- Kayaking
- Stargazing
- Visitor center
- Wilderness access
Full this Saturdayread 15:34 UTC
How full the weekend is nationally.
OpenBooked
Every one of the 6 sites on offer is taken this Saturday. 6 are free on Mon, Oct 19. read 15:34 UTC Why the weekend fills and the week doesn’t
Watch for a cancellation
Watch this campground
One email when a night opens, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We read recreation.gov once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time a site in your window is free for the nights you asked for.
Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.
We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.
Every line of the receipt · 12
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rate for this season, $10 a night, plus one $8 recreation.gov reservation fee for the booking. A weekend here means Friday and Saturday night, booked once. Optional charges (an extra vehicle, a second tent, a dump-station fee) are listed separately and aren’t in this total.
Who keeps the booking fee
The agency’s own policy text says the reservation fee and the cancellation processing fee are “retained by the reservation service contractor”, and that a campground concessionaire will decline to refund them because “they did not receive these fees”. Recreation.gov is run under contract by Booz Allen Hamilton. What share of your booking fee the contractor keeps isn’t published in any federal dataset we can read, so we print no number for it. Our reporting on the contract →
How we know this receipt · 5
recreation.gov availability, read 15:34 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
6 sites
Getting there
the map and the coordinate
Where it is
Longleaf CampgroundCongaree National Park · 0.8 mi
Rocky Branch Seasonal Campground (SC)Sumter National Forest · 51 mi
Collins Creek Seasonal Campground (SC)Sumter National Forest · 60 mi
Brick House Campground (SC)Sumter National Forest · 66 mi
Woods Ferry Campground (SC)Sumter National Forest · 70 miThe weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Gadsden, SC
Typical weather
Typical October night 56°F, day 77°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 37°F. Bring the bag rated for it.
Daily high and lowDays with 0.10 in or more
A normal is the 1991-2020 average for the month, not a forecast: about half of all Julys are colder than the July line. The seven-day forecast above answers the other question.
The land, and who answers for it
what threatens it · who answers for it · a letter you can send
What threatens this place
You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.
Who answers for this land
Bluff Hike In Camping is in South Carolina’s 6th congressional district. Its representative, James Clyburn (D), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: A. See every public-lands vote →
Who can change it · 3
Two offices, two different asks. The draft to the agency asks it to set aside a published share of the sites here for whoever drives up. The draft to Congress asks why that share is zero and presses for a published minimum at the campgrounds it funds.
- The member who votes the moneyJames E. ClyburnU.S. Representative · South Carolina’s 6th district
- Your senator, on the same appropriationDarline GrahamU.S. Senator · South Carolina
No contact form we could verify, so that link is their own site. Contact is inside it. Washington office: 202-224-5972.
- Your senator, on the same appropriationTim ScottU.S. Senator · South Carolina
Read the draft, or change the wording
For the camper who turned up, or tried to book, and couldn’t get in. Every draft is written from this campground’s own record (its agency, its unit, its site count and its own weekend) and the buttons above copy whichever wording is selected here.
Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.
Subject Walk-up camping at Bluff Hike In Camping, Congaree National Park, South Carolina
Dear James E. Clyburn, I’m a constituent in South Carolina’s 6th district. I tried to camp at Bluff Hike In Camping, Congaree National Park, South Carolina, and couldn’t. All 6 sites at Bluff Hike In Camping are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 6 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked. 1,623 of the 7,647 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Bluff Hike In Camping keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Bluff Hike In Camping. I’m asking you to put it to the National Park Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund. The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them. Sent about Bluff Hike In Camping (Congaree National Park, South Carolina) via campanac.com
Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.
Subject Walk-up camping at Bluff Hike In Camping, Congaree National Park, South Carolina
Dear Darline Graham, I’m a constituent in South Carolina. I tried to camp at Bluff Hike In Camping, Congaree National Park, South Carolina, and couldn’t. All 6 sites at Bluff Hike In Camping are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 6 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked. 1,623 of the 7,647 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Bluff Hike In Camping keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Bluff Hike In Camping. I’m asking you to put it to the National Park Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund. The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them. Sent about Bluff Hike In Camping (Congaree National Park, South Carolina) via campanac.com
Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.
Subject Walk-up camping at Bluff Hike In Camping, Congaree National Park, South Carolina
Dear Tim Scott, I’m a constituent in South Carolina. I tried to camp at Bluff Hike In Camping, Congaree National Park, South Carolina, and couldn’t. All 6 sites at Bluff Hike In Camping are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 6 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked. 1,623 of the 7,647 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Bluff Hike In Camping keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Bluff Hike In Camping. I’m asking you to put it to the National Park Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund. The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them. Sent about Bluff Hike In Camping (Congaree National Park, South Carolina) via campanac.com