We visited Clemson in May 2025 as part of our May Carolinas loop.

Our original trip plan called for a couple more coastal stops, Hilton Head and Tybee Island, before swinging inland to Aiken and then up into the mountains at Clemson. But returning to our Charleston campground, a place we’d loved with Bugsy, was so hard without her, and knowing we’d feel the same about Hilton Head we decided to skip ahead to Clemson. From Charleston, it was a four-hour drive northwest to Clemson.

We chose Clemson because it’s a) in the foothills of the Blue Ridge with interesting hiking options nearby, b) it’s a small but active university city with good food and drink, and c) there’s a convenient campground close to the action.

Campground

We stayed at Tiger Mountain RV Park, a new campground in the woods with about 15 full-hookup sites and a cute rental cabin, a short drive from downtown, the university, and Lake Hartwell. There’s no office or public bathroom or campground wifi on site, so make sure you have what you need in your camper. It was mellow when we visited; I wonder how raucous it gets on football weekends!

Exploring

After setting up the Airstream at Tiger Mountain, we drove into Clemson to explore. It’s a very college-y town–its identity so revolves around Clemson University that in the ’40s they renamed the city from Calhoun to Clemson–and we enjoyed poking around the university and downtown area, despite the 100000 degree temperatures.

We walked through Clemson University, seeking out Tillman Hall and Carillon Garden, then down the adjacent commercial strip along College Ave (aka downtown). Everything was pretty quiet around the campus and downtown, but again we talked about how different the scene must be when there’s a football game. (I went to a Clemson-UVA game with a Clemson buddy when I lived in Greenville in the 90s and remember it being a lot of fun!)

On our second day, we spent some time in neighboring Walhalla (named by German colonists after Valhalla in the 1840s), a cute and tiny town fifteen miles from Clemson and very close to a couple fun waterfall hikes. Walhalla’s downtown strip has a collection of restaurants and shops, including a brewery and coffee shop, both of which we patronized.

And the evening of Day 2, we sat by Lake Hartwell, just down the hill from the campground and adjacent to the Clemson campus. I knew Lake Hartwell was big, but I had no idea *how* big it is: 56,000 acres, with 962 miles of shoreline and a maximum depth of 185′. To compare to something familiar to some of us from Central VA: Smith Mountain Lake covers 20,600 acres, with 500 miles of shoreline and a maximum depth of 250′ (take that, Hartwell!). Lake Hartwell was created on the Savannah River by the Army Corps of Engineers in the late ’50s, for hydroelectric and recreational purposes. The university bumps right up against the lake’s shore.

Eating and drinking

We ate dinner out our first night in town, and got sandwiches for lunch while hiking on Day 2.

Dinner was at Evolve Kitchen + Table in downtown Clemson. We wanted something healthy, and their delicious salads delivered. They make good cocktails too!

We got bagel sandwiches to take hiking at Alexander’s up the road in Walhalla, and enjoyed a latte and some wi-fi while waiting. The cafe was hopping on a Friday morning.

Breweries

Kite Hill Brewing Co. was our very first stop in Clemson, to power us up for walking around campus. It’s about ten minutes outside of downtown and was busy with a post-work crowd and pre-graduation family gatherings (we think graduation weekend may have been ramping up when we were there). My sour beer was yummy and the sandwiches that passed us by looked fab.

Freehouse Brewery is a happy neighborhood spot in Walhalla with live music and pizza. I had a post-hiking cider (not theirs); J said the beers he tried were fine.

Not breweries

Wanting to experience the real Clemson, we stopped by Nick’s Tavern, a Clemson favorite since 1976. They have a surprisingly good beer list for seeming like such a dive! It was a fun place to refresh ourselves on a hot day.

The Esso Club, opened in 1933, is another historic Clemson bar. ESPN The Magazine rated it the best college bar in America, and while it’s clearly popular and has cool memorabilia, the food and drink offerings left something to be desired.

Our favorite place to have a drink at Clemson was unexpected: The Grill at Clemson Marina! Just three minutes from our campground, we had a front-row seat on Lake Hartwell. Really cool spot for a beverage at sunset!

In addition to our coffee drinks at Alexander’s, we got lattes at Summer Moon on College Ave in Clemson before leaving town on Saturday morning. Coffee was meh, but the food looked tasty.

Hiking

This area of the Blue Ridge, known as the Blue Ridge Escarpment, is a land of drastic elevation change–meaning huge cliffs and waterfalls galore. Here are the waterfall hikes we chose in the Sumter National Forest, near Walhalla, about 30 minutes north of Clemson:

Yellow Branch Falls was an easy and pretty 3.25 mile round-trip walk to lovely falls, ten minutes from Walhalla. Fantastic.

Pigpen and Licklog Falls was another nice and easy stroll. We hiked two miles and ate our Alexander’s bagel sandwiches by the Chattooga. This hike is 25 minutes from Walhalla.

On the way back down to Walhalla we stopped at Issaqueenah Falls and Stumphouse Tunnel, which were interesting enough but not our favorites because they were more crowded. The tunnel was supposed to be a railroad shortcut through the mountains to better connect Charleston and the Ohio River Valley, but work was abandoned in 1859. My favorite factoid: for many years, Clemson University housed its thriving blue cheese curing operation in the tunnel!

Station Cove Falls is just ten minutes north of Walhalla, but felt like a different world: warmer and buggier, but very pretty and quiet. It’s another easy walk in the woods for a little over a mile total.

Farther afield and really appealing but too far from Clemson: Caesar’s Head State Park, Table Rock State Park, Sassafras Mountain (SC’s high point), and Brasstown Falls. We’re keeping these on our radar in case we’re ever closer to them.

From Clemson, it was just an hour to our next stop, Lake Toxaway, NC, home of Panthertown Valley, the “Yosemite of the East.”