On Bulls Island, live oaks and cedars lie bleached on the sand where the maritime forest has fallen into the surf, a field people call Boneyard Beach. You come for that sand inside Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge. Mount Pleasant has no public campground of its own.
The only way onto the island is the Coastal Expeditions ferry from Garris Landing on US-17, a crossing through tidal creek into Cape Romain. The van stays on the mainland. Cape Romain does not allow camping and is open sunrise to sunset, so you walk the boneyard and ride the ferry back the same day.
The ferry runs year-round from Garris Landing. Summer on the marsh crossing is heat, humidity, and biting insects. Shoulder months are easier.
Buck Hall Recreation Area in the Francis Marion National Forest closed in July 2026 for a renovation expected to run into 2028, as of September 2026. That campground is the close overnight for a Cape Romain day. Sleep at James Island County Park across the harbor.
Sullivan's Island and Isle of Palms
Sullivan's Island is the closest ocean beach to Mount Pleasant, and a campervan day here is the fort and the ocean. Fort Moultrie's earthworks face the harbor mouth, exposed to heat and insects in summer, and the Atlantic beach runs beside them. Isle of Palms is the next island, with a county park on the sand. Neither island allows camping.
Isle of Palms County Park is day parking only, and from early April through Labor Day it blocks RV and bus access on weekends because the lot has limited turning space. Go on a weekday in that season, or use the lot outside those months. If you need more sleeping room than a campervan, look at RV rentals in South Carolina.
Hurricane season can scramble Atlantic-facing plans. Farther up the coast, Myrtle Beach is a separate trip.
Patriots Point and the USS Yorktown
Patriots Point holds the Yorktown on the water, flight deck against the harbor skyline and aircraft parked topside. Parking is day use. The museum's overnight program puts youth groups in bunks aboard the ship, not in vehicles in the lot.
Boone Hall's live-oak avenue is the plantation stop on the mainland. Shem Creek is the waterfront stop in town.