Troy Crider
Park Manager
I’m Troy Crider, manager of Myrtle Beach State Park. I grew up in the South Carolina State Park Service as the son of a long-time park employee, and I have worked for the park service in one way or another throughout most of my life. When I graduated high school, I applied for a seasonal job at Myrtle Beach State Park. I was offered a job for the summer working in a variety of roles with then park manager, Robert Turner. Mr. Turner nurtured my passion for parks, which helped me decide on a career as a park ranger. After that summer, I quickly transferred to Coastal Carolina University where I earned a degree in Recreation and Leisure Service Management.
My favorite place on the park is the fishing pier. The pier offers amazing views of the park, and most importantly, it emphasizes the importance of protecting one of the last beachfront green spaces on the Grand Strand. As you look up and down the beach you can see the sculpted oaks rise from the beach until it ends at miles of high-rise hotels. Try your luck fishing, enjoy an ice cream cone, watch wildlife, witness a sunrise or sunset or just relax and feel the breeze and listen to the sounds of the ocean.
A first-time visitor should make sure they catch a sunrise over the Atlantic Ocean. There’s nothing like it and no two are ever the same.
**Our Ultimate Outsider stamps are located in multiple locations throughout the park. These include: the admission booth, park office, ranger station, pier gift shop, and nature center.
Along the far-reaching stretch of Grand Strand coastline, Myrtle Beach State Park sits nestled among oceanfront maritime forest. A quiet, and surprisingly green, escape from the otherwise bustling beach, the park provides educational opportunities, a nature trail and some of the best surf fishing South Carolina has to offer as well as stunning ocean views and another great fishing spot on Myrtle Beach pier.
As far as Myrtle Beach campgrounds go, the parks’ is among the most popular, providing guests with Myrtle Beach pier and shoreline access as well as cozy sites tucked away under the towering trees. If the Myrtle Beach campgrounds aren’t for you, overnight guests may also stay in one of six rental cabins, built by the CCC in the 1930s.
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