COE Walter F George Lake Bluff Creek Campground

Overall: Excellent campground with close access to the Chattahoochee River, access off AL State Rd 165. Second stay here so I will shorten this somewhat. Again, this time of year not crowded at all. I had my pick of lakefront sites, and chose one where I could hang my hammock between two trees. 

Getting there: Known as Bluff Creek Park on Google maps, it is located South of Fort Benning and Fort Mitchell in the most Eastern part of Alabama. 

Check in and staff: Check in was very easy and one can make advance reservations. Next time I will make them ahead of time on the website listed, but doing it by phone was easy. It just took more time than I wanted to spend. But then again, you have to know what site you want to do it ahead of time. 

Amenities: There is a boat launch site, a fish cleaning hut, and multiple bathroom facilities. Water and electric are present at each site. Bathrooms: clean, well kept. Laundry machines available. The showers had plenty of hot water and were clean. No mold or mildew. 

Site: I had site 79. It was right next door to where we stayed last time, and on the water. The site setup was the same. Very comfortable and a beautiful view of the lake.

Overall: Excellent campground with close access to the Chattahoochee River, access off AL State Rd 165. The sites are, for the most part, reasonably private with most sites being right on the water and have excellent views of Bluff Creek. Some of the campground areas were closed for the season as traffic falls off quite a bit in the Fall. Most of the campers had RVs, but there were one or two tents as well 

Getting there: Known as Bluff Creek Park on Google maps, it is located South of Fort Benning and Fort Mitchell in the most Eastern part of Alabama. 

Check in and staff: Check in was very easy and one can make advance reservations. We were allowed to take a quick tour to pick out a site, but did have to call the central number to pay by credit card once we had picked out a site. They have stopped putting up a note on each site and now simply issue a parking pass for your vehicle. I did have to go back to the gate to get that and while doing that the reservation was verified.  The staff were kind and very pleasant. 

Amenities: There is a boat launch site, a fish cleaning hut, and multiple bathroom facilities. Water and electric are present at each site. 

Bathrooms: clean, well kept. Laundry machines available. The showers had plenty of hot water and were clean. No mold or mildew. 

Site: We had site 81. It was right on the water. There was a good size picnic table and another square table at the site. The fire pit was out near the water and there was a stand up BBQ as well. Also provided was a hanging hook for provisions. The campground was very quiet, but in the evening one often heard the chimes of a RR crossing that is just outside the park entrance. The chimes& red flashing lights go on after dark when a car approaches the tracks to make sure that the driver stops and checks for train. There are occasional low flying airplanes due to the nearby military fort.

We camped at Bluff Creek during the Independence Day holiday weekend, the campground was near 100% capacity. Our reservations were easily made online using the www.recreation.gov website. The campground is located near the town of Pittsview, Alabama which is on the Alabama state line boundary with Georgia. The states are separated by the Chattahoochee River and also the boundary of the Eastern and Central time zones. I mention this because the town of Columbus, GA (23 miles away) is a popular nearby attraction for the area and the time is one hour ahead of the campground times. This can also cause confusion if your mobile phone is set to automatically detect time zone changes. 

The road into the campground has a railroad crossing that is a very rough transition for crossing, slow speed will be required when crossing these tracks. We arrived late afternoon and were greeted by friendly and well prepared Camp Hosts that quickly completed our check in. We were given a campground map and complete rules/regulations that pertain to the campground. 

We camped on site 34 which is a pull through site. It was a typical site that would accommodate any size rig in my opinion. The site included water, 50/30/20 amp electricity, table, grill and fire pit. The parking pad was paved and level, the table area was freshly graveled. There are many sites located on the river banks that offer wonderful views of the Chattahoochee River and sunsets. Most sites do not support parking or launching boats due to the height of the river banks above the water’s edge. 

There are three bath houses on the campground supporting the 88 campsites, the showers were never overly crowded even with the park at capacity. The bathrooms were cleaned and restocked daily by the park attendants. 

The only negative comment is related to the nearby paper mill located across the river near by the campground. This is of course a needed and appreciated industry to the local area. However, there is a noticeable noise and smell generated by the facility. If you are expecting a dark sky for stargazing, this is also affected by the mill's lighting. 

There were several over the air TV channels available broadcasting from Columbus, GA and the surrounding area. We had usable Verizon service for text and calls but internet access was very limited. 

There is one dump station with only one lane, on Sunday afternoon the line was backed up as expected with a full campground. 

Overall, we enjoyed this campground, it was well maintained and operated by the park staff. The hosts were friendly, approachable and visible during our stay.