Best RV Parks & Resorts near Bear Creek, AL

Loved this park! It was our first trip in our new Travel Trailer and it couldn't have gone better. We stayed at Yellow Hammer site #9 easy pull through with plenty of room. Not only did all the sites have amazing scenery but the roads were well maintained. Full hookups and AT & T cellphone coverage good enough for working from Trailer. Verizon cellphone coverage didn't work here. Each site fully equipped with fire ring, picnic table, and lantern poles. Wood available for purchase from host. 

Beach & Bath houses were closed due to COVID-19

We spent a lot of time walking with our kids on the trails and riding scooters around the campsite roads. Nature trails were extremely well kept with great views on the water

Best site is Yellow Hammer #17

Our RV GPS and Waze brought us south from Tishomingo via MS-25 to MS-4 to John Rankin Hwy. It’s a more scenic and narrower road than just taking MS-25 south, but there were no issues. We had made online reservations earlier that day for this Army Corps of Engineers Campground (CG) where we get a 50% discount per night using the National Parks Access Pass. We arrived earlier than 2:00 PM when the check-in gate opens, but there was a sign to go ahead and set up and come back at 2:00 to check-in. As we had our site number, we headed directly to pull through site 9 with water and electric(50/30/20 AMP). This was our third time camping at Whitten and we were delighted to find that they had combined site 8 and 9 into one long site. This site still had the old site amenities, which meant that we had double electric pedestals, water spigots, patio areas with picnic table, standup bbq, and fire pit. We were able to adjust our 5th wheel to avoid the several unlevel areas in this very long pull through. As with most COEs, water pressure was good and the electric worked fine. Whitten CG has a lot of mature trees, so satellite is iffy. We had no north shot for our Starlink. However, we got 2 to 3 bars on Verizon and the Mifi worked well for our needs to include streaming. There’s no WiFi in the CG. Site 9 has water view and does not bump up to other sites, which we found highly desireable. During our first stay in 2019, each loop had a shower house with a washer and dryer that we had used. Our last stay was an overnighter and we didn’t need to do laundry, so we hadn't checked those facilities out. This time we were here for three nights and had planned on doing laundry only to find the doors locked. We asked the camp host about the washers and dryers. He stated that the washers and dryers had been closed during COVID and now they were no long functional and weren't going to be replaced. We again enjoyed the trail system through out the CG and recreation area to walk our dogs. The James L. Whitten Historical Center is interesting to go through. There are several fishing piers as well. We came on a Wednesday and were pretty much by ourselves. Both Thursday and Friday campers started coming in around 11:30 AM filling up the CG. The camp hosts didn’t seem to mind the early arrivals and even opened up the office around noon for a few minutes to accommodate check-ins.

This RV park is right on a lake, but a bit away from anything else. If you have any sort of boat, kayak, paddle board, bring it! There is hiking about an hour away at the Bankhead National Forest.

You can pick your spot when you arrive. I like that.

A and B sections are the original sections. C section is brand new with 50 amps hookup. All the big rigs there.

I was on C74 with a great backyard overlooking the hills.

Bathhouse is brand new and squeaky clean. You can see that almost no-one uses the campground shower because one of them doesn’t have a curtain to separate your dry clothes from the water. And neither of them have a caddy or any spot where you can put your soap.

Pool was not open when I was here in April which was a shame. It was hot enough. I would have enjoyed a swim, especially so we there is not much else to do. I don’t have a boat yet. 🙁

A decent Thousand Trails campground.

I had no reception with Verizon but my AT&T hotspot had good reception.

We followed the campground(CG) instructions versus our RV GPS as it wanted to take us down a country road no RV should go on. There was signage where to turn to get to this COE CG as you got close. As this was a Friday and based on our experience going to state parks/COEs at the end of the season when the weather is really nice, we went in early so we could get ahead of the weekend crowd. We were glad we did as after an easy check in at the gate, we proceeded to our loop to site 21 with 50/30 AMP and water. The loops here are a little tight and there are lots of trees so coming in late on a popular weekend could be challenging with trucks, cars, and boats parked about. Site 21 was a bit of a challenge backing our 39' 5th wheel into. There were lots of trees and a little bridge with big drop offs on either side of the road, but we got in without mishap after a few tries. As the afternoon progressed, the locals plus rookie RVers all swarmed in around the same time. We grabbed a beverage and watched the show. This was our first time staying at Piney Grove, but we had come to the area the last three years to get our 5th wheel serviced. The CG was completely full for the weekend. There are quite a few back-ins that would have been much easier. We suggest reading reviews on various websites to find which sites will better fit your rig. The pad lengths on the reservations website seemed to be accurate. In our opinion, the only pull through that would fit a 40’ 5th wheel was site 73. The rest of the pull throughs were the half moon shaped type with too sharp of internal turn and/or trees to deal with. A lot of the sites have some lake view. Sites here are closer together than other COEs we have stayed in. Cell service was spotty with both Verizon and AT&T having two bars. We could text but not receive phone calls(though we did see a few people talking on their phones) and often the internet wouldn’t connect or was too slow to be useful. There are internet hotspots in the CG but we could not get our phones to recognize and/or connect. You get a handful of OTA channels but no major networks. We had to chuckle when several campers here tried and tried to get their satellite dishes to connect. Unless you are maybe near the main road or boat ramp area, doubtful you would get a signal as there are too many trees.  There’s a gas station with a few convenience items as you turn toward the campground on County Rd 3501. Boonville is 20 or so minutes away with all the major amenities to include a Walmart. Tishomingo is closer going the opposite direction, but only has a Dollar General, small grocery store, and gas stations. We would stay here again, but definitely in a different site.

We arrived just before 5pm on a Sunday at the end of October and had no problem securing a site. If you are over 65, you pay the same for a site with water and electric as you would for a primitive site ($16). Compared to other states, this was a pleasant surprise. Many sites back up to the lake and have generous sized concrete pads. Most we saw appeared level. Our picnic table was down a hill by the water so it was a hike to it but very pleasant for eating. I would imagine that at other times of the year staying here might not be so pleasant (heat and humidity plus we saw the remains of some HUGE ant hills). No fire rings but it looks like previous visitors may have built fires in the sandy area near the beach. Bathrooms were reasonably clean but they don’t have soap. I also don’t understand why there was one across from site 12 and one more not far down the road but for the last half of the loop, there weren’t any (except for one that had a closed sign and appeared to be more “rustic”). I’m guessing that people in those sites have fully equipped RVs. Good cell service for Verizon in the campground. Nice hiking trails - we liked the Outcroppings Trail. Evidence of the work of the CCC in the Park, especially the swinging bridge. Overall, a pleasant stay.

We received an email with arrival information, which stated to pick up our site and park information at the shower and laundry facility as you entered the RV Park portion of the golf resort. The information provided a campground(CG) map and our site number. We proceeded to pull through site 25 with FHUs. The site was plenty long enough to situate and disconnect for our two-night stay. Some pull-through reviews stated spacious, and I guess if you rate pad length, that could be accurate, but the sites are close together. The water pressure was excellent, and we really liked the new cedar picnic table. We noticed WiFi transponders throughout the CG. This CG has the most WiFi transponders we’ve ever seen, counting five per row of 20 campsites. The CG WiFi was pretty good, but we put up our Starlink with no problem getting a northern shot. There would not have been a problem with a southern sky shot as well. Soon after we set up, the very nice CG host/manager came by to ensure we didn’t have any issues or questions, which we did not. We got 3 bars on Verizon. The CG is fairly large, with full-time or seasonal leases. They do not have a dog park, but there are plenty of areas to walk your dog. They have dedicated spots for short-term campers. The motel and golf course facilities are adjacent and are located further back on the property. It was nice that there was a separate road to the resort area as the locals drive rapidly to and from the golf course. We played a round of golf and were surprised that the course is not very well maintained, but it does get a lot of play. The CG and the golf course are actually separate entities even though they are co-located. Drove the 15 minutes into Hartselle and were pleasantly surprised by amenities such as the Walmart and especially a very nice, well-stocked Krogers. We enjoyed our stay at this very nice CG.

Tip: Go left at the stop sign on Mt. Zion Rd from Nat Key Rd when departing the CG! When we departed, heading back towards the interstate, you come to a stop sign. Our RV GPS and Waze wanted us to turn right on Mt. Zion Rd instead of going left as we did when we arrived. We took the right turn, and about the time the trailer swung, we saw the drop-off into the ditch, and the driver’s side wheels went into it, knocking off a snap pad. We stopped at the old country store parking lot at the next turn and checked for damage. Thank goodness we only lost a snap pad.