Best Dog-Friendly Camping near Danville, AL

No wifi per office with no known date of repair. Relatively quiet, lots of vehicle traffic and golf carts. Office staff is very helpful and friendly. Majority of park is longterm. Dog friendly, no dog park at location. Close to shopping but far enough away for quiet.

This is your typical military PCS campground for people in transit. No shade! Cement pads to park on. A laundry room, pavilion and showerhouse. There is a dog park and you are off the beaten path. Which makes it a little difficult to find the first time. But when you do your like “Duh! It was right here.” So useful for an overnight if you have a military/retired ID.

This is a great little campground tucked away on the edge of Bankhead National Forest. The location of the campground makes it an excellent location to enjoy the numerous waterfall hikes in the area. The campground was laid out well with spacious gravel sites and full hookups. Sites 2-4 had good views of the pond/field, sites 10-15 backed up to the tree line to provide a little shade all other sites had full sun. The camp host was super friendly and helpful. They have a general store, laundry, bathhouse, and small dog park. The campground has hiking trails on the property if you don’t have time to visit Bankhead NF. If you’re in the area or wanting to spend time in Bankhead NF I’d recommend checking this campground out.

This is a friendly, clean, campground. Staff is helpful, guide you to site and help you park. Sites provide easy access with ample space for RV and vehicle or trailer. Quiet park, pet friendly with areas to walk you pet with grass and trees.

The campground(CG) was easy to find for our mid-October stay. We exited off on 14A to gate 9 where we went through the gate and then did a u-turn to take us back down past the golf course to the CG. We had no problem doing the u-turn with our 40' fifth wheel. We followed the signage to the CG and then into pull-through site 21 with FHUs. There was no formal check-in, but our name and stay dates were on the site post. The pads here are huge and the utilities including 50 AMP worked well. We got 3 bars on Verizon and 2 bars on T-Mobile along with a large selection of OTA channels. We could have used satellite as there are no trees near the RV sites. They have a nice fenced dog park plus a shower and laundry facility with 4 machines each costing$1. The WiFi worked well for a CG this size. Use Gate 8 near the commissary and BX versus 9. Gate 8 gives you an easier drive to the campground. Overall we enjoyed our overnight stay.

We heard from other campers that if you go to Huntsville, Alabama that you have to stop at Monte Sano State Park. We took our Class C up the mountain and was able to reserve full hookups in a nicely wooded area. Sites were level gravel with picnic tables and grill. Great place to bring a trail bike or take hikes. Pet friendly.

Very spacious, tons of spots lake side or on the hill. Beautiful views, pet friendly.

We stayed in early August for 2 nights in the Sleeping Waters campground.

We got there pretty late (after dark) for setting up camp, and I do not recommend doing that. It's about a quarter of a mile walk to the campsite, but the site is absolutely gorgeous! Very secluded and very roomy! The waterfall at the campsite is not large, but it still makes noise.

After we got everything set up and got all the lights out, we noticed the glowing dismalites along the Canyon wall behind our tent!! It was super cool. We also had a creek flowing with crawdads, minnows, and bull frogs. Plenty of wildlife!!

The canyon was pretty cool! The waterfalls were awesome and I loved all the spur trails. Disclaimer: be prepared to get your feet wet!!

The Canyon and campsite were pet friendly. Dogs were even welcome in the country store!! Just not in the seating area for the Soda Fountain.

I have few, minor complaints.. 1) I booked this campsite earlier in the year (early spring, I believe). I specifically wanted a night tour. They did not tell me that they wouldn't have night tours at that time of year. I wish I would've known, as I would've planned the trip for spring or fall. 2) the gate to get into the Canyon after hours for the bath house was difficult to operate. I'd pinch the code in and it wouldn't open. It would take several tries. The gate for the campsite area worked great! 3) The gate leading to the campsites was not marked. At night, it was challenging to determine where to park. 4) In the Canyon itself, not all of the landmarks were marked!! We had a map, but we had never been there before, so we weren't able to find everything easily.

My boyfriend and I stayed here for Valentine's Day weekend (2 night stay). I had intended to go south for warmer weather. It's not what we got, BUT we had such a pleasant stay nonetheless!

We stayed in Site 14, a pull through site towards the middle of the loop. None of the sites are secluded, but they aren't right on top of each other either. You can definitely see and hear your neighbors' sites.

We drove in late on Friday night (after 9:00 pm). The fog was so bad, we couldn't see further than 5 feet in front of us! With GPS, we were able to make it to the state park entrance. We were greeted by a wonderful gentleman who gave us directions to the campground.

Upon arriving at the gate of the campground, the host came out on a golf cart and guided us directly to our site. He brought us firewood and made sure we were in the site safely. The staff members at the SP were stand outs! Super friendly and helpful!

The fog ended up freezing on to everything, but we still managed to get out and about! Even made the short trip out to Fagan Creek Falls near the picnic area.

The bath house was super warm! Showers were great and the stalls were kept clean! The campground is pet friendly too.

Overall, a wonderful experience! We will definitely be returning!

Nice quiet park out on the lake. We were in loop C at the end of the improved sites. The site was level, but the power, water, and sewer were all closer to the center or front of the site than the rear. That wasn’t a dealbreaker, but the sewer was a good bit higher than the paved pad. This made dumping the black tank a little iffy at best. That aside, the park is full of deer, squirrels, birds, all kinds of stuff for the kids to look at. The playground is a bit dated, and the bathhouse could use renovation, but was functioning and relatively clean. The sites are too close together which was nice. It looked as though all of the improved sites had a fire ring and picnic table. There was a dumpster at the end of our loop where the road to the primitive campsites started, so it was only about a minute walk away. The camp store at the front had all the essentials and some souvenirs, as well as the laundry facility. Everyone we met there, including the staff and volunteers, were all great. The kids loved it, and we will definitely be back to the park again.

I first visited Monte Sano SP about a year ago, and it’s been one of my absolute favorite places in Alabama since. As a female I LOVE the staff and feel safe camping and hiking the trails throughout the park solo and with my dogs. Their are so many trails to choose from but the best part about the park, in my opinion is the fact the campsites in the primitive area are typically separated greatly by trees, so you get more a feeling of privacy. If I continue to type, it’ll turn into a book, but take my word for it, if you love nature, privacy and scenic views, Monte Sano is your place in Alabama.

ONE OF THE BEST STATE PARKS IN ALABAMA GREAT TRAILS LARGE RV SITES GREAT STAFF AND GREAT EVENTS PLENTY OF WILDLIFE RUNNING AROUND

Campground Review:

We really enjoyed  the weekend at Tomahawk Primitive Campground, a veteran owned, private campground, just outside Cullman, AL. As the name suggests, this is primitive camping, so no power or water at the sites, but nothing wrong with boondocking, right?!  There are 3 private sites that could handle tents, teardrops, small trailers, or vans, as well as an open field that could hold larger RVs or group camp with multiple tents and/or small trailers. There is also 3 tents sites just a short hike down to the creek at the back of the property where you can camp at your own waterfront site. Each style site is equipped with a fire ring.

The owner has one room in his house blocked off that includes facilities for guests to use and is called the Fest Room. The Fest Room includes a full bathroom with shower that was very clean, a couch and TV (which is a nice place to get out of the elements if the southern weather suddenly turns on you or to just catch an evening movie) , a coffee maker, and a large deck. The deck overlooks a portion of the property and turned out to be a great spot to meet up with other campers or the owner/host and share your camping stories. The deck also includes two gas grills that can be used with permission from the owner.

As mentioned above, the property includes a creek that runs along the property line that was nice to take in, whether sitting on a rock and dipping your feet in the cool water, or hanging a hammock and letting the afternoon slide by with the sounds of flowing water. Our dogs and the host dog, named Bear, loved playing together in the creek!

Wild blackberries were growing all around the property and are starting to get ripe. Picking a hand full of these was a nice addition to our camp breakfast.

We found good cell phone service with Verizon throughout the property.

There is a Dollar General and gas station/convenient store 5 minutes from the property if you need to get any supplies.

While we camped this weekend we also had the opportunity to check out a few of the local attractions. Goat Island Brewery is not too far from the campground and offers up award winning craft beer. We also visited the Ava Maria Grotto at the St. Bernard Abbey, which featured 125 miniature reproductions of some of the most famous religious structures in the world.  A short 25-minute drive south the campground takes you to Mulberry Fork where you can go hiking, tubing, and the site also hosts kayak slalom races in the spring.  5 minutes from the campground is Duck River Dam that has a boat launch and additional hiking trails.

At $15 a night, you can’t beat this to get away from it all for a weekend!  The host was very friendly (and the host dog too!) and was an expert outdoorsman who loves to pass on his survival knowledge. We will definitely be back.

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Product Review:

As a Ranger for The Dyrt, I get to test products. At this campground, I tested the Grub Stick Deluxe Kit.

The deluxe kit, from Grub Stick, is the ultimate 13-piece campfire cooking set that provides endless opportunities to make tasty treats wherever you have a campfire going. With the handles that can extend and retract in length, we found it to be useful as a skewer setup directly on the grill too.  Over the weekend, we used many of the attachments to include hotdogs on the Forks, hamburgers in both the Grubcage and Burgcage, bacon on the Grubpocket with the Bacon Clip, and cinnamon rolls using the Grubtube, Grubcage, and Burgcage.

Two items that we had problems with are the Bacon Clip and the Grabber. The Bacon Clip needs to be slightly larger as it is very tight to get on the Grubpocket with standard cut bacon. Maybe it is intended for very thin bacon? We also could only get two slices of bacon on the Grubpocket at a time. The Grabber is a two finger (thumb and index finger) mini mit that was not big enough to use on the Bacon Clip.

The hotdogs and hamburgers turned out great and the Release Tool is very useful for opening the hot cages. Making cinnamon rolls over the campfire is a skill that I will have to continue to practice as we had varying results on this trip.

I like that the kit includes a carrying bag to keep all the components together  and can be easily stored in the limited space of our teardrop camper. We also found the recipes on the website to be inspiring and we hope they continue to add more ideas.

While we had some minor difficulties, we look forward to trying to master this set. Next trip we will try s’mores, marshmallows, and toasted starburst!

Campground Review: 

Tomahawk Primitive Campground is located near Cullman, AL right off of Highway 278. The campground is primitive, and has no electricity or water pumps or hookups at the individual sites, but there is a common room area attached to the back of the owner’s house that has a clean bathroom, a coffee maker, and electricity. There are 3 campsites with fire rings as well as a large, open field at the main campground area, and additional sites by the creek, about a 10 minute walk from the main area. The trail to the creek-side sites was partially cleared, but there were a few fallen trees blocking the path that could make it difficult to carry gear to those sites. My husband, puppy and I stayed at one of the tent sites in the main campground area. If you are staying in a tent, I highly recommend air mattresses for this camp. While the ground has been somewhat cleared, there are still large stocks sticking one or 2 inches out of the ground that would make sleeping without an air mattress very uncomfortable. However, the bigger issue making sleep difficult for us was the road noise from the highway, which stayed busy throughout the night. I assume that if you are in a camper you won’t notice it as much, but in a tent it made us feel like we were camping on the side of the highway and not at a camp. Another problem that we ran into, unfortunately after we set up camp, is that our site had a ton of fire ants. I’m not sure if this is a problem at all of the tent sites or if it was just ours, but I advise caution when choosing your site and where you set up your tent. Our favorite part of this campground was the creek. It was beautiful and clear, perfect for our dog to play in, and had good locations to set up a hammock and enjoy the peaceful creek sounds. If we were to stay at this camp again, we would bring gear that could be hauled to the creek-side campsites. 

Gear Review: GCI Outdoor Pod Rocker with Sunshade 

As a Ranger for the Dyrt, I sometimes get gear to review on my camping trips. For this trip I got the GCI Pod Rocker with Sunshade camp chair. I LOVE this chair, and so did my husband and dog. The chair comes in a durable carrying case, which is great because I’ve had many camp chair bags fall apart after just a few uses. The chair was a little confusing to set up/take down at first, until I realized that easy-to-follow instructions are attached to the bag. The chair is larger than most camp chairs and provides more support. The sunshade is adjustable and can be moved in several positions as well as completely collapsed. The only complaint that we had about the Pod Rocker is that the included cup holder is a pouch that doesn’t seem like it would actually prevent your drink from spilling. For me, the benefit of having a camp rocking chair far outweighs this one detractor. This chair was wonderful for camping but would also be perfect for outdoor sporting events and concerts. I highly recommend the GCI Pod Rocker with Sunshade! Here is the link for the GCI Pod Rocker with SunShade:  https://www.gcioutdoor.com/rockers/pod-rocker-with-sunshade/

Sipsey wilderness is one of my favorite places in Alabama to go backpacking, especially in the spring in fall when the weather is not absurdly hot and the mosquitos are not out to kill. There are many small backcountry campsites all along the trails and I have tried to catalog and review as many of them as I can to help people plan their trips to the area. Make sure to take a look at my other reviews to get a more comprehensive view of my favorite trails and places to stay. This site is located right next to a small waterfall in a little alcove off of the main trail. It is really an incredibly beautiful space and I suggest visiting even if you don't end up setting camp here. The ground is relatively level and sandy which makes for a comfortable tent setup. However, the water levels in Sipsey are highly variable since we get a lot of rain in Alabama and most of the levels are dependent on runoff. Overall, it may not be the best option depending on the time of year but if you gauge it right the space is peaceful and the sound of the water can help lull you to sleep.

Ranger Review: OOFOS OOmg Low Shoes at Monte Sano State Park, Huntsville, Al.

Campground Review: Monte Sano State Park is the best of both. While your in the park it feels like your in the deep woods BUT town is about a 10 minute drive away AND there are some super excellent food places to try out when you get tired of the fire roasted hot dogs and s’mores.

We visited for a 4 day, 3 night extended weekend while the Grand Viduta Stage Race was going on. I’ve stayed in the campground before but in the other loop. Our site this time was adjacent to the shower house on the inner circle.

Two cons before I point out all the good stuff, 1. Poison ivy is prevalent between campsites, and 2. The sites are nice size BUT there is a trail that runs down the middle to the shower house which was a problem because our dogs barked constantly at the children running up and down it 3 ft away. I would suggest the outer ring if you are bringing your furry family members.

Now for the pros, no numbers just a narrative. The staff, from front gate, to camp store and camp host were friendly and informative. The campground was well maintained and the shower house was clean with a washer and dryer available in the front area. (con 3. The water was hot but the shower house was not ;)

The trails were AWESOME! From casual stroll to astonishingly difficult with over looks and waterfall views. ( there was a lot of rain prior to our arrival so the waterfalls were streaming and the mud was pooling ) hike, bike, trail run.

There is an observatory on site open Saturdays (con 4. The presentation was more informative then “WOW!”entertaining)

Several interesting eateries, Old Towne Coffee Shop two thumbs up and Boarhogs BBQ two thumbs and four paws up! (Slap your mama good!!)

Product Review: As a Dyrt Ranger I get the opportunity to try out and abuse products from time to time, on this trip it was OOmg Low Shoes from https://www.oofos.com Now I won some OOahh Luxe Slide Sandals last summer and these are my after activity go too footwear sooo getting the chance to try out OOFOS’s newest product was well OOOsome! ( yeah, I went there)

As I mentioned earlier I participated a trail run event. Friday I ran the 13+mile course of rocks , mud and killer ascents and descents. Now I would like to say I won however I am not in it for the competition, basically I’m slow! But after completing day 1 I slipped into my OOmg Low Shoes and gave my feet and legs a much appreciated rest. You feel the difference as soon as you put them on, they are squishy but in an “ahhhh” way for your feet.(something about OOfoam, absorbing shock)

Saturday I volunteered though my feet and legs were feeling good and Sunday I ran the 14+mile race. After some hard miles and harder climbs I was a little beat up and tired. My OOah Luxe Slide Sandals are shower ready which is nice after a trail run(or hike) because the OOfoam is already making your feet feel better.

I packed up the camper and journeyed home in my OOmg Low Shoes . My feet and calves recovered nicely, my back and knees were no worse then usual ;)

The only drawbacks I noticed were fighting to get my damp feet into the OOmg, (they are new and a little snug) but I managed and the outer edges of the OOmg were a little tight on the sides of my feet to start off, after some wear they stretched out to fit better.

I will be packing along my OOfos throughout the year and will review them again after some more wear and tear.

To get to this park, you drive right through Huntsville neighborhoods. We made our reservations earlier in the week but had a different site each night because the park was going to be full.

In my opinion, all the sites are nice because the campground is in the woods. And you can pitch a tent far from the road in the separate primitive area.

On Saturday night, I couldn't believe the number of TVs outside the RVs. I guess this is an inexpensive way to experience an Alabama football game outside. :) Sites were crowded with lots of people; one site had about 8 cars along the road during the game. Fortunately people were in a good mood because Alabama was never in danger of losing.

Alabama's Campground Taxes Are HIGH

Our sites with water and electricity were $26/night although a senior discount was applied for Thursday night. (No discounts on weekends.) We paid a one-time fee of $5 and the total cost was $93.55. Taxes are almost 20%.

Amenities

• There are only 2 restrooms/showerhouses which seems a bit on the low side for this campground. They're clean enough but the staff should check them more often on a full weekend in the fall. By Saturday evening, there were no paper towels and the toilet paper was gone from all except one stall. And it was still like that on Sunday morning at 9.

• Standard amenities include a fire ring and picnic table at each site, dump station, and trash dumpsters out front.

• Sites (except primitive sites in the tent area) have power and water. There are also some sites with sewer hookup.

Hiking

The number of hiking trails is what made this park appeal to us. You can pick up an excellent map at the park office.

Other

• There's a disc golf course and a Japanese garden.

• Primitive sites were full so we didn't ask if a teardrop trailer could be taken back there. The road to those sites is a bit bumpy but we could have easily fit on those sites. A call to the park would be worth it if you're interested.

Monte Sano State Park is located near Huntsville in northeast Alabama. In Spanish, Monte Sano means “Mountain of Health.” In the late 1800s, visitors from across the United States came for “the season” to experience and enjoy Monte Sano’s fresh air, spectacular views and mineral springs. Fourteen rustic cabins, 11 of which were built by the Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC), are perched on the side of the mountain and are equipped with kitchens, fireplaces, separate showers and baths, cable television, outdoor grills, picnic tables, and porches for taking in the amazing sunrises.

The park also features 89 improved campsites, a primitive campground and a camp store.

Monte Sano State Park offers: 21 Primitive(tent only) campsites, 59 Water& Electric sites, and 15 Full- Hook-Up sites. Monte Sano sits on 2,140 acres with spectacular vistas from atop the mountain, especially when the fall leaves show off their colors. In the spring, native azaleas bloom along the 20 miles of hiking trails and 14 miles of biking trails. Quite campground. Great Camp Hosts, very friendly and helpful ranger staff. This is the best kept secret in North Alabama. Lots of activities within just 20 miles from campground. Beautiful views and trails(from easy to advanced). Biking trails are awesome. Every site has it all. https://youtu.be/I\_84tyldNNw