Best Cabin Camping near Gaylesville, AL

Visited Lake Guntersville State Park, for the day. After taking our granddaughter to Screaming Eagle Zip-line Adventures, located at the gorgeous Lodge, we visited the Campground…and it’s amazing! At the office, we were helped by Rocky, who was friendly and knowledgeable! We received CG info and a map, as well as rates. We are already planning our next trip to visit! The general store was stocked with necessities, as well as souvenirs. Of course we had to get some ice cream! There are several types of sites, monthly, cabins and tent camping. There are boat slips (local rentals) and a Pavilion on the water, basketball and tennis courts, playground, shady dog park, splash pad, and clean bathhouses. Firewood and ice can be purchased at the store. There are also many trails to hike and bike . It is easy to see that this SP is well maintained! The SP Lodge is worth visiting, which has a nice restaurant. LGSP has a golf course, and the quaint town is close by and has shopping and several restaurants.

The great experience started soon after booking. I booked two non-consecutive nights due to staying here on the way to and from a destination. They immediately texted to confirm it wasn’t a mistake, which I appreciate. The campground has excellent facilities and feels VERY secluded. It is steep here but not terrible. The cabins look nice. It’s also well wooded, which I appreciate. Overall definitely recommend!

We have been here many times, it's one of our favorite state parks! The hiking and scenery is one you don't want to miss! If you can, make the hike down to Cherokee Falls and pack your swimsuit and a picnic! As far as camping, they have literally everything a camper needs and more!! RV, hookups, tent, picnic tables, grills, firepit, yurts, cabins, restrooms, bathhouse, laundry, group lodging, etc. Super friendly and pretty clean!

We enjoyed our stay at the East Rim Campground. Our site was fairly level and we loved being close to waterfall trails and East Rim trail. Our neighbors were noisy with 2 different tent campers with babies and toddlers and a dog that stayed off leash. It chased the deer that were feeding across the road away which was frustrating. Camp bathroom was clean. Trail to waterfall trails between cabins 1 & 2.

Campground Review:

Overall summary: A great campground with sites for tents, RVs, and even cabins. Well organized so that different camping experiences have designated spaces making for better experiences for everyone.

My wife and I stayed at this campground with another couple who are friends of ours from Atlanta while bike packing parts of the Silver Comet Trail. We spent the whole day covering about 35 miles on our bikes with gear on the back having an amazing time. We were even able to stop for lunch in Rockmart and take a nice break. Since I knew it was going to be one of the first beautiful weekends of fall and that there would probably be a crowd I emailed the campground in advance to make a reservation. They told me that they don’t have staff on the premise working over the weekend but that they would hold a site for us. When we arrive that afternoon we found many sites available along the road so we just went and grabbed and envelope to pay and set up camp in a semi-private area next to what looked like a vacant small cabin.

Getting settled we were also able to explore around the site a little more and found that it was set up to have several different campground areas divided for different purposes. There is a huge field right along the main entrance that is designed for groups of bike campers where you can set up wherever then use the picnic and gazebo area for cooking and hanging out. This is also the area with the bathrooms (a retrofitted trailer) and there are several benches and swings. Continuing along the main road in the ground to the right are many small campgrounds for private groups interspersed with a couple small cabins. On the other side of the road are RV sites for people wishing to stay for a couple nights only. If you continue on and head up the hill there is a whole separate section of the camp set up for long term RV sites with monthly rental options. Additionally, right across the road from where we stayed were 2 small shower rooms that have a sink but no toilet and hot water for showers.

After getting settled in we began working on getting a fire going and were trying to use a small knife to break down some larger logs we found. The gentleman staying in the cabin saw us struggling and offered to grab his chainsaw and break down the wood for us. We happily obliged and got to chatting with him. He told us that it is actually his father-in-law who owns the place and that he stays in the cabins sometimes when they aren’t being used. Later on the owner came by to pick him up and I cannot express just how wonderful, welcoming, and friendly they both were. It was an amazing experience and they could not have been more gracious hosts. The only downside was that many of the tent sites are close together but everything else about the site is very well managed and organized. You can tell that the owner really takes good care of everything and values the environment he has built.

We had a restful night sleep and continued on our trek the next day. If you are in the area and have a chance to spend the night here I would highly recommend it!

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Product Review:

As a Ranger for The Dyrt, I get to try out new and interesting products at campgrounds I visit. On this trip, I tried out the Renogy E.TUNES Solar Bluetooth Speaker. My takeaways from using the combo speaker/solar charger are:

1. The solar panel actually works and is effective if you have full sun and can leave it out to be exposed for a while. I found a great spot was on the dashboard of the car while we were biking for the day. It has an indicator light that lets you know if you have it angled correctly and if it is charging. Then there are lights that blink and fill in as it charges so you can know when it is done. A couple hours out in the sun is enough to recharge the battery completely and give you several hours of music time.
2. Wow the speaker has some serious umph. I will be honest that I wasn’t expecting much from this speaker. I thought it would be a small thing that would be good for those occasions where I want to listen outside on a short hike or at a campground in the evening but the sound from this thing is no joke. It actually has a separate bass built in so you get really loud high quality sound. The speaker itself doesn’t have volume control so you will need to use the bluetooth connected music device to adjust that. However, you can skip songs and pause/play so that is a nice feature. I have actually started using this speaker at home in parallel with another when we project movies outside since it gives such a nice addition to the sound.
3. USB outlet for phone charging. This was a wonderful feature for a car camping trip where we weren’t worried about the extra weight but didn’t want to have to bring along another battery pack to keep up with at the campground. We could just charge our phone and play music all in one device.
4. Finally, the speaker is very well built and durable especially with the additional rubber bumper you can add on. I have accidentally dropped it a couple times already with not even any visible wear let alone effect on the functionality.

Overall, I would say this speaker is well worth the value and an amazing addition not only to your camping gear but also perfect for around the house or just a day at the beach. It charges quickly, puts out some wonderful sound, and comes with a slew of extra features.

Desoto State Park is a beautiful park with great hiking and waterfalls. The primitive camping area has a keyed gate. Make sure you arrive during business hours so they can get you registered and give you a key. They will also give you a big card with your last name on it that you will put on the campsite ledger board once you have driven through the primitive area and picked from available sites. This ledger board is halfway along the gravel road once you have let yourself through the gate and is also where the common area is. In the common area there are pit toilets, a large covered pavilion, rentable cabins, picnic tables and stone fire rings. Campsites are well marked, each has a trash can (not bear proof since no bears), and a stone fire ring. At registration you will also receive the gate code for the improved RV park so that you can use the showers and do laundry. When you leave you can put your gate key in a Dropbox outside the office.

We stayed in the Primitive camping area over the Thanksgiving weekend 2017. We made reservations and upon arrival on Friday we found quite a few sites still unclaimed. The pit toilet is convenient and somewhat clean. The view of the valley from the pavilion is nice especially during sunsets. Some of the sites are set back deep which provides a little more privacy and deep woods feel. As usual some campers tend to leave their trash laying around the sites but as always I left our site much cleaner than we found it!

The only complaint is that the park store was out of firewood the entire weekend and we had to go just outside the park to a house that sells wood for $5 a bundle. Not a huge deal but was told when I made the reservation that they had wood for sale. Someone should have re-supplied!

The staff at all the facilities were very nice and although some of the park’s waterfalls were not flowing much, the outer area falls were very nice.

Overall a very nice park and I would highly recommend it. I will likely revisit soon to rent one of the many cabins that look very nice with nice views.

Cloudland Canyon State Park was worth the drive! Below Chattanooga, Tn off of GA I59 at Trenton .

The drive through the Georgia countryside was enjoyable with some fun roads (if you like snaking roads) and excellent views.

The staff was super helpful and informative and the campground selection good (reserve ahead!) RV , Cabins, yurts, backcountry sites as well as walkin campsites. The RV sites are gravel with picnic table and fire ring; plenty big to spread out in . Clean, newer facilities and well maintained.

The walk in campsites are large, spaced well apart, with picnic table and fire ring . There are connector trails near all of the different areas which links pretty much everything within the park. So once you walk into your dwelling of choice you do not have to use your vehicle again to get to the many trails and activities

The trails are moderate to strenuous and take you to some pretty awesome sights. From overlooks, to waterfalls and Georgia foliage there is a lot to discover. 5 Points Recreation Area is nearby( also has a connector trail) and offers bike, horse and hiking trails) Bear Creak is a 7+ mile back country loop that is challenging.

There isn’t anywhere that doesn’t have a view connected to a great golf course and fishing that can’t be beat. Can get crowded but has places to get away on trails and the water

This campground is park of the Noccalula park system and a great weekend get away. Located on what we call “The Mountain” it sits next the Noccalula falls and the gorge with trails for hiking, bike riding and running. The camp ground is very clean and people are very nice