Best Campgrounds near Hartselle, AL

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.

General: Small (36-site) campground in two loops; only the upper has a bathhouse. It is about a ¼ mile walk from the lower to the bathhouse. 

Site Quality: Sites are gravel and vary; some are back-in, some are pull-through and some are parallel. Site 32 was very generous in size although not completely level. There was one picnic table, one set of water/electric utilities, and two fire rings (not sure why there were two). This site could easily fit a large Class A or two smaller campers. 

Bath/Shower House: Clean and heated. The toilets and showers have a curtain for privacy which IMO feels less private. When I was in the shower, someone opened the curtain not realizing (!) that someone was in there. Warm water at the sinks and showers was appreciated on a damp and chilly day. There is also a clean laundry facility - $3/wash and $2 to dry. The laundry room also has a microwave oven. 

Activities: There are daily cave tours; we have been in many caves and this one is very nice. By the lower loop is a small climbing wall. There are also hiking trails and gemstone mining, although we did not take advantage of either of these. We were there for the Cave Run - a 10km or half marathon where the last 1.2 miles AND finish are INSIDE the cave, which was very cool! 

Mason, the camp host, was great. Upon our arrival, he escorted us to our site in his golf cart (entirely not necessary but welcomed) and went over what we needed to know including the WiFi password (otherwise we had no service on Verizon). Be sure to go to the office (up a very steep hill or you can drive) and ask for your 15% senior discount if applicable (you need to show proof you are old!).

Our GPS brought us right into the campground (CG) that is conveniently located off I-65 and US-31. Check in was pleasant and quick. They take cash or check.We were assigned pull through site D-1(water and electric 50/30/20 AMP) behind the office. The advantage of this site, is that it has a yard area as the other sites do not. This is a bare bones CG with no amenities. Most of the sites have FHUs. The pad was plenty long enough for our 40’ fifth wheel and F450 plus fairly level. However, if you unhook and leave, you have a long, slightly curved road to back up on to get back in position to hook your rig up unless the site next to you is empty. The utilities are in the middle of the pad and you can maneuver to suit your needs. Water pressure was good at 50 psi and we got 4 bars on Verizon. There’s no Wifi here but due to this CG being a parking lot, no issues with satellite. Like other reviewers stated, there’s a deep ditch on either side of the driveway when you pull in, so keep an eye on how your rig tracks. This CG filled up the Saturday to Sunday we overnighted and we were assigned one of the few water and electric only sites, but were still charged$45 same as the FHU sites? Overall, this CG worked for our needs.

This city campground has many beautiful lakeside campsites along Bear Creek.  Sites are first-come, first-served.  We camped here in mid-October and had no problems getting a site.  The campground staff were friendly and helpful.

The site is gravel with large wooden beams surrounding it.  We had to put a couple boards under the passenger side tires to level our rig; the site was pretty level from front to rear.  Easy setup.

The campground was quiet during the evenings.  Fire rings are not provided, so bring your own fire pit if you'd like a campfire. 

The park WiFi worked well for us - strong signal, roughly 40mbps download speeds.  Using T-Mobile, we had strong 5G service.