Best Tent Camping near Leesburg, AL

General: Two improved campgrounds (Upper and Lower), two primitive campgrounds, chalets, cabins, and a motel. We camped in the improved Upper campground, so this review is focused on that. I would recommend you arrive during daylight hours as it was challenging for us to find our site in the dark! There is very limited cell service in the park and none in the campgrounds. 

Site Quality: Gravel and pavement; most looked level. They are all rated tent/RV and small- medium– large and they mean it! We have an 18-foot campervan, and we were pretty snug in Site 19. Also, it was hilly and the angle to back into the site was somewhat challenging. All of the sites are FHU. We were warned that freezing temperatures were expected during our stay and that we could not stay connected to water or the spigot would break if not drained and that we would be charged a $125 repair fee. Each site has a metal picnic table, a BBQ grill, and a fire ring with a grate. 

Bathhouse/Shower: Basic but clean. No hooks to hang toiletry bags but it looks like there used to be some. The showers looked a bit sketchy but since it was so cold during our visit, I didn’t feel the need to check them out. Plenty of toilet paper but hubby reported that in the men's room, there always seemed to be toilet paper unraveled all around the restroom! 

Activities/Amenities: Several short hiking trails and longer forest service ones nearby. Mountain biking, although I read on the All Trails app that the trails are extremely challenging for biking. I agree that with so many leaves covering the roots and rocks, the trails were more challenging (hubby slipped and fell on one hike). There is a small store and a pool for in-season. Rappelling is also popular in this park but requires a permit. There was a small informative CCC museum (there was significant evidence of the work of the CCC in the park). There was also a small “fairy garden” near the entrance that was quite adorable. There was a postcard in the store that showed an impressive waterfall but it was completely dried up in November! There used to be a restaurant/bar but it has been closed indefinitely due to staffing issues. 

Cheaha State Park prides itself on being a Leave No Trace Park (one of about a dozen in the US) but while there were two large dumpsters by the campground, there were no recycling bins.

Campground Review:

Since I have reviewed many of the backpacking routes in the Cheaha area I would first recommend taking a look at some of the other campground reviews in this area. This shelter is actually along a new trail for me where the Pinhoti heads North from the Cheaha Trailhead on 281. The parking lot has a beautiful entrance archway then heads away from the road before splitting. Take your first right then when the trail splits again take another right. I have a video attached showing the turns. You then continue for about .5 miles before crossing back over the road and following the ridge for a while. After going a little more than 2 miles you will reach a sign that directs you to the shelter. You can’t miss the wooden structure a few yards down the path.

Most of the camping along the Pinhoti is classic semi-flat backcountry sites with a small fire pit and not much else. So when we came across this amazing shelter we were thoroughly impressed. It has a large area on the first floor where you could set up several sleeping bags and then there is an additional closed off area in the loft that is dark and dingy but very clean and perfect if the weather is ugly. The site also has a HUGE firepit which seemed a little overkill but could be nice if you have a large group. Finishing off the amenities is a picnic table and several cleared out tent areas. Make sure to check out my video to get a full idea of how this site is set up and if it would be a good place for you to stay. 

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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 RoM Pack. My takeaways from using the combo backpack, poncho, picnic blanket are:

1. The backpack works incredibly well for what it is designed to do. If you are going to be carrying your things somewhere where you will then unpack and hang out for a while this piece of gear does exactly what you need. It held all the items we needed for the day of hiking including a hammock, water bottles, food, and small items (phone, wallet, keys, etc.) and still had plenty of internal space to spare. When we arrived at the campground we set up and unpacked then took apart the backpack so that we could use the blanket to sit on. I can imagine in the future this pack also being very useful for keeping in the car when any one of its uses might come up.
2. It is very comfortable to hike with. I found the strap design and layout to fit comfortably on my chest. They are highly adjustable for different sized individuals. The one criticism I had of the straps is that the cross chest straps are a little too long and I had trouble getting it tight enough since I am a relatively small person. Overall though I didn’t have much shifting around while hiking. 
3. Included with a backpack was a small drawstring bag that is designed to fit inside the larger pack and hold your gear when using the pack as a poncho or blanket. I found this to work ok but felt it was a little unnecessary since anytime I would plan to take about the pack I would want to be at my final destination where I would be ok just taking out my gear. 

Overall, I would say this pack has a few very specific applications and it performs really well for all those situations. Worth checking out if you want to have a multipurpose backup bag in the car or are often in a situation where you are hiking in to picnic locations.

We just left this morning, booked May 15th-May17th. I did my booking about two weeks early and I know it was sold out when we got there. The majority of the attractions are closed, and half the grounds are due to Covid. The others, including a trail or two are closed due to AT&T tower construction. We got in on the upper semi primitive tent sites, which was absolutely perfect. I booked 107&109 together for a family that was coming up with us, but did want to keep our distance as much as possible as there are still distancing and safety guidelines to live by. I think the ground was perfect and fully shaded spots, I did my research here and we were about 100 ft from the bathrooms (no bathhouse just toilets). They were okay...they did clean them (empty the trash and refilled the soap) by the time we left so maybe once a day. I'd like to see them a bit more sparkling or smell somewhat like cleaning spray to feel comfortable, but I take a cleaning wipe to touch anything that others may touch as well. Then I ensure I'm washing again, with sanitizer after. People don't seem to mind the fact a pandemic is happening but I just want to safely get my family outside the house, and my selfish outdoors experience in. Might not make me much different than the others, but I'd be very careful. The sites were perfect and had trails leading to the Leave no trace trail, which was a good mile for my 3 yr old and 16 month old (we carried both intermittently 16 months obviously was in the ergo baby 99% of the mile). There are shared spigots for water supply and this is no big deal, we put a small hose on ours at 109 & everyone very well enjoyed it. Views make you feel out of Alabama, I am used to 4,000 footers and up but I loved being out there and will go back to plan a hike without my kids (or even husband!)

This was our first time staying at Desoto after being here previously to hike. Desoto State Park Campground is a large campground with 94 full hookup sites, 16 primitive tent sites, and 2 primitive backcountry sites. All sites with hook ups also included cable hook ups. All the sites are gravel and most sites are wooded with lots of shade. The sites are a little sloped, so have leveling equipment ready. The sites vary from small and close together in the pull through area, to medium size with plenty of separation for some privacy. All style sites include a picnic table and fire ring. 

Check-in is at the camp store if you arrive during store hours or at the lodge if you arrive after hours. We stayed on site 15, which had a little sun in the morning and complete shade in the afternoon. This site does have a little slope in it, which was no problem for leveling our trailer, but our friends that were with us and in a tent had to deal with setting up on a little slope. 

The bathhouse is centrally located, newer, and cleaned daily. There are also laundry machines available between the men’s and women’s area.. 

Firewood, ice, limited grocery items, and lots of souvenirs were available at the camp store. There is a full grocery store less than 15 minutes away. 

We found ok to limited cell phone service with Verizon throughout the property. The state park did have wi-fi near the camp store. 

The park has lots of hiking to enjoy the outdoors, a few smaller waterfalls along some of the trails, a zipline and sky bridge course(for a fee), and a large waterfall a short 5 minute drive from the campground. The river above the large waterfall is also available for kayaking and canoeing, and a small outfitter rents boats if you need one. 

The state park is located in a very outdoorsy area with various activities to take inn. We look forward to visiting here again.

This place is perfect. Small outhouse and far away from everyone. Long gravel road you can drive or walk to three separate ponds to fish(they keep them stocked) and you can also kayak or canoe on the ponds. They have a great little community kitchen and the Hipcamp owner is so sweet! Lots of tent sites and a couple rv electric sites but no water or sewer hookup for the fancier campers needing more accommodations. No shower area besides an outdoor shower near the community kitchen area and good cell signal! And a store is ten minutes from camp so grab some food to cook over the fire! This is a perfect get in touch with nature spot. They have fire rings and tables everywhere and also have firewood! And dog friendly!

The Pocket is our favorite place to camp. You're under a good canopy, so lots of shade. The creek is great for kids to play in. There's no need to bring water, just a container. There's a natural spring that flows out of the ground in the day area. We drink this water every day. We are local to The Pocket, so we fill jugs for home here as well. It is very cold water. No matter the temperature, you'll cool off in the spring. No showers but they do have a bathroom house. No water or power hookups. Site 10 is right next to the creek and gets the most sun. Site 7 is close to the day area, and people tend to intrude on your privacy in this site. Other than that, the campground is awesome! Our favorite sites are 6 and 23.

My son Charlie(age 8) and I camped at Cathedral Caverns State Park on June 17, 2019. It was a Monday night. We chose one of the primitive campground sites and paid a little under$20 for one night. Since we were camping we received a discount on our cave tour the next day. It's worth noting that all of the primitive and RV campsites are outside of the state park’s main gates which means that anyone can easily enter or leave the camp at anytime day or night; however, two state employees live fulltime within walking distance of the campsites. It was encouraging to know that help was only steps away if we needed it. One of the rangers actually stopped and introduced himself while making his early evening round. He verified that I had registered at the camp, informed me that it might rain that night, and wished us a good evening. A father and son also drove through the campground about that time in a personal car. I expected him to camp, but later when we went for a walk, we didn’t find him. On our walk we went down to the restrooms gathering kindling in large, reusable grocery bags. We also brought our one gallon water jug. It’s quite a walk to the restroom and unless you are driving, it would be unreasonable to rely on it as your bathroom. Bring a camping toilet or a shovel. The RV sites are right next to the restrooms, which means that if you are in the primitive site it is very unlikely that you will hear RV generators all night. There were no RVs there on our night because the sites were being overhauled and it was closed though the restrooms were still up and running. The restrooms were very clean and spacious with clean, new shower curtains and it was fully stocked with supplies. I can’t say if the water was hot, but my suspicion is that it probably was since the rest of the facility is well kept. Back to the kindling: There’s plenty to be had and we even found four or five logs left by our campsite by a previous camper. Speaking of firewood, there’s plenty of that for sale for a reasonable$10.00 at the restroom facility. Money’s left in a box on the honor system. After cooking two cans of Southgate chili on an improvised Sweedish fire using the charitable camper’s firewood, we played in the field which was easily accessible from the primitive campsite. It’s guarded by a feral but entertaining cat who has an appetite for small rabbits. He almost caught one when he chased it through the campsite and under the picnic table where we happened to be eating supper. I’m not sure if he ever caught him but the last time I saw them they were running through the campsite like the wind. The campsite was simple. There was a fire ring and an old picnic table. You might want to bring a table cloth along or use a tarp if you’re doing more than heating up canned chili. The site was clean as was the entire park. I was easily able to back into the site with a 2007 Trailblazer. Though we had planned on tent camping, we ended up sleeping in the Trailblazer. Dad brought the tent, but he forgot the poles. All of the sites were clean and would have made wonderful tent sites. They were spaced adequately apart to provide a sense of privacy though if you’re pooping in a bucket you might have to be strategic in your temporary John placement. I don’t think my wife would have liked the bathroom situation at all and it might have been a bigger issue for Charlie and me if there’d been anyone else on the campground. We were the sole campers at Cathedral Caverns during our visit. We weren’t the only people using the park though. There were plenty who come to see the cave which true to its name feels like a Cathedral. I’ve been in a few tourist caves but there’s something different about this one. Our tour guide did a great job not only telling us about the beauty and history of the cave, but helped us to imagine one of the caves first explorers and its benefactor Mr, Gurly. If that description doesn’t make you want to visit, here’s this: Legend says there’s a ledge in the cave and if you toss a coin and land it right on the ledge you get your wish. After I tossed my dime I regretted instantly not wishing for a billion instead of a million dollars. I was assured by the tour guide that I could expect my check any day now, so the star review might change depending on how quickly the check rolls in.

My best friend and I camped for Mother's Day in 2017. We loved it. We were in the semi primitive area. Some sites were smaller than others and not all sites had flat spots to set up the tent but they are within walking distance to the bathroom and the pavilions. It was quiet and the staff were helpful. The only real downside are the showers. You have to buy tokens to use the showers and they're only open until (I believe) 6 p.m. The showers were pricey considering most places offer them for free. The pavilions are great! They're huge, have plenty of picnic tables, a fireplace on both sides and outlets. We set up our coffee pot and ate breakfast then rode around to explore. A few minutes drive from the park is a great hiking spot with 3 waterfalls. I'm looking forward to visiting again with my family.