Best Dog-Friendly Camping near Madison, 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.

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 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 arrived one day early which was semi planned, but we were not in the spot we were staying for 11 days. Thank goodness because the pic on the site Vs reality was a pretty big difference. We have a big rig and no way we would fit. I figured I would have to finagle something in my own to get us a different site. NOPE! They guy at the gate helped us out and 5 min later we had a site! Store has a few things in it, including some Lake stickers/shirts/etc with Lake Guntersville on them. There is a little library box by the store with books people have put in after reading. There are sites for full hookup, water/electric, or primitive. There are long term sites as well. There is plenty to do! Beach, boat, water pad, basketball and tennis courts. Laundry available. Nice bathrooms and bathhouse. Dog park for bigs and Littles! The power went out once for a couple minutes and then again due to an accident on the mountain. There are neat things within the park to see and do. Hike/trails, golf, fish, zip line, horseback riding. A must stop is to see the donkeys, goats and emus. Towing to get here is interesting, but doable! We have a 42 ft RV with a 16 ft boat behind and we made it. Close enough to town but you have to go over the mountain. There are some neat stores down town and a farmers market.

Because it is the best of the 2 Tim's Ford choices. It is 8 miles from the state park but it is right on the lake and the other one is not. There is a boat launch right next to the campground too.

This campground has mostly shady sites. You can view the individual sites when booking online to see if it is shaded or not. We were in 41 and it was fantastic. Beautiful view of the lake and we could fish from the bank. Most of the sites are on water but some are on little inlets which make it easy to pull your boat right up to your site. Sites 45-49 and 25-28 are good for boaters.

The bath houses have been redone and are clean but a little sterile looking. Think prison toilets. The shower rooms (4 of them) were nice and there was plenty of hot water. The lights in the shower rooms are motion sensing which was a little weird.

This is a great family campground. No alcohol is allowed and pets are welcome. Children were riding bikes and scooters and swimming in the lake.

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!

We live in Madison, AL and love driving out to Cathedral Caverns to camp on the weekends. It has a smaller but decent primitive campground. A quick drive down the gravel road and you're at the RV park with bathrooms. There are also two backcountry sites if you want to hike a mile or so. It's never too crowded and always clean! WARNING: Very spotty cellphone service, which is actually nice if you want to enjoy the outdoors!

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.

We stayed in lot 59 which while not lakefront, it’s situated in a triangular spot right at the entrance with plenty of space for full setup. Picnic table and campfire grill also on site. Bathhouse was clean and the dogs had plenty of shoreline to run on. Would return!

Has some nice sites. Very well shaded. 30 amp only. The park has great hiking trails. Restrooms were clean. Good fishing areas. There are dogs kept inside a fence at the park. Suppose this is at Rangers house. They bark a lot. Very annoying. Never seen this at a state park. Tennessee needs to update this park.

Some really nice sites on lake and shaded. Inner sites are nice as well and have sewer. Good space between sites. 30 and 50 amp. The old section that was for yearly rental is gone. Big plus because these are nice sites as well. Restrooms and showers were clean but could’ve better. Great place for kayaking and swimming. Roads in park have couple of bad spots but they have been working on them. Need to enforce their dog lease rules. Again Tennessee should update this park. Get with it ! The potential is great.

No amenities open, nice spacing between sites. Water, power and sewer. Nice and clean bath houses with laundry facilities. Small store with tons of r.v. parts. Restaurant on site with golf carts driving thru campground offering snacks. Vendors selling pork rinds that were delicious. Also small farmers market with outstanding selection.

The bad. We had to leave a day early, they will not give refunds. We were there 4 nites, paid for 5. Not real friendly staff. People there long term just let dogs roam and poop wherever although strict guidelines say you must clean up, they don't. They also don't mow the grass before you get there or clean up the sites. People on weeknights are loud and until 2 a.m. we could not get to sleep. Security finally came through and shortly after it was quiet.

We stayed in a rather primitive site that was very large and perfect for our big group. We were able to spread out so that each tent comfortably has their own space, but close enough to share a large central campfire. There is plenty of hiking to do in this area. The rock formations are truly beautiful and fairly unique to this camping area. When its hot out, there are places to go for a swim and wash/cool off. It is also dog friendly. One thing to note: the campsite is not immediately at the parking lot so you will have to hike/carry your belongings almost an hour before getting to the site. Be cautious of weather because the trail can get fairly muddy if it has rained in the area in recent days

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.

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!