Cotton Hill

There is no better way to ruin your vacation than to encounter a hateful, condescending campground host.

After making numerous attempts to visit Cotton Hill we were finally able to secure a campsite, we were looking so forward to our visit after hearing what a nice park it was.

Upon arrival we encountered employee John P. at the registration office who was having a major meltdown. He instantly spoke in an aggressive, angry, and demeaning manner.  No matter how much I tried to be pleasant he continued with his rage.

Luckily my wife was with me or this situation would have escalated to a physical confrontation.  

IF JOHN WORKED FOR ME HE WOULD BE IMMEDIATELY TERMINATED  !

He seriously needs to seek professional help.

Needless to say I will not be returning to Cotton Hill, and recommend you consider another location for your R&R.

Campground is alright, lots of room to play and swim… “hosts” are absolute jerks on a complete power trip though. We wanted to come back, but will not be returning after dealing with such miserable people. They want to be picky about who they make follow the rules and get on to about their dogs being off leash… we didn’t bring our dogs, but our neighbors 2 sites over had their OLD dog off leash for literally a few minutes while it was laying down and John called the ranger on them… but not the neighbors in the middle of us who let their dog roam to other people’s campsites and poop everywhere without picking it up. Also, “check out at 3 pm” apparently means the whole campground, not just your site… so don’t plan on staying to swim or anything after that or they’ll yell at you. Side note- make sure your phone time is on Eastern, not Central- that messed us up a lot too and be prepared for the only bathroom in the campground area to be closed for an hour, mid day for cleaning…

I stayed at site 16 in my 30’ RV. Very level and paved with concrete. All of the sites in this section of the park appeared level and were paved. The facility was very clean and well maintained throughout. As a senior citizen it only cost me $14/night. Already planning to return in a couple of weeks.

Great COE campground on a beautiful lake for fishing and kayaking. There are a variety of sites, some closer together and less private along the beach and others well spaced with shade trees and plenty of vegitation for privacy. No problems in May, but picked up chiggers in August in the tall grass abutting the lake. Take precautions if you visit this park.

The sites are well spaced, most are water front and easy access to water or have water view. They have full hookups!! Great Verizon and AT&T signals. Some sites are at the beach if you have kids. Took fishing boat, kayak and Ebike. Has two walking trails, playground, large dog park, fish cleaning station and huge beach. Bathrooms are very clean and large and hot water in the wintertime and placed throughout the park. Also a nice laundry facility.Camp hosts were nice and helpful. Had full moon while here and the nice time was beautiful as well as fabulous sunrises and sunsets. Our two golden retrievers loved it. It is south of the nat line but no bugs or misquotes in January! We will be back.

The pros… beautiful mostly waterfront sites. A fair amount of space between, some better than others. A super clean and peaceful campground with laundry. We loved our site, 73, and our row. Although we walked the whole campground, and maybe other areas are a bit more spread out, we thought our row was the best location.

The cons… our row gets pretty windy if there is wind, which did, at times, affect sitting outside and having a fire. Some driveways have a steep decline, although the spots look level. We thought if we ended up with some, we might have bottomed out. Also some sites are buddy sites with back to back hookups.

Pro/con depending… the campground is about 25-30 minutes from anywhere. So if you need groceries, or wanna go do something other than just enjoy the lake, fish and chill, it’s a haul.

Overall, we loved it and would definitely stay again.

Sad to have to write a bad review for this park, as we typically love COE campgrounds. Not sure what the issue was but when we arrived our site had not been cleaned. Several inches of dirt on the concrete pad, part of a ripped trash bag hanging from the lantern pole, nylon cord and aluminum foil in the fire pit, and cigarette butts around the patio. We left it better than we found it. The bathroom (small but functional) was out of soap the entire weekend, although the facility was clean otherwise. The public grounds and nature trail were well kept so really I don’t know if it was an oversight on the cleaning staff or a late checkout etc.

The view from our site was spectacular and we had a wonderful time enjoying the cooler weather. We will give it another chance as several friends list it as a favorite, and hopefully we will have a cleaner site next time.

Cotton Hill campground was a great pick. Staff-Helpful Location-Ft Gaines, GA Site-97/98 nicely shaded with lake access 20 steps away. Amenities-clean bathrooms, water, electric close by. Site-tent site clean and included bench, prep table, fire ring, park grill, and hooked post to hang food, trash from. Wildlife-deer every morning, bald eagles, kingfishers, huge white and grey herons, alligator.

Recommendations-bring or buy live bait for fishing..none close by. Tent site is crushed/compacted fine gravel and is difficult to get pegs into..bring a hammer and metal pegs. Would definitely come again.

I really appreciated having the separate tent area, which always makes for a quieter camp. The sites are right on the water and have a nice breeze. There are a few trees spread about, but definitely not a lot of shade or privacy. But even a holiday weekend, the tent sites were not all full when I went. A bit of a trek to the restroom (but also made the tent site area quieter from the rest of the campground, which is quite large). Has a small swimming area, but was pretty overgrown and not that enticing while I was there. This makes a pretty good camping base to explore Providence Canyon and the even closer George T. Bagby State Park and Kolomoki Mounds. Also, exceptional sunsets from the tent sites as they face west!

Beautiful park, clean and quiet.

Went for a one night, quick trip. Stayed on the OM loop. It was very nice. Bathhouse was super clean. Smelled of bleach which I appreciated. The host was super nice and helpful. Campsite was a good size and the folks beside us were not right up on us. It was quiet and peaceful. Great trip and highly recommend. We will definitely go back and stay on the beach.

We stayed in site # 81 it had full hook up and was on the water/lake. It's a big site and a quiet campground. The price is right with a National Park Pass  we paid $13.00 a night, had a picnic table and a fire pit. We kept the kayak near the lake & launched it right there. There are some gators  in the lake saw them kayaking. This campground is big having several loops. Our site was great but the best sites were #73, 81, 79 & 72 was at the end very private but had a big tree down. Hurricane Michael came through there & tore things up. 

There is a swim area, boat launch, some small hikes in this campground. I would stay here again. This campground borders GA & AL the time on our clocks was reading Al. time.

Great campground! Full hookups and all waterfront sites! They do have a primitive area but I was able to check it out. This is a corp lake so half off with an access pass.

All sites have a concrete pad and gravel area! Plus a fish cleaning table! The sites are large so you dont feel like you are sleeping with your neighbors!

This campground sits on a massive lake so fishing is the activity of the day!

Differently will be back!

Love area . Quiet. Spacious.

Love this area. Ga. Side!

Another good COE campground. A lot of large spacious campsites and they were clean. Some right on the water. A lot of waterfowl and wildlife. Also a lot of access from shore to fish. Restrooms and showers were clean. A lot of COE campgrounds we stay at are very nice and the price is right . Especially with senior pass. The only problem I had was there was a boat going up and down the lake cutting up grass growth on water. They would do this for a few hours everyday. Very noisy! The Staff were very nice and helpful.

Every morning for a week we were woke up by lawn crews for during our 4 night stay. Every morning at 8 at they were blowing off the roads, cutting random patches, and other things. The laundry facilities were very convenient. The shower house was clean. We had issues with ants.