Best Campgrounds near Stockbridge, GA

Camping is first come first served basis, no reservations. $20 per night, parking for one vehicle included. Extra vehicles require $5 parking pass per day. They take credit card. Pull up to the booth at the entrance before 5pm or see the camp host 5-8pm. After 8pm, the park gate closes. I was given a gate code in case I needed to leave and return during the closed hours.

The camping layout falls somewhere between dispersed camping and a traditional campground. When I checked in, I was told I could pull up to any site with a fire pit. There were picnic tables and trash cans at most sites. There are no hook ups at the sites, but there is a good amount of space on flat ground in the trees. Several cars, tents, or small campers would fit on each site. Bigger campers could opt for sites 8 or 9 which don’t have trees. I cleaned up a bit of trash around my site when I arrived. The camp host drove around selling firewood.

Many of these reviews seem older, so I wanted to add that there is a newer block bathroom with flush toilets, electricity and a shower stall, and outdoor water spigot near the stretch of campsites marked 1-20 along the river. It was clean. Driving in, you’ll see a sign that points you to “Main Camping.” The sites stretch down a lane that follows the river to a dead end, the river and sites are on the left and there is a large grassy airfield on the right. There was no airplane traffic while I was there and no signage to stay off of it, so perhaps it is no longer in use.

There is a boat ramp past site 20. I saw a sign at the bathhouse for paddling the river and various parks to camp along the way. There are signs for horse camping only at sites 18-20. One of the trails runs between the river bank and the campsites, with red blazes - “River Trail” - so don’t set up equipment there in case hikers or horses come through. I saw people fishing in the Chattahoochee River right off of their campsite. There is a small rapid that stretches across the river near sites 1-10, so you get that nice water flowing sound to fall asleep to!

There are also sites in other areas of the park, if you turn left instead of following the “Main Camping” sign. I’m not sure if they are numbered, and they seem more scattered. There is another bathhouse with running water and a shower that is older next to the cabin called “Old Ranger’s Station.”

The park has wide trails for horseback riding. I hiked the 2 mile Eagle Loop Trail and saw a mountain biker as well. I saw signs for an Orienteering Course. There is a splash pad and a new looking playground that from a glance, might be ADA accessible. There are many signs prohibiting swimming in the river due to the strong current. There is no beach and in most places, the river bank is steep. John Tanner Park has a swimming beach.

The park map is not great and the information available online is insufficient, but I do recommend coming to explore the area and camp! I’ll be back now that I have an understanding of the layout.

Nice huge state park with a lake and activities. There are two separate campground loops. We stayed in loop one, site #22. There are premium lake side sites, but we stayed in a normal site for $38/night, plus the $5 GA state parks entry fee, so $43 for a night- much too expensive but we needed to be near Atlanta for an early morning oil change the next day. Sites are nice and large, flat (we didn’t even need to get out our levels). They are arranged in a way that you don’t feel close to your neighbor. Free hot showers, firewood for $5/bundle, soda machines, dump station (sites have power and water). We stayed in early November and there were other campers here, but still plenty of availability. The campground was nice and quiet.

We went drove around this campground as we were planning to have a stay here and live local. So glad we did because it was not well maintained. I understand bathrooms/bath houses aren’t going to be the most luxury thing when camping, however these were pretty bad. The smell was so bad that my clothes stunk after if that says anything. If you have an RV there were definitely some good sites and I think it would be a decent experience, but I wouldn’t recommend to tent campers. (We looked at site 24/25 as that’s where we were going to stay and definitely is a great spot if you plan to go)