Best Tent Camping near Homochitto National Forest

Clear Springs Recreation Area,located in the Homochitto National Forest near Roxie, Ms, is probably one of my favorite campgrounds within 3 hours from New Orleans. It's located in a beautiful section of the forest, complete with rolling hills and a lake.

The primitive tent only sites are located about half a mile up the road from the main campground, providing a substantial distance between you and the RVs. The dirt road to the tent only sites is lined with individual camp sites until you reach the back area. The back has a few small hilltops that have about 4 sites per hill. Each hill is about 50 yards from each other, again, providing needed space between you and other campers. All of the sites have fire pits with fold down cast iron grills. The ground was level enough for tents, and there's a good amount of trees for hammock camping.

The RV spots are located near the lake(pond), and have picnic tables and the fire pit. Some of the RV sites are more open air and without much privacy, yet some are nestled amongst the trees on the outer perimeter.

Adjacent to the RV sites are the restrooms, equipped with showers. On a very cold and frozen winter morning, I had decided to visit the facilities. To my great surprise, when I opened the door, I was hit with blast of warm air! So you can rest easy knowing that the restrooms are heated. There is a large pavilion that is open to air on three sides. the open sides have a railing with bench seats. There are also picnic tables located within. Most interesting was the oversized stone fireplace. It looks most welcoming, although I had no chance to use it.next to the pavilion is an open picnic area with charcoal grills and more tables. All of these picnic areas overlook the pond.

I understand that there is 17 miles of hiking trails surrounding the area. It looks like a large circuit with shorter trails interconnecting by the map.

I haven't experienced this campground outside of dead winter. I enjoyed the subfreezing temps next to a hot fire. I have been four times in the last couple of years, twice solo and twice with guests. I very much love this campground.

Rocky springs campground is a great place to get back to nature while traveling the South end of the historical Natchez Trace. There is almost NO cell service regardless of carrier. No electric, drinking water, or showers however the first set of bathrooms are very clean and work well. The bathroom sink water is not potable...it had a yellow tinge... literally. Nice paved pull through and back in pads, fire rings (way too tall but hey?!?), grills and picnic tables are plentiful. The large shade trees made solar power minimal but it was worth the boon docking, old time camping experience. Very peaceful get away from it all area. We camped next to the bathroom in a 21' RV.

PRO

Senior discount- saved $10 for 2 nights

No prepayment required when phone reservations made 154 days prior to arriving 

7 miles off of US61 

Good jumping off spot for Natchez Trace and Vicksburg Battlefield 

Friendly and helpful staff 

Firewood delivered to campsite by staff for $5 

Very quiet 

Moveable metal frame wooden picnic table 

Metal fire ring (only in upper loop) without cooking grate 

Some shade 

Level site #12 

Entrance gate locked overnight 

Upper loop 3/4 occupied; lower loop no occupants Thursday or Friday night 

CONS 

Street lights in campground 

Campsite is selected from whatever is available upon your arrival, so you have to drive around and look for your site

Gate locked earlier than 5pm as we were told it would be locked at 5pm, but upon arriving at 445pm and it was locked! 

No campfires permitted in lower loop and that’s where the sites have the most shade Site#12 got covered with about 2 inches of mud upon a rain storm 

Tiny grocery store in Port Gibson; otherwise it’s a trip to Vicksburg for the closest Walmart 

Port Gibson had a McDonalds, Sonic and Pizza Hut(take out only) 

1 bar Verizon 

No WiFi

Percy Quinn is a nice state park on a lake. We had a great weekend stay, and the weather was awesome, a little chilly in the mornings, but otherwise great. 

Bathrooms were clean reasonably clean. There was some damage in the one I used. Amenities include a fishing pier and boat launch near the campground. The playground and swimming pool are at the day use area which is a decent drive on the other side of the park. Be sure and hike the nature trail at the north end of the park. Part of the trail is a boardwalk through the swamp(but one section is in disrepair). 

Stayed in campsite#6 which is on the lake. Back-in site with asphalt parking. The picnic table has concrete around it, but there is a 2 foot gap of dirt between the asphalt parking and the concrete. There is no BBQ pit or fire ring. 15A/30A/50A, water, and sewer hookups. Site was level side to side and had a slight slope front to back. Awning faced east so we didnt get the evening sun shining underneath. The spot is relatively shaded. Nearest neighbor was at least 20 ft. Away. Roads in the park were asphalt. Campground roads were narrow and there were no signs at intersections in the campground indicting which loop to take for which campsite numbers. 

Both AT&T and Verizon had weak signal(2 bars each) and slow data. No WiFi in park. Would stay here again. We camped at Percy Quin State Park in a Travel Trailer.

This little campground is nestled along the Natchez Trace Parkway at mile marker 54.8 (https://www.nps.gov/natr/planyourvisit/upload/NATRmap_1_113_web.pdf).

This is a FREE first come, first serve campground that offers 22 sites. Each site has a picnic table, fire ring and flat real estate for setting up your tent. The campground is well shaded and can accommodate RVs but there are no hook ups available. There are a few bathrooms that have flush toilets and sinks but there are not showers available.

It's a small facility that gets moderate use but appears to be well maintained. While black bears aren't prolific in the area they have been spotted. Be sure to store all food and scented items in your vehicle if possible.

When our best friends and travel companions bought a camper, we couldn’t wait to all go camping together with our kids and dogs. A quick weekend getaway to Percy Quin was in order for us all. Because of our last minute decision to go camping, we had limited sites to choose from (especially neighboring sites). We ended up at sites 63 and 64 which were pretty close together, but we were happy with that since we knew our neighbors. The sites included sewer hookup, a picnic table, a grill, and an asphalt pad. There were no designated fire rings, so we made our own. Other sites that we thought looked nice for traveling with friends were 47/49, 50/52, 57/59, and 60/61.

Since this was a quick trip (and the weather was miserably cold), we didn’t get to explore as much as we would have liked. We did walk the dogs around the campground to see all of the campsites, the little chapel, and the lake. The boys did some fishing but didn’t get to do any catching on this cold November weekend. The campground was generally noisy and was completely packed for the weekend; however, it was pretty quiet at night. The sites were all quite close to one another, not affording much seclusion and privacy from other guests. Although it wasn’t our favorite campground close to home, Percy Quin was a good place for a quick getaway with our friends and kids, and we made some great memories!