Best Tent Camping near Picayune, MS

Small campground with spots right on top of each other.

Says free internet but service at site was nonexistent.

No electric or water at site.

3 men and 3 women bathroom/shower combo rooms that are clean. Only issue is when park is full the wait for the toilets can be long because of showers.

Laundry room (coin operated) available for use.

Little gated entrance with park attendants who take payments for sites. Code for gate given for after hours

RVs located mainly in center. Tent sites behind kid’s playground. Pretty long walk.

Lots of trees gone from last hurricane. Still repairing things.

Our tent site was located on the outer side right next to swamp. It included a picnic table, fire ring, a post with site number where you place your card and you can park on the grass next to your site.

Free to cross causeway into Madisonville but $5 to return to NOLA

Must stop in Cafe Du Monde for beignets!

Very friendly people ❤️⛺️

We have heard great things about Paul B. Johnson for years, even before we began our own camping adventures. It was definitely a campground we were excited to check out, so we booked a long weekend getaway with the promise of beautiful spring weather. Unfortunately, our trip here was cut short due to a family emergency, but we were able to scope things out for future adventures.

It was a bit of a trek from our home on a work night, so we arrived after dark at site 67. This campground does not lock up at night, so this was not a major issue. We entered the campground through what we later learned was a back entrance off of Geiger Lake Road, so we didn’t check in until the next morning at the visitor center. The sites were not well marked with numbers, so we had to drive around a time or two to locate our site (with me occasionally getting out of the truck to read the site numbers painted in yellow on the road). The main entrance to the park has a much “fancier” building than the back entrance and leads you to drive over a spillway (which is TOTALLY safe, so no worries). The roads in the campground are narrow, two-lane roads but are not conducive to two RVs passing one another. We had to get off of the road for others to pass.

Our site was lakeside on a hill leading down to a pier that jutted into the lake. It also had a grill and wooden picnic table that was movable. Having full hook up was nice! However, the connections were quite spread out with the water pretty far back from the other connections at this site (we needed two water hoses). There was no dedicated fire ring but there was evidence of camp fires, so we just cleared a space and set up our chairs. However, some sites had a metal fire ring and concrete picnic tables. Lower numbered sites are older with newer sites being those in the 100s. The newer sites are more level and have concrete pads instead of asphalt pavement. However, the views aren’t nearly as nice. Site 16 is next to a pier that leads to an island (super cool but everyone can access that, so you’d lose privacy). Many sites have decks, but that really sacrifices “yard space” if that’s an important factor for you. Some sites we were interested in for our next visit included 71 and 84, but we really loved site 67 and would give it another go for a future visit.

Camp Shelby is nearby, so you’ll hear various noises from that (not overly distracting but I wish I would have known before arriving). There is a splash pad, lake swimming, and several picnic areas near the visitor center that would be awesome for kids and families when the weather is warmer. There are so many species of birds if you enjoy bird watching like we do. We enjoyed watching geese and ducks on Geiger Lake in the morning. There’s also a nature trail that we didn’t get to check out. The views from our camper were beautiful at Paul B, and we would love to visit this campground again soon!

Bogue Chitto State Park is wonderful, well maintained, and peaceful. We had a great weekend stay, and the weather was perfect. Take the time to explore the beach on the river. We really enjoyed hiking(it has many trails) and the beach. I enjoyed sitting along the lake in the mornings. My son really enjoyed the splash pad. Bathrooms were clean. Park has a great disc golf course, mountain bike trails, and horse trails.  Campground has Trick or Treating every Saturday in October at 6pm.  Many campers decorate their sites (we did).

Stayed in Bottomlands campsite Bottomlands, site 104. No shade. Evening sun shines under awning. Site 103 has better water view and awning faces East, but no shade. Site 105 has shade in the afternoon but cant see water from awning side. Back-in site with asphalt parking, picnic table, BBQ pit, and fire ring. 15A/30A (dont remember if it had 50A) and water; no sewer hookups. Not much shade in the campsite. The site is located on the lake, but the woods block most of the view. Nearest neighbor was at least 20-30 ft. Away. Roads in the park were asphalt. AT&T had poor service, but Verizon was good. No WiFi. We camped in a Travel Trailer. 

Would definitely stay here again (but not in site 104) and bring kayaks next time. The park has a put in and take out landings on the river. We camped at Bogue Chitto State park in a Travel Trailer.

Enjoyed spending 3 nights in this large, family oriented state park campground. Camped in a camper van, but most sites appear to be big rig friendly. About a half-dozen freight trains pass close by the campground; noisy, especially where we camped in the Treaure Cove loop. There is also some vehicle noise on a nearby road as well. Didn't bother us, though. Stayed in site 106. Nicely wooded with some, but not much, privacy. Probably not a good spot if charging with solar panels. Restroom/shower houses appear to be we maintained. Sites have water, electric & sewer hookups. Sites are also suitable for tent camping. Can't say anything about the staff since I did not interact with them much. Long walk to the edge of the gulf; not much of a beach near the campground entrance, but nice beaches, with places to park, a short drive east & west of the park. Good AT&T & T-mobile data service. No Wifi.

Bogue Chitto State Park is wonderful, well maintained, and peaceful. We had a great weekend stay, and the weather was perfect, except for one eventing of rain. Take the time to explore the beach on the river. 

We really enjoyed hiking (it has many trails) and kayaking the lake at the Day Use Area. My son really enjoyed the splash pad. Bathrooms were clean. Park has a great disc golf course, mountain bike trails, and horse trails. 

Stayed in Uplands campsite 21. Site was pretty level side-to-side and sloped to the back. Had lots of space, but is sunny during the day. Late afternoon sun shines under awning because door side faces west. Back-in site with asphalt parking, picnic table, BBQ pit, and fire ring. 15A/30A/50A, water and sewer hookups. Not much shade in the campsite. Nearest neighbor was 20 ft. Away. Roads in the park were asphalt. Campground road is in need of some repair. Recommend sites(in order): site 31, 23, 28, 24, 30. 30-31 are near extra parking. AT&T had poor service, but Verizon was good. 

Would definitely stay here again. The park has put in and take out landings on the river. We camped at Bogue Chitto State park in a Travel Trailer. We camped at Bogue Chitto State park in a Travel Trailer.

Ok so I just tent camped here this past weekend in June. When I got to my campsite there was still trash everywhere. Mainly charcoal coals dumped next to the picnic table loaded with cigarettes. There was no fire ring so you could basically start a fire anywhere which I thought was strange. My neighbors were fine but there are no rules on what people can do. Trucks with boat trails were all over the place and most halfway on the road. I was fine driving around but I couldn’t imagine pulling a trailer through it. No camp store so that was a bummer. The registration office was so old and smelly I didn’t want to be in there. Not that there was much to it. The bathrooms were ok. Not dirty but old and hot. What I did like was the night sky. I saw lots of stars. Riding my bike around. Lots of roads for cruising. If you have a boat air Jets skis you would like this better. It just wasn’t for me.

I did my first overnight camp to test out my gear and setup on my own. Hwy 49, the main road leading to the State Park is under construction, but I was still able to enter the park without issues. On the day I went you had to use the honor system and paid $17.00 for primitive tent camping. As I rode through the park, I took note of how clean it was and had restrooms sprinkled about along with dumpsters. I explored the primitive area before deciding on a spot. I picked a spot that had a clear view of the lake to take advantage of the wind coming off the lake. I cooked up dinner and collected some wood laying on the ground and made a campfire, in the fire ring that was made by the Boy Scouts, it was marked with their troop number. After the fire died down, I went inside the tent to dose off. I was awoken to some banging noise and men talking. I assumed that they were setting up their camp a few spots from me. They finally calmed down and I went back to sleep. In the morning I tore down camp and packed it up on my bike but before riding off I went to see what the deal was with the banging last night, to find that the men were actually striping wire and left a huge mess. On the way out I spotted a grounds worker and told them about the incident. It must have been a big deal, because I saw 3 Law enforcement vehicles headed that way on the way out of the park.

We visited Bogue Chitto after torrential rains pummeled Louisiana and Mississippi causing the park to cancel our site we had reserved with a water view in the Bottomland Loop. This really ended up being a blessing in disguise. We were forced to just pick a site when we arrived at the park (not so great for this OCD-Teacher-Planner-Mom), but after only one drive around the Upland Loop, we decided on site 2 and were not disappointed! The site backed up to a trail, and the driver side of the trailer faced a wooded area (instead of a neighboring site) which afforded us much more privacy than any of the other sites would have. Sites 9, 14, and 46 also looked nice with their awnings facing trees instead of other campsites. All sites in this loop had sewer hook ups, so that was nice. There was a concrete pad underneath the fire ring with a lifting grill, a separate grill by the wooden picnic table, and a lantern post. There was a big tent pad close to the fire ring as well.

We thoroughly enjoyed all of the hiking and biking opportunities this campground afforded us. Although the Bottomland area was closed for camping, we still checked things out for future visits. Given the choice between the two loops in the future, I think I’d choose site 2 again. Camp hosts were visible and kept the campground very clean. During our visit, there was a Dutch Oven competition, so the campground was packed.

We only were able to stay here for two nights and left wishing we could have stayed much longer! We will definitely visit Bogue Chitto State Park again.