Best Tent Camping near Raleigh, MS

Camping area is about five tables and grills scattered on edge of property. No real sites (no tent pads, no fire rings). Surprisingly little regulation: fires allowed anywhere, swimming “not recommended.” The friendly camp hosts actually encouraged me to camp in the day use/picnic area, since it is closer to the flush restrooms. Water spigots scattered around but most don’t work. Gate to park locks at 5pm (key provided at check in) which is nice for security. Clean area. Close to a highway but few cars traveling at night. I was the only person camping on a weekday.

$15/night. Not bad considering the locking gate and restrooms with water. The historical structures are neat, as is the waterfall. The whole park can be explored in less than an hour, so I can’t imagine staying multiple nights.

PROS 

No fee to make my own on-line reservation

Site 88 excellent view of lake 

Pedestal BBQ grill 

Wooden Picnic table top with concrete frame on a concrete slab 

Nice space between MOST sites 

Park easily accessible from I-20 

3 bars T-MOBILE


CONS 

No senior discount 

Site 88 concrete parking pad all cracked and heaved made for difficult leveling 

5ft wide campsite fire ring…biggest we’ve ever seen! 

Numerous HOMESTEADERS throughout CCC campground. Made campground very “junky” looking with all their “stuff ” piled around in their campsite 

Park roadway in very poor condition, potholes connected to potholes!  Potholes keep speed at 10 mph or less

Able to hear Interstate 20 road noise 

Train noise about every 3 hours 

Toilet/shower facility heavily used. Finish peeling off of toilet seats. Women’s stall doors coming apart. No soap. Insufficient TP once the weekend crowds hit.  Toilets were not cleaned Saturday

Handicap assessable toilet only in one of the CCC campground loops 

Trash dumpsters are in next campground loop so 30 minute walk 

No campfire wood for sale in park, but sold at EXXON right outside park entrance

No park WiFi

I booked a site that we did not know anything about. This was the first time we stayed in the newer loop. We had tent camped in the older section about 5 year’s ago and had a wonderful time. When we arrived on Thursday evening to our site I didn’t know if it was going to be wide enough to let the steps down without fall into the 6 ft ditch. After some measuring of the slide outs and maneuvering over 6 inches from the electrical pole. We set up camp. I had to dig up the sewer tap that was running up hill. We made the best of it by setting everything up in front of the camper. The picnic table and fire pit was on the opposite side of the camper up hill with about 8 inches of pine needles going up. Not practical. So we didn’t use that area. Most of the sites were the same way with the picnic area on the opposite side of camper. The lake area was nice, did some fishing out of the canoe and kayaking when there wasn’t 30 boats out. Lake was closed for swimming. Overall we made the best of it. We will definitely not be staying at site 45 again. Staff was friendly and there were park rangers riding by all the time. There are definitely better sites, not all.

We stayed here over Easter and had a great time. Trail was flooded out less than .5 miles in, which I heard can be typical of this time of year bc of reservoir they drain near there. Plenty of kayak access to all the lakes around. Gnats were so bad we had to stay in the tent to stay sane in the afternoon and most of the evening. They was one other group that tent camped for one night but otherwise everyone had RVs. If you go to tent camp call ahead before booking because some sites have the fire ring on the tent pad. I remember site 10 definitely does. It was packed but pretty much quiet the whole time except a lot of traffic. At night you hear the highway sometimes. Bathrooms are okay, washer and dryer work great.

This park is literally in the middle of Jackson, Mississippi in a beautiful setting. The lake was lovely and we saw herons, cranes, turtles and deer. The sites are right on the lake and the shower house was convenient and clean. It’s also secure; you have to have a code to enter and exit the park. The only problem was the sounds of the city. We heard sirens all night (it was Halloween night) and there is a recycling plant nearby and the sounds of crushing metal were really loud until about 11. In our tents we had to resort to earplugs. Great location. Picnic tables and fire rings.