Best Tent Camping near Thomastown, MS

This Natchez Trace Parkway free campground offers oddly placed paved parking areas, grills, tall fire rings, and picnic tables (most appeared in disrepair). Bathrooms were clean however older and not heated...and no hot water or soap. The parking is pull through but not clearly defined. Grills and tables were randomly placed. The park is rolling hills and drop offs at the curb side of some sites. No electric or water hook ups but there is a single outside faucet at the bathroom for potable water. Large shade trees made for minimal solar power. Honestly I had an eery unsure feeling during my 2 night stay. It appeared like mostly men were staying there and was just an odd placement of sites in general. I suppose it was the undefined site borders. I stayed in a pull through that was the nearest to the restroom. Had I not watched a YouTube video by 2tiredteachers when researching my trip, I would have been very confused on where the site were to even park at. But the highlight was Little Mountain!!

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

Stayed a night and the next day up until two o’clock, (you’re required to check out &pack up before 2pm on leave day) the stay was great, campsite occupants were nice and even gave me and my lady fire starters when we forgot fluid for our coals when we planned on grilling LOL.. we stayed on site 8, it was a nice spot by the back end lake and its quite nice during the day. Nighttime can be quite humid and bug ridden but if you’re equipped for it i’d say this spot is great for beginners or family trips. Fishing is quite slow/inactive unless you’re on a boat, rather over fished.

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.

What a gorgeous farm, and what a marvelous experience! When we first arrived, we thought we would have to hike down to camp. Nope! Brian met us at the gate, and led us down a perfectly manicured field so that we could park right next to our tent spot! 

He showered us with provisions grown on his farm, including oodles of chanterelles and a couple bulbs of Creole Ajo Rojo from his passion project. We enjoyed a couple hours kayaking on the big pond/little lake with some ducks. We ended up getting caught in a surprise rain storm while floating, but no worries! We were able to make it back and throw up a tarp in no time. There are lots of primo spots to set up your tent, but ours fit perfectly between the two trees our tarp was strung between. 

Brian really thought of everything when it comes to this camp! He provided us with covered firewood- including heat pine, which burned like a match and made building a fire after the rainstorm a breeze. We loved having enough chairs to set up both in front of the water and in front of the fire, so we didn't have to drag them back and forth. 

Oh, what luxury it is to have a running toilet and a hot shower while camping! Both structures are incredibly solid and private, and made us feel human again after a couple weeks camping primitively. 

As for phone service, mine was in and out. This is rural Mississippi, after all. But when I did have service, Brian was incredibly attentive when I needed to reach him!

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.