Jones Lake State Park Campground

General: Small campground (20 Sites) around a circle with the bathhouse in the center. Although you can walk to the lake (about a half mile away), the sites are not lakefront. There is also a group campground.

Site Quality: Camper driveways are very generous in size and level. Sites are spaced far enough apart to provide reasonable privacy/separation. Sites vary. Two ADA-accessible sites have a concrete pad; most others have gravel pads, but two are just open grassy sites. Some are FHU, while some have no hookups. Some are pull-thru, and some are back-in. Each site has a fire ring, picnic table, and lantern hook. Most have a raised tent platform. 

Bath/Shower house: Very clean. Three showers, including one ADA-accessible one. The spray was not very strong, but the water was warm. 

Activities: In season, there is boating, canoeing, kayaking, swimming, and fishing, but we were there at the beginning of April, and the weather was in the 50s. We did the four-mile Bay Trail, which was really more of a walk and not a hike. The signage was good, and the trail weaved back and forth from the gravel road. We were disappointed that there were not many views of the lake (there are three overlooks, but access to them was restricted due to flooding). Due possibly to recent rains, the last mile of the trail (we went in a clockwise direction from the campground) was flooded in several places, making passage challenging. There is also a short one-mile Cedar Loop trail as well as a spur leading from the Bay Trail to Salters Lake. 

We chose this campground primarily because of its location - it was a good stopping point for us. In early April, even during spring break, only a handful of sites were occupied. I imagine it would be a much different story in the summer months.

I stayed here the night before a mountain bike race at Brown’s Creek. I only needed one night, but wished I would have stayed a couple more. When I got to my site, I didn’t realize that I reserved a handicap spot (my mistake). The site was on concrete so I couldn’t stake down my awning. I rode my bicycle around the park and found the hiking trail right by the campground. It went around the lake, but since it said hiking, I stopped at the trail head. After dinner I started a fire, pulled out the guitar and played for a bit. I would have had a beer, but there is a no alcohol policy. (Still don’t understand this policy at state parks). The bathrooms/showers were great. Clean, heated, private showers. Quiet hours start at 10pm, but there were kids running around the park yelling. No too bad though. Never had to talk to anyone from the office. Just reserved online, pulled into my spot and left in the morning. I’ll come back to stay longer and hike the trail, check out the lake and go mountain biking down the road.

Our GPS wanted us to take Jones Lake State Park Rd, that was closed off, about 300 yards before the main park entrance. They have good directions on their website to follow. Check-in was easy. We proceeded to site 8, back-in with FHUs and 50 AMP. The roads were narrow but one way. Our back-in was a little challenging with our 39’ 5th wheel due to brush across the road, but very doable. Utilities were centrally located to the pad. Water pressure was good at around 50 psi. We got 2 bars on Verizon, a variety of OTA channels, and clear shot to the southern sky for satellite. Six of the CG’s back-in sites are FHUs with both 30 & 50 AMP. However, there are very spacious pull thru sites, but no hook ups, not even electric. We could have extended our stay and dry camped in one of these spots but there’s no dump station. This made us wonder if the state ran out of money or if they are still building? This was a very nice CG with well spaced campsites and a good trail system. There are no water views from the CG but the lake is a short walk. The CG is essentially a large circle with even numbers to the inside and odd numbered pull thru sites and some smaller tent sites to the outside. There is also a group tent camping area. FHU sites are 2, 4, 6, 8, 18& 20 and are long enough for large rigs. Back-in site 18, which is a handicap spot, could be a tight back-in for a trailer over 38’. Eighteen is pretty much a 90 degree turn plus there’s a water spigot and metal recycle container directly across the street to contend with. There are water spigots about every 4 sites(near sites 3, 7, 11, etc.) throughout the CG. There is a newer looking shower house conveniently located between sites 16& 18 that we didn’t use. The 3 nights we stayed over a weekend, the CG was maybe half full so very quiet and peaceful. If we could book one of the FHU sites or they add a dump station, we would stay here again.