Tugaloo state Park: This Georgia State Park offers a multitude of activities from hiking, paddling, boating, fishing, swimming, putt putt, tennis/pickleball court and biking the park roads to name a few things. This park appears to be a local favorite and weekends were more active than weekdays during our 10 night stay at the camp ground. We really felt at home here due to the friendliness of the park staff and camphost volunteers. We loved the gravel sites, good Verizon cell reception 📶 and best of all the ease of access to our kayaks🛶. (Do check with the park office because some things like putt putt may be seasonal) 🔔 Another thing- should you want to rent a patio boat ⛴ - the park office has some numbers for you.
We stayed here in late October for 10 days and didn’t want to leave. The campground is laid out well with gravel sites, concrete picnic tables, fire pit, water, 30 amp and grey water drains throughout the campsite areas. 🚍Larger rigs—> Bring a dogleg/bone for double 30 amp.👍. Also- be aware some of the pull thru sites are almost buddy sites - your truck hauling your trailer will fit but your trailer won’t because another camper is sharing the pull thru lane with you. Rv’s with Tows won’t have this same issue. 🏡Cabins- I shared on the video that cabins 1-10 have less stairs if that is important to you. Yurts- some of these are on a hill- this means a walk up to restrooms …but don’t worry, there is a nicely paved sidewalk. 🏕 no electricity at the walk in sites- you do have water, fire pit and picnic table. There is a group campground too.
We did 2 videos of this park- so there is lots of info about all the amenities at this park. ***This is a park we have put on our favorite list to camp host here in the future.
This park is only available to Toccoa Falls College Alumni & parents of current Toccoa Falls College students. But it's great! =)
Great hunting fishing and camping. Outhouse is the only thing that is there for use. Anything else you must supply yourself. I go every year for bear season and will continue to do so.
This campground won’t blow you away or anything but it’s a good campground that you’ll enjoy. Nice wooded coverage, walking and hiking trails, plus a few lakes to fish. Bath houses are probably the cleanest I’ve seen in all the campgrounds I’ve been too. The only reason I wouldn’t give it 5 stars is because the sites are pretty close to each other and you can hear aircraft traffic from the airport close by. I recommend sites 22,23,25 if you are tent camping.
I've been camping at Burrells Ford since I was a small child. During peak season (summer, Spring Break) it will be slightly crowded, but there's usually still room to camp and it doesn't normally get rowdy or loud. Fishing will of course be inhibited when it's crowded, but otherwise its a good spot to fish.
Pit toilets are fairly well maintained and the sites are almost always clean and free of debris. Camp sites are a short walk down a clear road from the main parking area for those who prefer to carry things in or those who have visitors to their campsite.
If there has been a lot of camper traffic, it will be difficult to find firewood. Firewood is available to purchase all along the road on the way to Burrells Ford from individuals and stores.
The other side of the river is a much rougher trail, not an official campsite at all. However, there are some areas that other campers have cleared out for camping if you don't mind a more strenuous and brushy hike in to your camping area and you prefer a little more privacy and seclusion. Just be sure to follow local regulations for camping in these areas as far as cleanliness, fire safety, and distance from the water.
Cabins are great. Camp sites are a bit crowded, but a nice, well kept park.
Wonderful campground, campground host are very helpful, they ask you about what you are looking for and help you pick out your campsite, family owned, took my girlfriend there to get engaged, we are now married and can't wait to go back. One of the owners rides a motorcycle, and is also very helpful with directions for nice rides in the mountains
Had a awesome time. Great view of the lake and nice big campsite. Cant wait to go back.
Close to Caesars Head and Table Rock. Full hookups, and the staff helps you back in and level up. Great service. Short drive to grocery and fresh produce stands.
Love this place. Next to the lake. Quite, friendly clean. Good bathroom.
This lake was beautiful. Great views of lake and mountains. The water was warm in October. Site #27 was good. Some sites were unlevel and on a steep grade and close with minimal greenery between. The walk-in tent sites were excellent. All sites had table, fire ring, lantern hook, and a gravel tent pad in addition to paved site. Most of the sites were shaded. Bathrooms were good with a big laundry area. There weren't really any paths to bathroom so it would be difficult in the dark if you were further away. We took a waterfall boat tour which was excellent. There are several paths to get to lake from different spots in campground. Which are like a private beach area. This park/campground is very busy on weekends but Sunday night it emptied out. Bring your boat, floats, kayaks, canoes. There is not much in area outside park. There was a Dollar General store within 15 minutes. The park store was well stocked with many items. Park staff were not that friendly. There are several boat ramps in park. Divers also use this lake since the lake is clear.
Book your trip a few months in advance, get a spot on the water. Sites are a little small, and close together, but the sunrise from your tent/site is totally worth it. Amazing water clarity, bring a kayak. If you enjoy fishing there’s great trout.
We have been a few times and really like it. The staff are very friendly. The bath houses and park are always really clean.
First time here, and we loved it! There was direct lake access from our campsite which was amazing. It is in a cove so it was quiet with hardly any lake traffic. Has 2 playgrounds & bath houses. 10/10 will come again!
I'll admit that I'm not in my best shape ever but also know it's not my worst shape, this was full leg workout for 4 miles up as well as 4 miles back down. I highly recommend in the warmer months you get on the trail as early as possible. It opens at 7am. Bring plenty of water. The views along the way are beautiful and when you get to the top at the main overlook is fabulous too. I say the main overlook as there are a couple spots like right at Governors Rock is deep into the trail…but not the main view.
We discovered Riverbend Lodge through AirBnB while looking for a new place to camp. We had been to a number of larger campgrounds this year, and wanted to find a spot where we weren't competing with dozens - or hundreds - of other campers for a good site. Someplace with some privacy and quiet. Riverbend Lodge fit the bill.
Riverbend Lodge is a unique mix of lodge, restaurant, bar, and campsites. The owners are working on renovating the lodge and restaurant, and they have cleared some spots on the Middle Fork French Broad River to accommodate campers. They have tent sites right on the river (more of a creek, great small falls and peaceful sounds). We have a jeep with a rooftop tent, and the site we had was spacious and felt secluded. There was a firepit at the site, and a trash can. The owners live in an RV on-site, and said that they have a second site that has power and water hook-ups for a pop-up or RV. Most of the sites are primitive. There are picnic tables at a couple of areas on the property, but our site did not have a table.
There is a bathroom for campers with a flush toilet, sink, and tub/shower. They also have a hot tub and sauna, and the use is included in the camping fee - a real bargain! Both looked new and were immaculately maintained.
We did not view the lodge rooms for rent. We did enjoy the restaurant the night we got there, the food was very good and reasonably priced for what we got. We also had breakfast the last morning there, it is only served on weekends but it is only $10 for all you care to eat, and it is served to you - not buffet style. The staff were friendly and provided good service. The owners are a young couple, working hard to improve the lodge and offer a great experience. We will definitely return to Riverbend Lodge.
If you have a boat or jetski there is a ramp. Has showers and restrooms. Mostly for RVs however there are a few tent sites that have tree cover. The RV sites don't really offer any trees for shade. The lake is great for swimming. The campground also offers paddle board and kayak rentals. The campground has a gate that gets locked at 10 pm. You can leave but you can't come back into the campground after the gate gets locked.
Campground Review:
Paris Mountain State Park is just a short drive outside of Greenville, SC, but seems a world away. It is beautiful in all seasons. The campground is a typical state campground. Water, electric, fire ring, and picnic table were at our site. We stayed at #39 which was fine for our needs. If you had any sort of rig, we would NOT recommend this spot. The concrete was in poor shape and would make for a leveling nightmare. We voted we’d stay in #40 next time. It was a pull through with a creek running by the fire ring. The shower house was perfectly adequate and clean. Their reservation system was easy. We enjoyed all of the hiking options and the swimming area in the park.
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Product Review:
As Rangers for The Dyrt, we get to test products from time to time– today we tested Banner & Oak apparel www.bannerandoak.com. We loved their trucker hats. They were breathable, and held their shape under the sweat from a hard hike. We felt they were very attractive as well. As a long torso’d and arm’d couple, we both noticed right away and appreciated the length of the shirts themselves and the length of the sleeves on the long-sleeved shirt. There is nothing worse than washing shirts and having to stretch the heck out of them to try to get them back to looking presentable. We have no fear our Banner & Oak short and long-sleeved shirts will not give us this trouble. They worked well under our packs and we didn’t find ourselves needing to pull down our shirt every few mins or so. As a larger busted woman, however, their Women’s Large ran a bit small in the chest. I normally wear a Large which gives me some room to move around, but I wish I would have ordered my shirt in a XL. It is a tight fit. All in all, we really liked Banner & Oak’s apparel, in style, cut (mostly), and comfort. The shirt material is super soft and we could see ourselves ordering more from their site.
We stayed here for a weekend in July 18, I really appreciated the shaded site and the ac! Nice campground to walk around with a few hiking trails.
Spacious sites with some drive through, short walk to the lake and other activities, playground. Very nice stay for a weekend.
We had an excellent weekend stay at site 16, lovely lake view of Hartwell, power and water hookups only. Everything looks great and well maintained, our site was right on the lake and had a large area for the grill and picnic table with cross tie steps and walls. Beautiful campground we stayed in September 18 in a motorhome.
We had a great time staying here. Some of the sights were rather inclined, but they listed this on the website when booking(it's on a mountain after all). The areas between most of the sites was spacious, we were able to hang 2 hammocks to chill in. The Bathhouses had been remodeled and were kept clean while we were there. (There wasn't hand soap at the sinks that was a little weird for me). The Large trash bins were located back down across from the Park Center, as was the play ground. It would have been more convenient for campers to have these things closer but were convenient for day use visitors. The park center is a gorgeous stone/log cabin type building with a long porch facing the Swimming area. There are Adirondack chairs on the porch, then between the porch and the lake are wooden lounge chairs and benches to relax on while taking a break from swimming or hanging out. There are miles of trails and streams to explore. We had a lovely time and plan to visit again soon.
I had never visited Lake Greenwood, save for driving by on the way from Augusta to Greenville. So when no other State Park had reservations available for Labor Day weekend, I was hesitant to book here. I will admit, I was mistaken. My in-laws and my parents both pulled their camper trailers, while I pulled my Jayco pop-up. I was very satisfied with the size of the spaces, which were accurate compared to the website. The camp website also accurately informs campers about the grade of campsite driveways, which did become an issue for my parent’s trailer. The sites are generally not much more than an asphalt driveway, and a gravel picnic table/fire ring area. I didn’t see many tent campers in this part of the campground, and I would imagine tent camping would be especially uncomfortable (hot) during the summer months. Electrical hookups are new, and standard, and water hookups are plenty for even the biggest of rigs.
The campground maintains decent tree/shade coverage, especially on the outer sites. The sites near/on the water are also shaded and have the added bonus of the lake breeze, although they are a bit crowded; very close to the sites next door. Speaking of which, perhaps due to the sold-out Labor Day weekend, but most probably because of the design of the campground and lakeside access, foot traffic was heavy between and around my campsite. This was annoying as always, and made me feel like I needed to bring in all of my chairs, etc when I left the site.
There are several bathhouses spread throughout the campground. Each one has two showers, two sinks, and two toilets, though at my closest bathhouse, one of the showers was out of order. The bathhouses were always very clean, and did not have the usual peeling paint and army of bugs and spiders that some bathhouses seem to maintain as a matter of principle.
Nearby Ninety Six NHS was a great half-day attraction, less than 15 mins away. Greenwood City is also a draw. Of course, the gem is Lake Greenwood. I was wishing the entire weekend that I had a boat to enjoy the cool clear water.
Bottom line, I have plans to come back on a less crowded weekend, and definitely with a boat.
If it weren’t for Hurricane Dorian we would have never found this gem! What a beautiful location. Most sites directly on the lake. We were 10 ft from our own swimming area. The water is clean to fish, swim, boat, kayak, jet ski. You can easily rent a pontoon and jet skis at the nearby Skippers and cruise to a great bar and grill, “break on the lake” for dinner and drinks. The lake is big enough to explore but small enough not to get lost. The reception is helpful and bathhouses very clean. You are 20 minutes from the cute town of Greenwood too. Full hookups available at this state park. Picnic tables and fire rings provided too. Don’t carry your own firewood in due to possible invasive insects.
This is one of the nicest state campgrounds we have been to and we are full timers and try and stay at state parks. The sites are large sandy sites with fire ring and a very large picnic table. There was a path down to the lake from our site. It poured one day and there was a lake outside the camper but is was gone the next day. Great drainage! There is a very pretty swimming beach and lots of picnic table around the beach area. The bath house is large and clean as are the bathrooms in the camping areas. Our pull thru site was huge! Large enough for our 35’ and loads of room at both sides of the pull thru.
This campground is very nice. Large sites that are all paved and very clean! Nice beach area, fishing pier and store on a beautiful lake!
Great camp ground with a lot of amenities. Nice well cared for spots with lots of shade. May want to consider reservations.
Our family had a great time! Lots of stuff for the kids to do! Bath house clean and laundry facility great! We will definitely be back!