Best Dog-Friendly Camping near Center Hill Lake

Nice campsite with platforms for campers. Great access to Center Hill Lake and the Caney Fork River.

Floating Mill Campground is an interesting campground in many ways. 1st it’s Army Corps of Engineer maintained and ruled. Which means there are different rules then most state parks, one of which is only 2 dogs per site allowed. 2nd the layout is more tent friendly (to me) with walk in sites with some nice views. You may or may not be able to put in directly from your site along the water. 3rd in addition to the water activities there are several parks nearby to visit while enjoying the Tennessee countryside.

Sitting on your “deck” overlooking the water would be plenty for many people just enjoying the moment. In addition there is the boatramp and there is a fish cleaning pavilion near the showerhouse. And my favorite, yakking, there are plenty of campgrounds Along Center Hill Lake that you could plan a float trip, ending up where you started.

Burgess Falls State Park is nearby with Windows Cliff Natural Area and Cummins Falls , Edgar Evins and Rock Island State Parks are further out but also worth a visit.

This campground is very heavily wooded and overlooks Center Hill Lake. Most sites are on large wood decks built into the hillside that are robust enough to drive rvs onto. Well maintained and a real value price. Only issues were a very steep approach onto the deck (dragging bottom of tow hitch) and electrical hookups on the wrong side for back on. We were able to dolly around on the hitch wheel.

We went over Labor Day weekend in 2016 for my 40th birthday. It was a blast! We hiked Cummins Falls which was too crowded due to the holiday but it was beautiful. The second day we canoed the Caney. That was also really fun but next time we’ll choose the six mile instead of the nine mile. Grocery stores were about 20-30 minutes out.

Camp sites weren’t too close to each other. There were lots of trees for enoing and our view of Center Hill Lake was great.

We had a great time and will definitely go back.

Beautiful and quiet campground on Center Hill Lake, but getting down to the lake isn’t real easy. Lots of trees between sites so they are private. Bath houses are super clean. Camped with friends, so it was a little awkward having to go from deck to deck and the fire ring wasn’t situated in an area where you could set out chairs and hang out. We were in sites 16 and 17 and would have liked to have been warned about the steep incline as you pull onto the deck (damaged bumper of rv 😬) All that being said, we were able to book these 2 sites together last minute and had a wonderful time.

Rock Island has some great spots. There's a few waterfalls, a swimming area, and some picnic areas. However, the camping is just ok, especially the tent camping. It's small, right off the road and not super close to the trails. The RV camping parts looked a little better when I drove by. There's a pavilion, a better bathhouse, and it just looked nicer. I'm all for rustic camping, but it felt like it was trying to be a better campground.

Anyways, Rock Island has a few hiking trails and a pretty awesome swimming hole beneath Twin Falls. I hiked the Blue Hole trial, which basically descends to the river via a waterfall. It's pretty difficult and you are ensured to get wet feet, but it's great!

In my opinion, there are better places to camp in the area and I would just make a day trip here to see some of the waterfalls and the huge dam that creates Center Hill Lake.

Came in on a Friday with reservations & prepaid so no hassle getting straight into our campsite. Unique campground with 60 sites, most of which are wooden decks dotted all along the hillside overlooking Center Hill Lake. This time of year there is so much foliage on the trees that you could hardly see your neighbors. The park was really quiet to have been almost full the weekend of our stay. I would rate it 5 stars but there are only 3 bathhouses for the 60 sites and with the boy scout troop staying the same time we were they got REALLY busy in the evening hours. They were extremely clean to be utilized as much as they are. We will make it a regular spot throughout the season.

Special note - most of the sites have electric & water on the LEFT SIDE (looking into the site) so be prepared to either lose a few feet of the site to move your camper closer OR take extra lengths to reach across.

Verizon service 4G LTE in most areas of the park we visited.

We were in primitive site I and it was a perfect spot to camp on a hot day. The sun never touched our tent. They offer kayak rentals and they are good sturdy ones at a reasonable rate. There is no swimming but we enjoyed fishing. They have A honey locus tree on one of the trails which was cool. I had never seen one. They are pet friendly and pets are allowed leashes on all the hiking trails. The animals are not scared of humans or dogs. We had squirrels, birds, deer and turkey join us at our camp site.

It's so funny to see other people seem to have had issues with the staff here. We went one day to scout out campsites around Center Hill Lake. We had already been to one of the other parks around it and checked out the campsites; we'd just driven in and around and noted which spots didn't have enough shade, etc. then left. When we got to the attendant booth, there was a stop sign at the speed bump. I stopped in front of the stop sign and when I started driving again, an older man opened the window at the booth and yelled at us. I slammed on my breaks and backed up to talk to him. He was an absolute aubergine to us for not talking to him. I told him I was sorry but I didn't know I needed to as I've never had to at any other area parks. He copped an attitude and said "There's a sign!" So, I guessed I just missed it. However, when we were leaving, I turned around and checked and the only sign was the stop sign..... He was sarcastic and rude to us as I explained what we were there to do and insinuated that we were trying to kidnap children... 

Beyond the Belligerent Balding Boomer, the roads in the campground and even just on the way to it from the main road are VERY narrow, crumbling, in BAD need of repaving/repainting arrows, and have lots of tight turns. We went into one area and a car had pulled over to the side of the road but was on the asphalt still which made getting around them not even close to possible. You might have been able to get around a motorcycle. Maybe. We ended up having to back up all the way back out of there with a rock wall on one side of the asphalt and dropoff on the other.

Was the best state park I’ve stayed at to date! Very safe, quiet/peaceful, family friendly, pet friendly, bath houses were clean, full hookups, pool was clean ($6/person entry fee)

This was our first time at Mountain Glen and we will return! If you are looking for a quiet, clean and beautiful campground, this is the place. Full hook ups, very pet friendly, friendly staff. Giving it ALL the stars. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Mountain Glen is a hidden gem! If you are traveling through eastern TN or just looking for a place to park your RV for a few weeks or longer of peaceful quiet then you have to stay here. I've stayed in RV parks across 38 states and never found cleaner bathrooms, friendlier customer service, or faster WiFi (and that's important since I work remotely!) than what Mountain Glen RV Park offers. They've also got great water pressure, easy pull-throughs, after-hour check-in options, and a convenient store in case you forgot some essentials. In addition to the great amenities, you'll be greeted by rolling scenic vistas of beautiful countryside, having fishing opportunities, pavilion or indoor meeting room to hang out with friends, playground for the kids, and pet friendly areas for your dogs to enjoy.

Mountain Glen is definitely a must-stay and the best of the best of all the RV parks and campgrounds I've ever stayed at!

I almost hate to leave such a review because I’m afraid I’ll never get into it again. Obviously we will return.

Pros:

• Usable internet - very important to us because husband works from the road
• CLEAN, well kept
• bathrooms so well done with showers individual rooms
• laundry room nice and reasonably priced
• game room and playground for kids of all ages
• nice pond with small creek
• pet friendly
• full hookups and reasonable prices
• nice, quaint store on site
• FRIENDLY staff

Cons

• sites are closer together than we prefer, but everything else makes up for that
• closest town 30 minutes down the mountain, however the Mennonite stores would have some things you might need only 15 minutes away.

This property is clean, quiet, family and pet friendly. Each tent and RV stall has its own picnic table and fire pit, spacing out each stall so it has fair privacy. If you don't care to grill or have a sandwich or ice cream at the general store on site the friendly owner will tell you where to eat in town (Cookeville). The entrance to the state park is across the street from the general store. All of the facilities you need are here, but I do have one critique, that is the smart light in the Women's restroom turns off after 20 seconds, I think it would be better to set it to 5 minutes. Otherwise it was a perfect stay.

Fall Creek Falls State Park is absolutely stunning! We were in Campground B and our site was gorgeous - it was a slight incline, but nothing a couple blocks under the tires couldn't easily fix. Our site was surrounded by trees and felt very private. We enjoyed a hike from our campsite to the top and bottom of Fall Creek Falls, it was not an easy hike down (nor back up) but it was totally worth it. Very pet friendly - our golden retriever enjoyed making many new friends at the campsite and on our hike. The scenic loop was awesome, especially enjoyed the short hike to Piney Creek Falls overlook and the suspension bridge. It was so nice having a general store on site to run in quick and grab the things I forgot at home. We cannot wait to visit this park again and explore the areas around it.