We were in the first week of November absolutely lovely park loved the staff in the office they were so accommodating We had a nice level site plenty of space to spread out and kick our shoes off for a few nights sunsets were incredible cool autumn nights Trails galore and nice wildlife scenery for photography
Great spot. We stayed the night after Thanksgiving, so we had almost all of the dispersed spots to ourselves. Super quiet right by the lake. Take spot 40 or 41. Only thing to be aware of is the spots are fairly close together, so in peak season it could be tight.
We enjoyed our stay at Raccoon Mountain. Sites were a good size. Not right on top of each other. The caverns were pretty cool. Having the dog park close by was a bonus. We would definitely stay here again.
The Turkey Creek campsite is a campsite along the Walls of Jericho trail and is located just feet from Turkey Creek. The site is approximately 3.3 miles from the Alabama hikers trailhead parking lot. The campsite is level and large enough to accommodate a handful of tents. There are also many trees that would be suitable for hammock camping and in my opinion, this site is the best along the trail for hammocks. This site is fully shaded. There were 3 or 4 fire rings at this site, so multiple groups could be accommodated.
This is backcountry camping so plan appropriately(no bathroom, pack it in- pack is out). We found no cell phone service with Verizon at this site. Water can be sourced from Turkey Creek if it is flowing, but should be treated/filtered(on this visit Turkey Creek was pretty dry at the campsite after a very dry summer, but was flowing a little better up stream closer to the falls).
The Clark Cemetery campsite is a moderate sized campsite along the Walls of Jericho trail and is located just yards from the Clark Cemetery and the Turkey Creek Bridge. The site is approximately 3.1 miles from the Alabama hikers trailhead parking lot. The campsite is level and large enough to accommodate many tents. There are also many trees that would be suitable for hammock camping. You can choose from a shaded space to a sunny space depending on which side of the site you set up on. I counted at least six fire rings at this site, so multiple groups could be accommodated. With the very close proximity to the Clark Cemetery (a 1800’s family cemetery) I imagine the campfire stories could be very entertaining.
This is backcountry camping so plan appropriately (no bathroom, pack it in- pack is out). We found no cell phone service with Verizon at this site. Water can be sourced from Turkey Creek if it is flowing, but should be treated/filtered (on this visit Turkey Creek was pretty dry after a very dry summer, but Hurricane Creek is just a short walk away).
The Hurricane Creek campsite is the smallest campsite along the Walls of Jericho trail and is located near the junction of the TN and AL trails and just yards from the Hurricane Creek Bridge. The site is approximately 2.7 miles from the Alabama hikers trailhead parking lot. The campsite is level and large enough to accommodate a handful of tents in close proximity to each other. There are also many trees that would be suitable for hammock camping. The site is mainly shaded and has one large fire ring.
This is backcountry camping so plan appropriately (no bathroom, pack it in- pack is out). We found ok to weak cell phone service with Verizon at this site. Water can be sourced from Hurricane Creek, but should be treated/filtered.
My husband and I went this weekend and had a great time! (Although, it rained almost the entire trip.) The primitive sites were great! A little walk to the bathhouse from our site. Bathhouses were clean, heated, and even required a passcode to use. We’re already planning a trip back here with our young boys. So many caverns and caves to explore so don’t let rain deter you from visiting!
The trailhead campsite is a short walk from the parking lot, but makes for a great basecamp for exploring the area. The campsite is level and large enough to accommodate many tents. There are also trees that would be suitable for hammock camping. The site is on the edge of an overlook of the canyon and has multiple fire rings if there are multiple groups there. This site and trailhead serves both the Walls of Jericho trail and the Bear Den Point Loop Trail.
This is primitive camping so no bathhouse, but there is a porta-john in the trailhead parking lot. The site is a good distance from any convenient stores or grocery stores so plan accordingly. We found good cell phone service with Verizon at this site. Trash cans are located in the trailhead parking lot. Please pack out your trash from the campsite.
Have a very nice view mountain to die for. Campground is nice it’s just they had plumbing problem when we were there so we didn’t have water running. Other wise I would give 5 stars
Not a far hike in. Isolated camping spots, well marked, out-house nearby, along with water source.
Does were cleaned and well maintained. Bath house was clean albeit cold when I went. Owners were friendly and helpful.
We camped at the Father Adamz campground. It was a little hard to find initially, there were no trail markers. Luckily we ran into a hiker that knew where it was. It was a .5 mile hike into the campground. Once there, it was breathtaking. You can hear the river at night when all is quiet and the campground (8) was very spacious.
This campground was super different from anywhere I've ever stayed. My family and I went a few years ago on a trip to Tennessee. It was a decent place to stay. We RV camped on this trip, but the campground had tent sites too. Ours was pretty spacious and right next to our friends' site.
What was neat about this campground that it actually is right above a series of caverns, one of the biggest systems in the US I think. We got to go on a 4 hour caving trip led by a guide, which was really awesome. If you're every at this place, definitely book a trip to go around the caves. Also, right at the campground was a place where you could mine for gemstones. This was really great for the younger kids we had with us and pretty fun for me too.
As always, there's some good hiking around. We checked out snoopers rock trail which was beautiful. Also a fun thing to do since the campground isn't too far from Chattanooga was going to watch the Lookouts at a minor league baseball game. This area has a ton of stuff to do and it was a great trip!
Campground Review:
This is the second year in a row for us visiting Cloudland Canyon in the fall. Cloudland Canyon is a large state park with 72 water and electrics campsites, 30 walk-in primitive campsites, and 13 backcountry campsites. There are also cabins and yurts to rent. The RV sites are split between the east rim where the sites are close together and are in more of an open field, and the west rim, where the sites are in a wooded setting, shaded, and slightly separated. All of sites include a picnic table and fire ring.
Check-in was easy at the office at the entrance of the campground. We stayed on site 36 on the west rim. This site was mainly level and close to the bathhouse.
The bathhouse is centrally located and older, but functional and cleaned daily. There are also laundry machines available between the men’s and women’s area..
Firewood, ice, limited supplies, and souvenirs were available at the office. At the office, you can also pick up the phone number to a local that sells firewood by the cord or half cord and will deliver right to your site. We got a half cord(equivalent to about 6 bundles) for$23.
We found good cell phone service with Verizon throughout the property. The campground did not have wi-fi.
There is tons of hiking in and around the state park. On this visit, we hiked about 14 miles on trails in different areas of the park. The west rim campground also has connector trails to some of the main trails and we had our own personal connector off of site 36 to the trail system. The view on both the west and east rims area amazing, and if you decide to take on the 600 stairs to the bottom of the canyon there are two impressive waterfalls.
With this being our second year to stop here, we have fallen in love with the area. We recommend this campground and will keep returning to this area. I really like that it is less than 2 hours away from home, so we can visit this park often.
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Product Review:
As a Ranger for The Dyrt, I get to test products. At this campground, I tested the RovR RollR 60 Cooler. This cooler from RovR is a new addition to our standard camp gear list. The RollR 60 is a sturdy cooler that has the ability to hold temperature for long periods. During our 5 days of use, we did have some ice melt, but the ice water stayed super cold, kept our items very cold, and some ice remained the entire time. The all-terrain tires and handle made it easy for moving throughout the terrain found at our campsite. The wagon bin that fits on top is great for storing miscellaneous gear and the dry bin inside the cooler is perfect for keeping those items you want cold, but not wet. I also like the fact that is has heavy-duty rubber latches to keep the lid closed tight and the critters out. I highly recommend this cooler and am excited to have this as part of our gear loadout.
This was our first time staying at Desoto after being here previously to hike. Desoto State Park Campground is a large campground with 94 full hookup sites, 16 primitive tent sites, and 2 primitive backcountry sites. All sites with hook ups also included cable hook ups. All the sites are gravel and most sites are wooded with lots of shade. The sites are a little sloped, so have leveling equipment ready. The sites vary from small and close together in the pull through area, to medium size with plenty of separation for some privacy. All style sites include a picnic table and fire ring.
Check-in is at the camp store if you arrive during store hours or at the lodge if you arrive after hours. We stayed on site 15, which had a little sun in the morning and complete shade in the afternoon. This site does have a little slope in it, which was no problem for leveling our trailer, but our friends that were with us and in a tent had to deal with setting up on a little slope.
The bathhouse is centrally located, newer, and cleaned daily. There are also laundry machines available between the men’s and women’s area..
Firewood, ice, limited grocery items, and lots of souvenirs were available at the camp store. There is a full grocery store less than 15 minutes away.
We found ok to limited cell phone service with Verizon throughout the property. The state park did have wi-fi near the camp store.
The park has lots of hiking to enjoy the outdoors, a few smaller waterfalls along some of the trails, a zipline and sky bridge course(for a fee), and a large waterfall a short 5 minute drive from the campground. The river above the large waterfall is also available for kayaking and canoeing, and a small outfitter rents boats if you need one.
The state park is located in a very outdoorsy area with various activities to take inn. We look forward to visiting here again.
There is so, so much to do at this park. Unfortunately, we only got to hike around the falls since the weather was so bad.
Tent camping review:
- Lots of flat space for your tent, a canopy and for parking
- Easy to put down stakes
- A ton of beautiful trees
- Mostly RVs - as tent campers, we were in the minority
- Bathrooms were a bit old school; I did not want to shower there
- A lot of trashcans closeby
- So many daddy longlegs
This park never disappoints!!! Very clean facilities. Breath taking views. Awesome adventure hiking trails!!! A family favorite for sure.
Have hiked here several times and enjoyed the amazing waterfall.
Great camp ground. Been going here for 10 plus years with my family and have never had any problems. Great hiking trails and water falls.
Campsite: Stone Door review
This campsite is great for novice primitive campers. The campsites are secluded, but very close to the parking lot. There is an outhouse and drinking water close to the campsites. Each site has a fire ring and plenty of space.
There is a parking lot for overnight campers/hikers. There is also a lovely pavilion with grills for day hikers. This site is obviously close to stone door and Laurel Falls. You can also hike over to Ranger Falls on the Big Creek Gulf Trail. I did the Big Creek Rim trail. It was relatively flat, but had some beautiful overlooks. A great campsite with easy accessibility to great trails. Book ahead of time as campsites fill up quickly on weekends!
Product review: Banner & Oak lifestraw water bottle
As a ranger, I get to test products occasionally. I took the Banner & Oak lifestraw water bottle hiking with me. It very easy to use. You follow the instructions for first use, and then you can fill the bottle with any water source. I think it works because I did not get sick! The most difficult part is storage. You have to follow the directions for proper storage of the bottle. You have to properly dry the filter before storage. I liked it more than drops I have used in the past. Pretty awesome that the purchase of this bottle gets a child clean water for a year!
I’m giving this campground 4 stars as an RV park, not as a good spot for tent camping.
There were pros and cons, so I’ll start with the cons- the campground is surrounded by what looked to be a mobile home community. If you stay in an rv site, you probably won’t notice this, but the tent with electric sites are on the outer loop, so we noticed, and heard commotion from the road and community well into the night. The tent/electric sites were slightly wooded, but most are basically in the back yard of said community, so you don’t really have the “camping in the woods” feeling. We were the only occupants of tent/electric and there was not a single tent in the primitive field. The campground is pretty pricey also, compared to other places I’ve stayed.
Pros- This grounds was very clean and well maintained. Every site has gravel, and they had a pile of fill gravel, so I guess they fill it in when it gets low in spots. The restrooms and showers were also very clean and well kept. While I believe there are some long term residents here, the sites were not very cluttered as many are at other parks.
The campground is really close to the exit, and several restaurants, and really close to Chattanooga. There’s a camp store with essentials, including ice and firewood. There’s a pool that looks to be very clean and well maintained.
This is a great spot to spend the night if you are visiting Chattanooga and just need a place to stay close by, but I would say if you are just wanting to camp out, you could find a better spot in the great outdoors for that.
Stayed at site #21 which was about a 1/4 mile from the parking lot and bath house. There was also a short trail to the road which made loading/unlaoding gear easier than hiking it all in. Great camp site that had easy access to West Rim Loop trail. Camp site was large, nice fire pit with cooking grate, picnic table, and nice tent pad. Could not see any of our neighbors from our site but some of the other camp sites were closer to each other.
I love this campground and at least stay a weekend every time I’m in TN. I love how close to the city it is and the warm water.
A group of friends met here for the Mountain Festival. In addition to an awesome time checking out food and craft venders there are some awesome trails and overlooks. There are several campgrounds to pick from. We were in D which is best for small campers and tents. Some of these sites are really close together, others have a lot of space to set up. There is a nice group camp site in the trees and some secluded sites on the back loop. The showerhouse is a little old but functional. Fall Creek Falls is going through renovations and they have some new areas already opened for your enjoyment. Zip lines, a nice swimming pool, an amphitheater, swing bridges, awesome waterfall overlooks and some strenuous climbs that are worth the journey.
The weekend we decided to stay was the same weekend a water main break happened in downtown Chattanooga, leaving everyone without water. The staff was tremendous! They took it in stride and did everything they could to make it a comfortable stay. The campground was well maintained and we loved the pool! We will be back again to check out the cavern and pan for some gems.
These spots were roomy and well maintained. The museum was very interesting, we learned several new things and our boys earned their Jr Ranger badges. The walk around the mounds were a bit long, however, it was so peaceful. We had several deer cross our path and many of the simply stopped to watch us. We got several pictures of them. The rangers told us that at the end of this season they will be building new shower facilities. We plan on putting this park on our list of future stops!
Nice campground right off the highway, but remote enough to feel like you’re out in the sticks. Tons of trees and lots were large with plenty of parking. Friendly staff and activities while I stayed there.
This park is fantastic if you are looking for views. The hike along the rim will take your breath away. The hike down the canyon is long and a bit strenuous, but at the bottom is a huge cave that can be explored a bit. Have help with you though, as the cave can be tricky to climb out of….and you will get muddy!