Foster Falls Campground — South Cumberland State Park

Not at actual park. Google maps unable to locate and campsite. Map on site was unclear I wondered around for an hour until I gave up. Wth. Don’t come here unless you know the area.

My family and I had a great time exploring the Cumberland Falls. There are a variety of trails for different skill levels. We would like to return here to have a chance to explore more.

We recently stayed in the Collins west campground. About a half mile hike in to the sites from parking. The area was perfect for the 6 of us with plenty of family friendly hiking. The overlook by campsite 3 which is my favorite site was amazing!

Had a great time here, the sites are good sized, fire pits, table and very clean. Hiking to the falls is just a few mins away. Bathroom is a bit small and could be a touch cleaner, but overall this is a great spot to crash!

We camped here over the weekend with our dogs. The campground has 26 rustic campsites that need to be reserved in advance. Each site has a firepit and a picnic table. It is probably better for tent camping since there are no electrical hook ups. There are also no generators allowed. Some of the sites are very close together like mostly the ones on the entrance. We camped at #19 and it was very private and spacious. The bathrooms were ok. Unfortunately they were never cleaned over the weekend. It was pretty noisy on Friday night and there is nobody to enforce a quiet time. Be aware... roosters are nearby and they start crowing at 4am. Some of the sites are very well shaded. There is no firewood sale in the campground or the visitor center (which is about 17 min away) but locals have it available near by. The landscape is absolutely gorgeous and breathtaking. Foster Falls is just a short walking distance away and so beautiful. In the summertime it's a popular swimming hole. It is also a paradise for rock climbers. South Cumberland has many spread out entrances. We visited Stone Door and Denny Cove. It was so beautiful. We would camp here again but probably not in the summertime because it can get very crowded.

The campground is great for climbers looking to get an early start on all the routes nearby. It’s not a lot of privacy since all the sites are fairly close together and the vegetation is pretty thin, but it has all the regular amenities (picnic table, fire pit, flush toilet, hot shower, potable water). Access to the sites was easy for any 2WD sedan, every site was reasonably flat for pitching a tent. No firewood around to gather at all so bring your own. Kind of expensive for what it is, but it’s the best option for a drive-in campsite the night before climbing. Cell service ok for Verizon. There’s a hike-in campsite nearby too.

We had a great stay at Foster Falls, Site 1. Under normal circumstances, this site might not be the best. It’s right at the entrance and doesn’t have a ton of privacy. However, only two other people camped in the campground that night so we had the place to ourselves. Also, the sites that appear more private at the end of the loop have to deal with an annoying vocal rooster. We had ok Verizon cell service.

The sites are large and well maintained. There was Poison Ivy all around the outside of the site, beyond the wooden timber boundaries, but not inside the pad area. Good trees for hammocks. Site was nice and shaded.

We enjoyed hiking down to the falls and taking a swim. Kids really enjoyed it. We also did the Grundy Forest loop, which was awesome. Highly recommend for a family friendly hike.

Great location for a base camp to explore the rest of the area!

South Cumberland state park is actually spread out over several counties. We went to a smaller section with walk in only camping. Sites are great and easy walk in to and the hiking trails and falls are so worth it. We had a great time there and will definitely be back. The ranger we talked to was super helpful. This is at savage falls not foster falls... savage falls I couldn’t find

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.

I went with a group of seven and we hiked the Collins Rim Trail and the Collin Gulf Trail Loop. We had a blast. The weather wasn’t the best, temps in the mid 30’s and rained the whole first day. The Collins Rim Trail was about 8 miles to our campsite and then 4 miles out on the Loop Trail. You do have to reserve a campsite, even though someone else took ours, there were plenty of campsites available due to the weather. Parts of the trail were moderately difficult due to the geography and other parts were made more difficult from the rain. Overall this is an amazing place to day hike or even camp like we did. The views were amazing and the waterfalls, lots of water falls! We will definitely be back!

These campgrounds are located pretty close to the falls and the climbing area. Early in the season the water is extremely cold because the snowmelt.

Facilities were not the most maintained but like state park for its' location.

Lots of louder families while we were there.

Foster Falls Campground has 26 sites, most of which are very large and spacious. As is common in loop campgrounds, the sites in the center of the loop--especially sites 1-13--are very open, with little privacy between sites, although they are still shady due to the extremely tall trees. The outer loop sites have more underbrush between them providing a buffer. Sites 17-26 all have relative privacy from each other, but are smaller sites in general, although many of them have specified tent pads. The sites closest to the bathrooms all had more bugs while we were there in August, and site 16, while very large, has power lines that run into the site itself.

This is a very beautiful campground. The towering trees give most sites ample shade, and there is a lot of firewood that is easy to collect from felled trees, particularly on the back half of the loop. The front half of the loop is closest to the trail to the falls, and site 8 has a trail running directly behind it that takes you to the falls overlook, and to the trailhead to walk down to the falls themselves. Our 2 and 5 year old walked from our campsite down to the falls and back up easily, and enjoyed having a trail that led to the falls overlook for nightly post-dinner walks, and it would make a great camping base for anyone looking to hike the Fiery Gizzard Trail. The picnic tables are also very large and made it easy to prepare food and for 5 people to sit comfortably, even with our stove at one end, and the tables are on concrete slabs, which helps keep bugs crawling around your feet down a little, and makes it easier to clean up any food that falls while eating. The bathrooms were also cleaned each morning, with the trash taken out and the floor swept clean of bugs and detritus.

My biggest complaints about this site are the noise, and how much trash we saw. There is a farm nearby with a rooster that spent the better part of the day crowing, which can be distracting when you have a toddler you are trying to get to sleep, and got very repetitive for the adults as well. We could also hear 18 wheelers both nights we were there during the night. We were there on weeknights so there were very few other campers, but there was a lot of trash still evident from the weekend littered across most of the campsites, and a group that stayed our first night there left their fire ring full of paper towels and banana peels. After reporting it to a ranger, he cleaned up the paper but left the banana peels which made me wonder how strictly the campground enforces proper food storage, and the ranger said that the campers had not paid or registered--despite the fact that park vehicles drove past at least twice since that group set up camp. If kept clean, I would easily give this a 4 or 5 star rating despite the noise, but I was very disappointed in the visibility of human impact--a shame, because it is otherwise a great place, and great for families with small children.

The park itself is amazing but be prepared to rough it in the campground areas. The bathhouses were unkept, meaning holes in roof and lack of toilet paper, and housed a ton of creepy crawlers. Also if you come in an rv you will be boon docking. Bring ear plugs too because they have no strict quiet time regulations and people tend to party hardy up there. Also lock up your stuff very well because there is no gate and people love to drive back there and snoop around. However the waterfalls and trails are mind blowing so it is totally worth the visit.

Camping was easy and bathrooms were clean. Really beautiful scenery on somewhat strenuous hikes to waterfalls, some good sport climbing, and a few trails that will take you really high up so you can look down at the beautiful green canopy (or orange if it's fall). Beautiful spot any time of year but we like to go when it's warm enough to swim in the waterfall :)

We went car camping and it was a really nice, big, kinda private site. During the day you can hike down the trail to the water fall and hike on some more to do some rock climbing. I have been camping there about 3 times and love it.

Nice campground with lots of good trees for hammocking. Bathrooms could've been cleaner, but I have definitely seen worse. I camped here to go climbing the next day, it was a decent hike to the crag but not too far. The waterfall is beautiful! I would recommend camping here.

We used two cars and parked one at our campsite here, and brought one to the beginning of the Fiery Gizzard Trail. It was nice to camp the night before in order to get an early start on the trail -- although it did not really help us avoid the incredible heat and humidity of June in Tennessee.

The waterfall and swimming hole were an EXTREMELY WELCOME sight after that long day hike! The water was very cool and felt great in the summer. Tent sites are leveled gravel and we were able to buy some firewood when we arrived. The falls were just trickling -- if you want to see them roaring come in the spring!

This area has waterfalls, beautiful hiking, rock climbing, bluff views, and a river running through it all. It is the perfect place to visit if you want to see everything.

Great place to camp near waterfalls and trails but far less crowded than it’s big brother Fall Creek Falls. Best detour we found and just because we stopped to check out the ranger station nearby.

I rolled in to this campground on a Thursday and there was not a soul in sight. It was fairly quiet, except for some dogs and a rooster at a nearby house. The area is beautiful and lush, the waterfall is amazing (although quite a scramble to the base). There is also a short, easy walkway to an overlook. The Fiery Gizzard trail offers backcountry sites. There are flush toilets and showers, although the facilities are small and dated.

most peaceful camp spot. best place get out of cell range and be with nature. clean.

Inconvenient that you have to make online reservations before getting there, however we were able to get just enough cell reception to reserve the site and stay.

Some of the sites are a little too close together, but other's are nicely spaced.

HOT SHOWERS!

Incredibly beautiful waterfall and hiking area (as well as Rock climbing).

There are very average campsites for RV’s, car camping, backcountry and your average camping spots. HOWEVER, the beautiful hike down to the waterfall is 100 meters from most of the campsites. The views made it an amazing trip.

Things to know: $5 reservation fee, $8-45 per site

Amenities: picnic table, fire ring, restrooms, heated shower

Drawbacks: no electric or water hook-ups. No gas generators allowed

We stayed at the Stone Door campground in the Savage Gulf part of the park. The sweet lady at the ranger station was a pleasure to meet and made sure to give suggestions of where to hike. There is a gorgeous waterfall within yards of the ranger station and amazing views all along the one mile (easy) trail to Stone Door. The campground itself was well maintained with the perfect amount of space between sites to afford privacy without taking away from the comfort of having neighbors when animals start making strange noises in the night. The bathrooms for the campsites are really just outhouses but better equipped bathrooms can be found near the ranger station across the parking lot. Firewood can be purchased at a market down the road from the entrance to the campground for $5 a bundle. Make sure to have cash though, as the market is not set up to take cards. We headed home wishing we had more than one night to camp, but knowing we will definitely be back in the future!

Campground was clean. Bathrooms were not. The guy in charge was cool. The waterfall is awesome. It is a very short drive and short rocky hike to the water fall. You can see the falls from a distance if you don't want to hike down. I would stay here again.

Small Wild Campsite on Fiery Gizzard Trail - South Cumberland State Park. Hike from Foster Falls to the campsite was 2.5 miles so pretty easy. Full of great overlooks, some waterfalls. Campsite was really spacious, some degree of privacy from the other campsites in the area. It had an outhouse but there wasn't any water access because the stream was dry. It wasn't a big deal since we were only 2.5 miles down the trailhead we began at. If we would have been coming from the other end of the 12 mile one way trail it probably would've been a different story. Great proximity to the waterfall, and there was a fire pit with a grill option.

You can't beat this area for great non-glamorous camping. It gives you just what you need- a spot to set up a tent and so many nearby adventures that you really don't need to be there except to sleep and refuel. In addition to Foster Falls, which can get somewhat crowded in the summer, there are some really great smaller falls and swimming holes nearby. Stop in at the S Cumberland State Park to pick up a map and information.

Hiked the Fiery Gizzard before it was closed then reopened. Was a CHALLENGE! Boulder field Delores! With gorgeous scenery! Rustic camping area, bring your own water filtration and entrenching tool:)

Fairly large campsites with easy access to Foster Falls and the Fiery Gizzard trail. Clean bathrooms + showers, and lots of trees (perfect for hammocking!).