Meeman-Shelby Forest State Park

Some of the park is beautiful and well-kept. The campground, however, is not. While we appreciated the ample shade during our hot July stay, the sites are quite short and were not mowed when we arrived or any time during our four night stay. The last day we were there, part of the campground was finally being mowed, but they stopped before reaching the two loops off of the main one. One site next to ours had a water leak and large puddle. If you have Verizon, there is zero service for miles, making it difficult to research directions or activities. It might be a nice respite for locals, but it does not make for a good base to use when traveling. The dump station has a fixed nozzle and no threaded connection to utilize for flushing or rinsing your tank. It can only be used to rinse the sewer hose.

Lots of woods

Just so beautiful. Trails were well marked but not for faint of heart. Campsites were pretty close together and bathrooms not too great. Little black bugs swarmed on warm nights right a dusk for an hour. There’s an airport nearby and planes were constantly flying over one of the nights. We were the only tent there. Tent pads aren’t clearly marked but plenty of level ground to set up. Lake was gorgeous too, I was literally the only one out there.

Stayed a couple nights here. Ranger at the office was very friendly and when asked recommended places to go and see in Memphis. Bathrooms are dated. WiFi available at the headquarters office with pw. Site had some debris (old wet rugs).

We live close and love being able to break away and isolate ourselves from the world. There is no cell reception really at campsites and that just makes it better. Quiet and clean spot for a weekend away.

We love this state park. We frequent it regularly. The sites are all mostly level (front to back and side to side), the facilities are well maintained and the rangers patrol regularly. 

This is a very wooded campground, offering lots of privacy. There's a nice playground that my youngest is a big fan of. The campground is also a short drive from Poplar Tree Lake which offers boating and fishing (kayak rentals are available, or you can bring your own); no swimming area though.

Some of our favorite sites are 7, 8, 11, 12, 13, 25, and 26. These are in all in the two smaller loops, though the main loop sites are quite nice as well, they just don't feel quite as secluded. 

Also, make sure to check out the Shelby Forest General Store. They sell little bit of everything, including great food if you don't feel like cooking at the campsite!

Ample spaces in some campgrounds while some have small area, still larger than most of other camping locations. It can still be better if they can make camp bed with gravel for tent camping

Campsites are mostly spacious and hosts are friendly and helpful. We really enjoyed the trails and roads for walking/biking.

Not crowded and pretty quiet. August in Tennessee is hot and muggy!

I found merman Shelby Forrest on the Dyrt app stayed there a week really enjoyed it there the bathrooms and showers were clean the park workers were helpful and friendly I would highly recommend camping here

Good enough campground for one night stay. A bit of a walk to the bathrooms, but they were clean—flushing toilets and showers. At least 20 minutes to nearest grocery store.

Ok - so this campground is a few things.  Will detail the good/bad below as we saw it:

Good

1. This campground is super remote.  Like 20 minutes from downtown Memphis, but 0 bars of cell service.  Really nice for an escape, but hard if trying to work out of here.

2. This campground is part of a HUUUUUUGE state park.  Like 10000 acres.  

3. Tons of outdoors activities in this state park.

Bad

1. No cell service.  Or Internet.  Or anything.  There is very small service for WIFI available at the visitor center, which is a 5min drive from the park.

2. Bugs from April - October are pretty bad.  This is in a forest, so they are constantly around.

3. Bath areas are old.  And full of mosquitos.  Would make sure you understand this before camping.

4. No Full Hookups (state park).

Some nice shady spots and quiet. Was there in October and it was nice and quiet. Dogs are allowed. I did not have wifi or cell service (TMobile). But visitors with another service had wifi. There is wifi at the camp store/check in building.

This is a great place to check out. Staff and Rangers are great! Come in the Fall when the humidity and mosquitoes are at bay!

I recently just stayed for a Friday-Sunday stay, we had 11 children and 6 adults. It was very accommodating for all three families. We have two tents and a camper. The workers were very friendly. Overall it was a great stay with lots of things to do.

Place was beautiful but the mold in the bathroom was worse then expected for a state park.

Decent spot. Lots of sites with water and power hookups. Water at site 9 where we were was very cloudy. Atleast 3 drive into primitive sites. Decent bathrooms with showers. A bit pricey $28 per night. Very friendly staff. The ranger mentioned that they will be closing for renovations soon, including trying to get a "portajohn" out by the primitive sites and developing sites on the water. Very helpful on the phone. Call if you have any questions.

The primitive sites (there are three) are on a separate and I maintained road off of the campsite loop. Spacious sites, but if the weather is wet, it can be a bit iffy getting to them in a low clearance vehicle. That said, facilities and staff were nice.

The road into the campground is a little narrow when meeting someone so keep that in mind. Zero and I mean zero cell signal lol. Not a deal breaker for us but may be for some. Roads inside the campground are adequate. We stayed in site #2 which in the description says it's 46 ft but our 38 ft 5th wheel filled it up completely. Had to pull my truck to the side. No biggie. Unfortunately we couldn't tell from the picture of the website there was a large oak tree to the left of the site so close we couldn't even use our awning. Plugged into the 50 amp and thankfully had a surge protector because it faulted. Finally got that squared away. Once we started setting everything up we noticed them...mosquitoes swarming everywhere. Literally hundreds. Almost to where it wasn't enjoyable to be outside. All in all we enjoyed our stay even with the issues but our next time will be cooler weather and a different site. Park ranger did tell us before we left the park has received a grant to make major renovations to the campground starting 2022 and finishing in 2023.

Stayed for one night on the way through. Sites are pretty level. Water and electric fine. Bathroom clean but dated.

My friend and I camped for the weekend and it was great. Nice grounds. Showers, bathrooms were clean.

We stayed here Easter weekend. It was full but the sites are far enough apart that you have plenty of privacy and quiet. There’s great hiking near the campground. The playground is centrally located. If you have smaller kids, you may want to supervise as the equipment is more for the older elementary aged kids. Bring plenty of bug spray.

Took our brand new RV here for its shakedown trip the very day I picked up as it is so close to home. Was pleasantly surprised by the overall atmosphere of the campground. The entire place is completely shaded, as it seems they too the effort to not cut down many trees when putting the sites in. There is a playground for the kids. Bath houses are passable but need to be remodeled badly.

Sites are all over the place on size, so pay attention to site length on the website as you are booking if you are an RV camper. Tent campers will be happy with almost any site in the place. Another thing to prepare for is picnic are location on your site. While a lot of COE and private campgrounds tend to have the picnic are directly beside the parking spot for RV’s, only a few seem set up this way at Meeman-Shelby. Many sites have their picnic area and fire ring directly behind or even on the off-side of any RV that would use the site. I wish they would post pictures of the site for those wishing to book.

Outside of the campground is a great state park for those looking for a good hike. Tons of good trails. There is also a bike trail with another really nice playground at its trail head. Even if all you want is a scenic drive, there are some pretty good ones inside the park, and just along the parks northern edge is a road that will take you all the way down to the banks of the Mississippi River.

One more thing to prepare for is mosquitoes. This campground is immediately adjacent to low wetlands along the River. This means that mosquitoes are terrible in the summer around dusk. Some bug spray, citronella, and a campfire seemed to ward them off.

This park has tons of trees. Every site feels like it was cut right out of the trees. They are all RV sites with electric and water but I pitched a tent with no problem. I wasn’t able to stay and explore but if you’re looking for somewhere quite this is the place.

The campground is located in an old hardwood forest.  The park goes to the Mississippi River but no camping there.  There are also some nice fishing lakes on the ridge and interesting swamp hiking below.  Facilities are outdated and could use some improvements.   I haven't been in a couple of years but probably will.   Not all sites will accommodate a large RV so plan ahead.

We were in RV site 25, which had a huge amount of space to roam. Weather wasn’t great for our 5 night visit in late January but we really enjoyed our stay. Windy roads, hills and GPS took us the “scenic” route into the campground. It’s just a few miles from the Mississippi River which this time of year had huge beach front to explore and watch the barges go back and forth. The bath houses need some work, there is NO cell service (which I kind of enjoyed) but other than that a beautiful park with plenty to do.

It’s good, not great. Proximity to Memphis was a plus, however, we had 0 service anywhere near our campsite. Nice to disconnect for a night, but plan accordingly. The park was nice, the staff were very kind, but the bathrooms needed some attention. Paid $28 for a tent spot, so for that price I would probably try somewhere else next time.

Reading through the reviews, they are all spot on. We stayed here in a 40' class A for 28 days. There are few spots that we would fit, but it worked out. The staff is great and the camp host is very knowledgeable. Under "new management", they are trying to clean the deadwood and control the mosquitos. Will stay here again!

You really can't go wrong with Meeman-Shelby. It is so damn close to Memphis that while you won't feel like you are near an urban center, you benefit from its proximity. I very much appreciated being able to site see and camp during our brief overnight here. 

The campground itself is tucked away deep into the Meeman Shelby State Forest and offers a pleasant amount solitude even though the sites are fairly close together. We watched an super long RV struggle to back into their site, so I wouldn't recommend this campground to RVs that require pull through sites.

Not all sites are suitable for tent campers. I would call ahead to ask what sites to consider if booking online, or just show up. There are a lot of sites here and you'll find something.

The campground is not terrible even, so be prepared for that.

This is my neighborhood campground, so i might be a little biased. A great spot to spend the weekend with lots of good trails, a big lake for paddling and fishing, and quaint camp sites. The bathrooms are clean but have strong serial killer vibes. There used to be a pool here. I’d love to see that open again!

Meeman-Shelby, north of Memphis, is a nice addition for your camping travels.  Very quiet with decent, if old, shower and toilet facilities. Lots of mosquitoes due to the forest surrounds so be prepared.  Some sites have dual levels so be prepared there, too.  Not much privacy between sites.