Pickwick Landing State Park Campground

We always book in the Bruton Branch campground. It’s right on the water, which is nice, but there is poison ivy everywhere along the bank, so pay attention. The bathhouse is nice, has 4 bathrooms/showers, but cleanliness just depended on who else had used it. It was a lot of fun, aside from the noisy gas generator that sounded like a lawnmower outside of my tent at 2am. But we fished and swam (rocky bottom, bring water shoes). 

***If you want to fish with minnows, buy them somewhere else. Everywhere near there charges outrageous and they all died within 2 hours despite having an aerator)

Nice getaway close to home

**This park is smack in the middle of Memphis, Huntsville, and Nashville so it can get pretty crowded. It is very large though, with a full golf course, hotels, cabins, RV/tent camping, sports, kids programs, swimming, fishing, boating, etc. We went here for a family reunion, which was a great venue for that. There is good birding but the trails are very short, so if you are looking for hiking this is not the best place to go, though it is very pretty.**

**Yay: Campground is wooded and shady, clean but bustling.**

**Nay: There’s a conference center, so if there’s an event going on then, it will be extremely busy.**

**Surprise: There are a lot of roads in the park that would be great for biking.**

Resort style campground 

Pickwick Landing offers boating, fishing, hiking, golf course. Cabins, campsites and Inn w restaurant. Activities offered all year round. We love this park.

TN State Park

The campsites are terribly unlevel. I can honestly say that is the only negative. The campground is very shady &amp; they just improved the bathhouse.                                                        The park itself is very spread out. The marina is beautiful &amp; you can rent pontoon boats. Although it is a bit pricey.                                                                 There are plenty of places for some good fishing.                                                     This is such a beautiful park. We love it!

Great park!

We had a good time there, but there were homeless dogs roaming around that we called about but they didn't seem to care. Poor doggies!

Nice place 

I was in the area checking out Shiloh National Battlefield and they recommended me check out this state park for accommodations for the evening. It was less than 10 minutes up the road and noted to be a resort style state park because they have lodge accommodations and also a restaurant.

When I checked it out it seemed to be a popular place for fishing, though I don't fish, and the lake itself has a swimming area for those like myself. I set up my site through the online booking and I kind of wish I had not because I had no way of knowing what the sites truly looked like. Some of the sites were very uneven and my site was one of those unfortunately. Because of my late arrival there was no way for me to change this so I had to settle with the site which was a bit less than satisfactory. Had I have been able to find a site a little more level I probably would have given this site a higher rating.

My site was only $15 and came equipped with a fire ring and picnic table which is pretty standard. Nothing to special in way of this but the bath houses were very nice and looked like they had been recently remodeled perhaps.

I enjoyed most the area around the lake which included hiking and swimming on the sandy beach. It looked like they maintain the beach well and there was no loose grass growing in it like there had been at some of the other locations I had visited.

I did notice there was an additional area for camping that had hook ups for RVs for $25 those sites seemed more even than the primitive sites in my area.

TIPS:

*   Speak to a real person if booking online to find out the lay of the land.
*   Bring your disc golf frisbees if you play they have a great course here.
*   Check out the marina where they have several different kinds of boats and other water crafts to rent for a very reasonable amount.

Uneven Campsites But Great Views

Beautiful park. Nice &amp; clean with recent updates to the bath house. 
The park is nice &amp; quiet if you’re looking for some relaxation. 
If you like to fish then you’ll love Pickwick. The fishing is great!
They have boat rentals but it’s too expensive in my opinion. 
The lodge has a delicious buffet if you get there while it’s fresh. 
The biggest negative is the sites are not level. Some are pretty bad. But they are spacious and are almost all shade.  

Lots of shade

My son Conner and I stayed at Pickwick Landing State Park on Monday night, July 15. We arrived after dark, but thanks to a park staff member I called earlier, we had an amazing campsite(#18) waiting for us when we arrived. Campsite#18 is located near the bathrooms and shower areas. The restroom and shower building had 8 individual shower rooms with fold down benches. Each of them were big enough to allow someone in a wheelchair to use them. Both the bathrooms and the shower rooms were clean and well stocked. The park staff cleaned them thoroughly the next morning as we prepared to leave. Each campsite has a picnic table, asphalt drive, a fire ring, grill, and lantern post. These sites also have power and water, but they do not have trash cans at the campsite. Trash must be taken from the campsite to the dump station by the campers. If you’re camping here make sure to bring your own trash bags. The sites seemed well spaced and all of them probably have full shade most of the day due to the mixture of pine and hardwood trees that fill the camp. A gas station/bait shop/oyster bar is about a mile away from the camp grounds. Grocery stores and other restaurants are within 5 miles. Though this was a quick camping trip for us(we went to see the Shiloh Battlefield and Shiloh Indian Mounds), the trip was made a little easier by having an efficient, comfortable, and peaceful campsite to call home for a few hours. Be on the lookout for our nighttime visitor Lester the curious racoon. He checked out our campsite after we went to bed looking for an easy meal. Luckily, we had put all of our food securely in the car before calling it a night. This is another 5 star Tennessee State Park campground. Sidenote: We enjoyed a good lunch at a place called the Rib Cage just a few miles from camp. Conner recommends the ribs but not the hot sauce.

Great Place To Call Home For The Night

Bruton Branch campground is really pretty and if you get the last 2 spots you have plenty of space for a group with a rock beach to fish from or to swim in. The bathhouse could be kept cleaner but it’s one of our favorite close to home spots to camp. 

Spacious and on the water

We like the rustic campground here! Nice new bathhouse and playground area. They sell firewood! I do wish the campground was on the river or had water views, but it’s close by, so that’s okay. 

There is a nice lodge with restaurant. The cabins here are extremely nice! They have views of the Tennessee River. Be sure to check out the wildlife rehab near the front office. 

There are a few stores and restaurants close by in case you want to go out to eat if need to make a trip to the store. 

We love Tennessee State Parks! 

Rustic campsites, nice cabins

Overall the campground was nice! The sites are fairly secluded with grills, concrete pads, picnics tables and fire rings at each site. The bath house was very clean and had individual shower rooms which is a huge plus! There is a small playground and plenty of space for the littles to ride bikes! 

Pickwick Landing Site 39

PROs: small campground, easy to walk, campsites are not on top of each other, lots of shade, nice hiking trails, multi vehicle parking at each site, nice concrete picnic pads at each site (although not all are level), fabulous wildlife experience

CONs: very VERY few level campsites (some are pretty sketchy inclines), very narrow lots for RVs, not full-hookup, no site trash cans, 10 whole minutes of hot water in the showers in June on a Thursday, no lake access within walking distance of campground. 

ADDITIONAL: Has 4 nice primitive campsites but none are near the lake. 

WITHIN DRIVING DISTANCE: Lots of lake but few fish biting regardless the time of day, multiple nice beaches

RV/Camper Pros and Cons

Most sites marked as slight to moderate incline- I would rate as moderate +.  Amazing staff met us at site and suggested others open sites that were better for van life leveling:).  
Great distance between sites.  Clean bathrooms and showers!  Trails do not allow bikes. 

Fall- nice distance between sites

Shaded, private showers, water and electric hookups, tent friendly, and wildlife-fanatic friendly. Though it is his and gets sweaty at night so bring a fan and appropriate sleeping gear if you'll be tent camping. The grounds are well shaded and comfortable so you don't cook during the day. At night you can indulge in the rich atmosphere of southern cicadas and crickets backdropping owls and coyotes (don't worry! Coyotes are scared of people, they just sound a little jarring when you first hear them yipping). Really nice playground next to the bathrooms.

Rich with wildlife, quiet human activity 

We camped here for a weekend. 
There are actually 2 different campgrounds. We stayed at the one with with electric hook ups. The campsite also had a fire pit, lantern pole, and picnic bench. 
The sites are spacious and not too close together. 
The bathhouse was very clean. The showers are separate but in the same building. They are a little outdated but had a good water pressure. 
There is also a little check in booth where you can purchase firewood, ice, and other little things. 
From the campground you can start hike a 2.8 mile loop on the water.
We also stopped at the lodge for dinner one night. It was very nice and the food was good. 
If you wanna do anything in the water, we saw a sign for a kayak and boat rental. If you bring your own, the park has a nice marina. 
If you don't feel like cooking, there are nice places around to check out. 
The dam is very impressive and we saw a lot of people fishing.
The park has something for everybody to do and we enjoyed out weekend here.
