Chilhowee Recreation Area

Overall: Very quiet wooded campground on Chilhowee Mountain Getting there: Off TN SR 64 East of Cleveland& Ocoee. Very nice lakeside drive along Lake Ocoee. There can be a lot of traffic. Turn on marked road just past Ranger Station turnoff and take Oswald Road 7 miles up a winding mountain road, narrow in spots with multiple scenic overlook views of the Blue Ridge mountains and Lake Ocoee.  There is also a marked "Historic Site" that is worth a stop.  See pics. Advise not to take back road from/to Benton. There is a sign on the entry to the drive in that says“full up” on electric campsites, but not so. Mostly empty mid week. Most sites are reserved for weekends. If you do not have a reservation and are going up without one this can be totally misleading. 

Check in and staff: There is no check in gate. Campground Hosts are present and did make the rounds checking on us in the late afternoon. Very pleasant. Reservations for sites are made on-line, so you follow the signs to your reserved site. 

Amenities: Electric is available at some sites, but not others. There is no water available at any of the sites. Some of the loops have a water source nearby with instructions to bring water to your campsite, do your dishes there, strain out any food particles for the trash and dump the grey water at the campsite. Since bears are present and attracted to scents this seemed an odd instruction to us. There are no dishwashing sinks available in the restrooms, and this is discouraged. 

There is a very nice small lake with a beach, many hiking trails including one to Benton Falls.  The hiking trail around the lake is very nice, level and shaded most of the way.

Bathrooms: The bathroom in loop B was not very clean. See pics. The hot water was hot, but very difficult to use. The shower had a little button to push after turning it to the left for hot water. This stayed on for exactly 4 seconds per push. So in order to get a decent shower you have to hold it in. 

Site: Campsites are large, wooded and relatively private. Nice flat gravel covered parking/landing areas with excellent fire pits. See pics. Firewood is available with the Host. We were there mid week and it was very quiet. There was only one other camper in Loop B at the time.

Campground was well taken care of and clean. It was easy to navigate even after pulling in after dark. We will definitely be staying there again.

Beautiful, well maintained park. Stayed 2 nights and made plans to return for a week. Stayed in A loop. The A&B loops are well spaced and mostly shaded with fairly level gravel pads. Bathhouse was clean and well lit. Roads around the loops were narrow but there were big 5th wheel rigs so its doable. We were there in the middle of the week and it wasn't crowded at all. Plenty of FC FS sites even though the signage at the main turnoff to Oswald rd said no RV electric sites. We walked over to loops C&D and E&F and those loops were still quite spacious although not many electric sites that we noticed. The trails are what really makes this an all around great campground. Several hikes for all levels. We did the Benton Falls hike and it was lovely! 3 miles RT. Fall color was just peaking 🍂 Fire pits with cooking grates, lantern posts and picnic tables were clean and well kept. If you're in the area, put this one on your list! You won't be disappointed! The views are killer! 👍