camping info, the stuff you need to know: AL

Showing posts with label AL. Show all posts

Sunday, August 15, 2010

White Oak Creek COE, Eufaula, AL

White Oak Creek is a COE campground on Walter F. George Lake just south of Eufaula, Alabama. It's right on the Georgia line and less than an hour from Dolthan. Eufaula is advertised as the "Bass Fishing Capitol" of the state or world or something. The campground is maintained very well. It's been upgraded to 50 amp on all sites. I think there are around 160 sites, large for the corp campgrounds I've been to. A lot of the sites are reservable but the ones that are do not have sewer hook-ups, I don't think there are many with sewer anyhow. All the bathhouses have been airconditioned.

Our site with a lake view, most all have a lake view, just a row or two off the water. Most of the sites have at least some shade. This site was listed as completely shaded on the Reserve America website but was one of the less shaded in the park.

Just some assorted site pictures.

We picked 36, 51, 52, 53, 59,62, 96 & 100 as some of the sites we liked. They're shadey and not right up next to other sites.

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Joe Wheeler State Park, Rogersville, AL

Joe Wheeler is on Highway 72, just west of Rogersville, AL. There are 116 campsites and all but 4 have sewer hook-ups. Most of the sites have some if not all shade but it is kind of hilly in the campground. The lodge is fairly nice with a resturant and a large marina. A 30 minute drive west gets you to Florance, less than an hour east and you're in Huntsville.

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Our site for this trip, B9.

The campground is divided into 3 sections, A, B, and C, A being closest to the entrance.

The sites with the yellow numbers are section A, green is B and C is orange.

There is a bath house in each section, usually clean but they are kinda old.

There are a few pull-thrus, avoid the lower numbered ones in section A, too much incline.

There are only 3 or 4 sites that are really on the water and they are in section C. Some of the other sites that look like water sites on the campground map are up hill and a little piece off the water but still nice sites.

http://www.alapark.com/joewheeler/Camping/

If you reserve a site at Joe Wheeler, you just get a site, not a specific one. They will assign you one when you check in or if they're not crowded, you can just pick your own.These pictures were taken on a Tuesday, by the weekend they were about 2/3s full.

Joe Wheeler is a nice place to spend a few days relaxing, not a lot to do in the area but within 30 minutes you can be in Florence or less than an hour you can be in Huntsville. Fishing and boating are the main attactions to the park.

Places to eat:

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Gulf State Park, Gulf Shores, AL

Small gators at the campground.

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The park is over 6000 acres with about 2 miles of beach and 450 plus camp sites. They do have cabins but the lodge was destroyed by Ivan in 2004. Before Ivan, the campground was mostly shaded and had a lot of undergrowth between the sites. After Ivan, it's all wide open. In 2003, they started upgrades to the park. All sites now have 50 amp service and sewer hook-ups. Now it's very poular with snowbirds, fills up in January and Febuary. They take reservations but not site-specific, about 90% can be reserved, that leaves about 50 or more that are first come-first serve. It does fill up at times. One year I couldn't get a reservation and went any way. We got there right after lunch time, they had 3 sites left. You enter the campground from Park Road 2 onto Campground Road, just look for the blue water tower. Water front sites are a little more expensive and are on the lake (not gulf), we usually skip the water sites, they're hard to get anyway.

This is site #228, in the loop just past the pool, on the right side of Campground Road. The 1st loop on the right is fairly popular and has a lot of traffic, it also leads to the newer sites (450>), most sites in the new section are pull-thrus, the other pull-thrus are on the main entrance road, so someone is always driving right by your site. All sites on the left side of the entrance road are a little quieter but I'd avoid the 1st loop as it's right behind the dump station.

I didn't number the sites, they're all about the same.

There are several bathhouses, improved in 2005. New roofs, air conditioning and they are cleaned everyday. They are always clean unless a bunch of kids have trashed them.

The beaches are only about 1/2 mile away by bike, there are plenty of bike trails, or you can drive to the state park beach or the public beach in town. You do have to pay a dollar or two for parking if you go to the state park beach. At the park beach there is a pavillion with restrooms and a small store.

The new/old activity center and camp store, laundry will also be in this building when they are done. Website says they'll have WIFI here also.

New docks on the lake with canoe rentals.

New pool and pool house, rumor is that will open in May of 2010, they been working on it for 5 years. Once it opens there will be kids everywhere all summer long.