An out-of-the-way state park with a good price point. The big deal here is that it is on a bluff ... in Florida. Really! My site is at the edge of a steep drop-off that falls for a few hundred feet and gives a great view ... of nothing really interesting. This feature would be unremarkable in most places, but it's the highest bluff in Florida!
Really quite deluxe.On the shore of Noxon Reservoir. Looks to have been renovated in the last year. All of my neighbors have boats and are here to fish the lake.
A campground on the Natchez Trace Parkway, so you don't even have to exit to get there. Drive past the M Lewis obelisk and up the hill to a really nice, free federal government campground.
A municipal park a couple of miles off the highway next to a golf course. Very pretty grove of trees and a pond. You're supposed to pay at the clubhouse, but there was nobody there.
A well laid out campground on the Georgia side of Lake Eufaula. All manner of water pursuits, many from the edge of your campsite.
Another very nice, well maintained campground built around another gorgeous freshwater spring. The one has Alley Mill, a grist mill driven by the outflow of Alley Spring - now a park info center. The mill is a short walk from the campground. If you hunt around for it there is swimming access to the river (swinning in the spring outflow, that's a no no in all these parks).
The camping area is just a gravel lot right behind the motel, but it's a beautiful setting right next to the creek, less than 100 yards from the hot springs. Small town, everything there is within ½ mile. He gave me a deal since it's Monday night off season.
Far from everything, in the high desert of southeast Oregon, a few miles east of Lakeview.
I have used the hot springs without camping, and lately I have been camping without soaking, so I'm breaking them into two spots. This is the camping spot.When the hot springs road turns left, take a right and park at any of the several rough camping spots. The hot springs is a little less tan a mile further on.
There's a very nice tub at the parking lot, holds 1-3 folks - adjustable temp, great soak. Down the hill is a travertine mound that starts with a pretty hot one person tub (109°-ish?) on the uphill side, which feeds into progressively cooler tubs as the water flows clockwise around the mound downhill. The last two have a spectacular view of the valley, but are too cool and have creepy stuff growing in them. This place is too accessible from 395 and too well known. It's usually busy, and sometimes straight-up creepy with weirdos straight off the highway. The camping spot is handy even without the hot springs. When the hot springs road turns left, take a right and park at any of the several rough camping spots.
A real find, right on the Missouri River. Right next to the fairgrounds, where there are a bunch of horse trailers with horses. Most of the other people here are with the horses. It's about a mile walk to town, and there is a very nice river walk for most of the way.
On Lake Mendocino, off SR 20 a few miles east of 101. Annoying access road with 6 or ten speed bumps, but a very pleasant place once you've been assigned your spot by the check-in. Nice, free showers! The bathroom lights are quite bright, so a spot that looks nice in the afternoon might be kind of annoying at night.
There is a tents only campground here, but I got here late in the day and the nice lady called the supervisor and said sure, you can park in the corner of the lot. Bless them! A railroad right-of-way has been repurposed to be the Delta Heritage Trail, and this is a spot for the hikers/bikers that use it.
Way overpriced and has stupid rules. The park borders the Wabash River, but the campground itself is miles from the river. There is a public swimming pool that is an additional charge on top of the camping fee.
The most Difficult thing about this place is getting a site! ha,ha. 4.5 winding miles from Aspen make this the budget way for the rest of us to be able to exist for a few days in Aspen.
Planning works! This is super sweet BLM campground three miles down the road from Heise Hot Springs. There is a pleasant day use area with river access. The host closes the gate at 10 pm, which is a factor if you have driven back to the hot springs in the evening.
Used to be a state park, but they gave it to the Feds for some reason. [After my experience the next few days with state parks, I can see it. The layout is quite similar to Bennett Springs and Roaring River.] There's a loop with hookups and a small loop without, which for some reason was where everybody was. I was the only person in the huge expanse of the main loop. My site had pretty good shade in the morning, most didn't. Showers are a short drive down the road, but that's way better than no showers.
A very handy spot, right outside St Marks Wildlife Refuge. A great place to spend more time someday.
Saturday of Labor Day Weekend, there were a few sites available at 3pm. I got what I hope is the least nasty. Bless my van for being tall enough to generate its own shade.
An awesome find! Beautiful campsite right on a bend of the Salmon River.
My friend Jeff lives and works in Reno until Memorial Day, then he commutes to Chester every weekend to run his fruit stand / pie shop / ice creamery / burrito place. It's really fun to hang out here.