roadtripper243769

I really liked this park. I'm not really a huge fan of the craziness of Pigeon Forge. This is a great value. I have a blog post as well as a video that I will be linking to this park in the coming weeks. Can't say enough good things about it.

Are you looking for somewhere to go around the Pigeon Forge area? Our #1 pick probably remains to be Honeysuckle Meadows, but if you are looking for somewhere close to town and don't mind spending a little more money- Up the Creek RV Camp is going to be another good option. You aren't going to have as much space as Honeysuckle Meadows, but it is more space than a lot of other area campgrounds. The base prices aren't too bad, but do vary by season. They do nickel and dime you here though. You have to pay extra for any extra people staying over two per night as well as pay an additional fee for more than one car. You also have a $25 fee to lock in a specific site number on your reservation. I'm not a big fan of any of these things, but it is still cheaper than some of the other parks in the area. I just don't do the whole RV resort thing too often.

We have explored more places this year in the area due to having Dollywood passes. We were finally able to go on Saturday evening and see the Christmas lights. It was a downpoor most of the day. The weather has not been great for us on any of the days we have alotted to go to Dollywood, but it ended up being a nice evening.

Pros
The Campground is a smaller campground and most sites do have some space. I believe all the sites are full hookup. Cellular service is pretty well as it is only 3 miles from downtown Pigeon Forge. This means that it is close to all the touristy things, that a lot of people want to do. They do have a Trolley Stop in the campground, so if you have a drivable RV and do not bring a car you can still have decently priced transportation. Everything is clean and seems to be very well kept. All the sites are pretty decently level on gravel pads. The current check-in format is that they leave you a folder at the main sign, you do have a form to fill out and turn in. The Staff is nice and courteous. The last thing I'd like to mention is that most of the sites are decently sized. There are a few that are a little tight, but most have enough room as well as they do utilize some trees between sites for privacy. These trees aren't excessively thick and for the most part, don't get in the way when driving or getting into your site.

Cons
There is not a bathhouse, this isn't a big deal to me but I know it is for some. I don't particularly care for the upcharges. The admission form does state that this is in a susceptible flooding zone, and has you sign a waiver as such.

Site Recommendations- based on where I would stay, mixed between different levels of sites

25, 18, 20, 28, 27, 26, 43, 5, 47, 29, 15, 2, 52, pull through 3

I highly recommend Loop A. You have to be careful with all of the loops for sites that are not level and have trees blocking your awning deployment. In my blog post I will be putting in I do give a list of sites that I recommend. Again, I would stay in loop A. The others were sub par when I drove through. Since multiple other reviews here were about C. I will say that loop C seemed to be mostly tent spots and was very crammed on top of each other. I would not recommend staying in Loop C at all.

Overall I enjoyed my time here. I wish I had a little more room at my site, but they do have some sites that are larger. The biggest downfall is the intersection in front of the campground. It is impossible to turn left out of the campground.

This campground is contained on a beautiful property that is essentially a peninsula which is the spot where the Ocoee and Hiwassee Rivers meet. The area is beautiful. The campsites are pretty close together which is why the place doesn't get more stars. They also have pretty strict rules, but from the looks of things have some permanent residents. It states large dogs may be denied due to breed, but no specifics on what breeds aren't allowed. Check out my review video that is posted under blog postings for more information.

We are here at Mayberry Campground in Mt. Airy, NC. This is the birth place of Andy Griffith and the inspiration for the town of Mayberry. Mt. Airy is in the very NW corner of the NC mountains. We will be having a separate video on the are but will focus more on the campground for this video. The land that the campground owned was originally part of a farm in which the legendary siamese twins Eng and Chang Bunker had once owned. There is actually a house still here that one of their many children built. The house is usually able to be toured, but it was not available during our stay. The owner of the campground is actually a decendent of the famous siamese twins. To me after seeing these guys on Ripley's and such it's more interesting than the whole Mayberry theme.

The campground is a very large campground with 139 sites. As with a lot of large RV parks there are pros and cons to this. A lot of the sites are relatively small, but we have noted some of the better sites and we will let you know about those in a few minutes. The campground is very close to Mt. Airy and all of the attractions there. They do have some ammenities such as a small laundromat in a small shed type building next to the office. I think this is great and a lot more parks should take note of this. It's not a big expensive building and it adds a lot of value for people that are staying more than a couple of days. There is cable, but our cable never came through very clear. Cable is not available in sites 108-139. I'm not used to having cable, so it wasn't a big deal for me and I didn't even complain to the office about it, but I did try a second coax cable without any better results. There are also a couple of playgrounds around for the kids to play on as well as a couple of "fish'in holes" as they call them for catch and release fishing.

Cell service and internet connection can be very spotty. When we first arrived it appeared that AT&T was king. I talked to Bill, with Nursing your Travel Bug and he said their AT&T hotspot was working great. The wifi service as well as the Verizon service wasn't that great for most of our stay. Verizon had 4 bars, but was only getting the same 1-2 mgb download speed as the wifi. However, after everyone started leaving the wifi speed increased to 8-10 mgb down so I think it was just an issue with congestion. I thought the same would be true with the verizon, but it never seemed to pick up speed and even though I had full bars there were a lot of times that I couldn't even connect to do a speed test.

All in all, Mayberry campround is what I would consider a good value. They do have discounts for AAA, Good Sam, Military, and Passport America. The full price fee at this time is $38 per night which for this type of park I feel is acceptable. They also have golf cart rentals available.

So the sites that I recommend here are sites 108, 31, 16, 17, 5, 4, 36, 12, 56,53, 54, 126, 128, 127, 64, 95, 39, 37, 117, 87, 44. There aren't any horrible sites that I would avoid, it's more about just having more/less space so all of the sites here seemed to have a little more personal space.

This is a nice campground with some great sites. There is one section of the campground that is really crowded up but through most of it there is a decent amount of space. Half the campground is shaded well but half is out in the sun.

Gunter Hill is a COE (Corps of Engineers) campground. This is my first experience with a COE campground. I've heard great things, and this one sets the bar high. Because it is a COE, it is eligible for discount through the US Park Pass system with the access (handicap) pass or the senior pass. This pass used to be referred to as the America the Beautiful Pass. These are basically all sites reserved through www.recreation.gov. These are the sites I always prefer first because they aren't in a RV Park arrangement usually and offer a decent balance of price and nature.
As far as this campground is concerned there are two different loops-- Antioch and Catoma. The Catoma loop has been recently renovated and has full hookup sites on concrete pads. The sites are very spacious and decently level. There also seems to be both 50 amp and 30 amp power located at all of these sites, as well as sewer. It's the sewer hookup that you usually don't get on any recreation.gov site and it's nice to have. On my weekend trips, it's really not necessary though. There are a lot of sites right on the lake. That being said, a lot of the sites have some elevation change to the water, so it's not like you can just go jump in the lake from your camper.
All in all, I'm very impressed with this campground. It's probably the nicest campground that I have ever been in so far. I highly suggest to check it out, as it is a bargain as well. We used it as a pit stop on the way back from Florida for two nights and with the access pass it was only $15/night!

This area is known for its beauty, mainly the mountains that offset the lake within the campground are just amazing. There is ample room in most of the sites here although the website makes it seem like there is a 25’ max. For a full review check out my video review on YouTube (linked). My largest complaint is a new rule they started apparently this year that says your hammocks can only be hung within your timbers at your campsite.

Feel free to check out my blog and Youtube review that will be linked to this review, but this campground was a miss for me. I felt like they were trying to be an RV resort and not a State Park.