roadtripper5705311

We live close so we decided to try this for a short Mother's Day weekend. Let me start by saying the park is a great spot for 3-4 days. Lots of trails, lakes and activity options. They have an abundance of seasonal offerings and the laser show that, while a bit redneck, is a Georgia staple.

The campground and surroundings are very pretty and the pool and playground are amazing. But beyond that, the campsites are generally pretty rough. There are a variety, from full hookup, water/electric trailer sites, rustic tent sites, yurts and rentable campers. Of the 400+ sites, only about 1/4 are even half-way decent. The other 3/4 are absolutely horrible. There are some of the most uneven, downhill, rutted and busted up pads that I've ever seen. It's like they laid out this campground 35 years ago and never touched it again. The roads are almost as bad as the pads, rutted, busted up and just plain bad.

There are some really pretty sites sprinkled through the campground but for what you pay I'd expect better pads. They really need a full revamp of the park.

The pool was great, the bathrooms clean, wifi ranged from 0.1mps to 2mps...Almost unusable from our site. The camp store is nice and has camping basics. We stayed in an electric/water site and there are a few dump stations around.

There's a lot to do at Stone Mountain and it's the most convenient CG to Atlanta. But know that you'll be disappointed for how much you pay for what you get. Don't miss the hike to the top of the mountain. It's kinda tough but I've had 4 year olds do it.

We were hoping to boondock down the road overlooking the Badlands but temps were slated to be 96 degrees (late August) so we opted for a last minute plan B. It came down to Sleepy Hollow or Arrow in Wall. I'm glad we picked Sleepy Hollow. After driving through Arrow, we definitely picked the better of the two.

Not a whole lot to say about this CG. They have lots of options/pricing depending on what kind of hookups you need. Pricing was cheap for 30a full hookups. Pool was kinda dumpy, but with it being in the high 90s, the kids enjoyed a dip. They have a small store with a few basics. Employees were friendly. Bathrooms old and dumpy. It's a pretty old and run-down CG but it was pleasant enough for our stay. It's 2 blocks from Wall Drug if you're into that (we went but were overwhelmed by its cheesiness). Flat sites, some super-close together.

All-in-all, I'd stay here again if I had to but if the weather were more temperate, I would've much rather stayed closer to the park. There is a grocery store in Wall that's small but not too bad.

When you go somewhere that's so hyped up on a national level, expectations are high. We had done Disney before and this time we were just going to camp there...no parks. After all the rave reviews, we opted for the insanely expensive 4 nights.

When we first arrived I was a bit let down. We were not in the premium sites, but we still had full hookups and a concrete pad for our camper, though we didn't fit entirely on the concrete. While the area was wooded, the first thing I noticed was how eroded everything was. Many sites around us had 2-3' dropoffs all around the pad. Some didn't even have space for the picnic table.

We lucked out with a site that backed up against the woods, which I was really hoping for. It gave us a modicum of privacy and woodsiness that most of the sites there didn't have.

As the days went on, I started to see the value of this park. While I still wasn't in love with the sites, I could see why this place costs more. The park is fully staffed by "cast members", has 2 pools, has public transportation, has two outposts for shopping, has bike trails and the like.
We spent much of our days at the main pool which was nice. You can bring a cooler with you and hang out all day if you like. Alcohol is allowed which is nice. (better to bring your own than pay $8.50 for a beer!) If you want a spot by the pool, I highly recommend showing up between 9-10 to snag a spot, otherwise you're going to be out of luck.

We compared our non-premium site to the premium sites and we preferred ours. While there's less concrete at the non-premiums, there's more space. The premium sites were stacked even more closely together. As far as location in the campground, if you have a bike, the whole campground felt accessible with a 5 minute bike ride. It's about a mile loop on the main road for instance.

One thing I didn't love is that we had no information given to us at checkin. We got a map but that was it. We weren't told about whether there was trash pickup, how to access transportation, etc. We felt a bit in the dark upon arrival.

Overall, I'd consider staying here again, but not for $150+.

So I did my homework ahead of time and I'm SO glad I landed site 14! This is a weird CG. As the previous reviewer mentioned, many of the sites are side-by-side or three-by-side sites. If you didn't know your neighbor at most of these sites, it would be very awkward. Sites 11 and 14 are pretty much the only sites with any space or privacy. 14 was one of the prettiest sites we stayed at the entire trip out West. It was very deep and had a wonderful fire pit area with a really nice bench (wish more CGs had these) and a huge picnic table. It was very quiet and private. Site 11 was a pull-thru that also had some good privacy. If you're not in a very short camper or pop-up, I'd skip all but these two sites.

The CG is very dusty. No water at all that I could find...better bring your own. Flush toilets at entrance to CG, vault toilets everywhere else. Some pretty trails right from CG. Lots of road noise coming off of the highway.

If you're not particular to being right next to the lake, I'd choose to stay at West Chicago Creek CG 6 miles down the mountain.

Wow! Ok, if you haven't been to see Maroon Bells, you are missing out and it needs to be on your bucket list. If you're camping, you can't camp any closer to the Maroon Bells than this campground unless you're backpacking. This place was amazing, peaceful, picturesque and perfectly located.

There's 3 campgrounds as you approach the Bells, Silver Bar, Silver Bell, and Silver Queen. Each campground is very small with only about 7 sites per campground. Pulling a 30' TT, we were very limited in which sites would accommodate us as most of the sites are better designed for tents or small popups. We got lucky in that site 4 was the site that we ended up with. It was extremely tight to get the camper to fit, but we squeezed it in and made the best of it.

Our site was beautiful. We had about 1/2 acre all to ourselves nestled in an aspen grove with boulders for the kids to climb, flowers for the deer to eat and views of the Maroon Bells through the trees. All of this with the sound of the river about 20 yards away. The campground is right next to the road which concerned me (about 40 yards away) but I was amazed at how little disruption was made by vehicles passing by.

Each site has a pull-in area and a nice tent pad. There is also the standard picnic table and fire ring. At each of the three campgrounds there is also a 2 stall vault toilet that was clean and well maintained.

Sites 1 and 2 both had some RVs parked on them so these would probably be able to accommodate most TTs and RVs. Site 3 is pretty much a tent only site as the parking pad is a "pull-thru" but it's extremely small and heavily slanted downhill. Site 4 we maxed out with our 30' TT. Sites 5&6 both had tents on them but seemed fairly spacious.

One negative note on this site was that it has a water spigot but it was broken while we were there. I talked to a ranger and they were aware of the problem...they just didn't sound like they would be able to fix it for some time. They suggested we head down to another campground that had a water tank. I did this one night but it took about 20 minutes to fill up a few water jugs.

All-in-all, this is one of the prettiest campgrounds you can stay at, especially if you toss in the views of Maroon Bells when the trees don't have leaves yet. It offered a serenity that was refreshing. Bring your own wood as there is little available lying around unless you want to hike a ways to get it. The trail to Crater Lake was beautiful from the Bells, even in the snow! Bring a good GPS though as the trail is not marked the best. No cell service...at all.

We had a couple of days open up on our trip through FL so we found this little gem and stayed 2 nights. It was only a short drive off of the interstate which made it very convenient. Check-in was easy (we arrived around 5:30 and they were still open) but they advise to call ahead if you're going to be late.

There's 2 campground loops here, Dogwood and Magnolia...and they're drastically different. .
If I could give the Dogwood loop a 1 or 2 star I would, while I would give the Magnolia loop a 4 star. The Dogwood loop felt grungy and unpleasant, especially comparatively. It felt very disconnected from the rest of the park. Sites were smaller and felt stacked more on top of each other.

Magnolia loop on the other hand had a very nice feel to it. It was pleasant to go for a walk or a bike ride down to the river from here. While most of the sites were just ok, sites 4, 14, 27 and 31 seemed the best and largest. The sites are gravel and have really nice 2-rail fences outlining your space. The fences honestly really gave the sites a homey feel, something that was absent in the Dogwood loop (which didn't have fences). The Magnolia loop is tight if you have anything big...if you have a big 5th wheel you'll have to be REALLY careful and backing into your site might be a challenge. All sites are very wooded and offer some privacy from your neighbor.

Restrooms were clean and nice, as was the playground. The walk to the recreation area was very pleasant down a compacted sand/dirt road. The recreation area had a good playground, a small nature center (open at 10 am), trails and the bridge. The bridge was beautiful! The last morning we were there we went for a trail run around the yellow loop. It was AMAZING! Whether you run, hike or walk it, just make sure you do it. It's about 2 miles round trip from the campground.

We went here, Disney, Key Largo and St. Augustine on this trip and one of my top two favorite things we did the whole time was paddle the Itchetucknee River!!! It's about 15 minutes from the campground and was insanely beautiful, fun and relaxing. Highly recommended!

I'd stay here again in a heartbeat, especially if I wanted to spend a few days exploring all of the springs in the area.

Well, you can't beat the location. Being inside the park is probably the biggest thing going for this campground. Being 10-15 minutes closer to the tours than the next closest campgrounds makes a difference. We stayed at one of the 15 full hookup campsites and while it wasn't amazing, it met our needs for our 1 night stay. We were in the Ute Loop. Our site was level, back-in, graveled, sparce, shadeless and rather blah. But, we did have fantastic wifi, saw a bunch of deer, enjoyed a nice sunrise and all-in-all, it wasn't bad and for the price for full hookups inside the park, I felt it was fair.

The village area is pretty robust. Gas station (that didn't work when I was there in June), showers, laundry, restaurant (specialty seems to be all-u-can-eat pancakes for $8/pp), ranger station, gift shop and a pretty good grocery store are all offered at the entrance to the campground. I was most impressed with the grocery store as they had wine and craft beer which is a hard find on the road.

We got there at noon the first day and were able to get tour tickets to 3:00 Balcony House, 5:00 Cliff Palace and 9:00 the next morning Long House. I wouldn't have done it any other way and recommend this schedule if you only have 24 hours.

I'd stay here again but only to be close to the park...not because the park is amazing. Check out our blog in the link above for a much more thorough review.

We stumbled on this park while checking out Allstays as we were looking for a place to crash for the night on our way to Great Sand Dunes. This place was perfect! It's pretty much a gravel parking lot with 20 spots to hook up to electricity. It's flat, relatively quiet (except for the train in the middle of the night!), feels safe and best of all, has an old school playground for the kids to get their energy out. There is a dump station and water on site as well for a donation. I wish there were more places like this around!

We stayed just up the road at Silver Queen CG but I did a drive thru to check out Silver Bell and also to get some water since our spigot was broken in our campground. Check out my review at Silver Queen for some general info on the campgrounds along the Maroon Bells road.

Here I just wanted to make a couple of comments. I liked Silver Queen CG better if you're in a camper. Silver Bell will accommodate a camper, but pretty much only popups or some kind of really small TT. Sites 1, 5 and 7 are your only options if you're in a camper.

Now, if you're in a tent, I really liked sites 8-13. They are more in the open but have some amazing views of the sky, the adjoining mountain side and also of the Maroon Bells off in the distance. There's a short walk to these sites from the parking lot, but it's not far at all.

You can't beat this location and any campground you stay in will be amazing, especially being so close to the Bells!

I had wonderful memories of camping here with my dad on a father/son trip back in 1989 and couldn't wait to try it again with my own kiddos! From what I remember, not a lot has changed and it was still a pretty cool place. A lot has been touched on already and you can see my whole review on my blog post above but just wanted to touch on a couple of quick thoughts.

-No laundry!!!

-I had selected Mesquite campground during online reservation but they assigned me a site wherever they wanted...no questions allowed. Ended up in Sagebrush which was fine but completely unremarkable

-It's deceptively far from I-40, about 40-45 minutes once we left the interstate. We were heading east and just felt like we were wasting our time since we would have to backtrack so far to get back on track. If you have a couple of days...and it's not 104 degrees like it was when we were there, it'd make a great stop.

-If you're in Sagebrush, you're super close to the play...which is good and bad. Good that you don't have to go far, bad that you hear all the noise and fireworks from the play.

This is a beautiful place and is the next best thing to being out in Utah if you're in the middle of America. I don't think we'd stay here again but it is unique.