Oak Grove (Ms)

Usually quiet on the lower lake. Fishing. Paved roads and sites. Sites are level with water & electric, picnic table and fire ring. A select few sites have sewer hookups. Several clean bathhouse with hot showers. Dual dump station. Accessible to large rigs.

DATE OF VISIT = Oct. 2020...price reflects Access Pass discount...our site was at the Lower Lake CG area, only a handful of sites have FHU, ours was one of them...our site offered nice views out the front and passenger sides of the lake...there was an odd mix of functional and abandoned or unused sites...hosts seemed to be having fun camping but not very busy keeping things tidy...there was a small laundry building in the state park next door that appeared to have very new coin machines but also some nice hunting spiders guarding them...there is a Nature Trail and a Fitness Trail on the east side of the park, with parking and a restroom at the trail head...6-8 channels of OATV...easy access to Sardis & all amenities...Critters Spotted: blue herons, hawks, egrets, squirrels, pelicans, cormorants

As long was you are in the area, this is a fine location. I imagine Oak Grove is like many of the Army Corps camp grounds I've read up on. They are fine, but overall, not particularly well kept. That's what you get with Oak Creek.

There are several sites very near the water's edge. While there were lots of sites to choose from, a water front site was not among them. I found a site away from most people. Very quiet. Mostly families. No partiers. I'd come back here but probably try out another of the campgrounds around Sardis. There are lots of them.

It is close enough for a day trip in to Oxford, MS. Beautiful town with a vibrant college scene, of course, even during COVID.

Look, if you are allergic to fire ants, you need to go somewhere else.

Good:
Spacious sites
Reasonably easy to get to--just keep following signs until you get to the "Oak Grove" one. There's four other campsites.
Sewer hookups right on site, so easy.

Bad:
No soap in the flushing bathrooms.
No actual oak trees, no low foliage at all, so shade isn't as good as at other parks. Just scrubby tall pines
Lake was drained "for the farmers, due to drought"
No swimming due to lake being drained.
Friend at neighboring site had no electricity
SO MANY FIRE ANTS. We were basically swarmed. They started coming in the camper, even. Found them in a tied-up Ritz Crackers container.

I would stay here again, but only if I brought a ton of that fire ant killing stuff.

The above rate reflects the 50% discount for the senior pass.
A fairly typical COE campground. Long, level, paved sites with water, electric, a fire ring and concrete picnic tables. Some sites also have a sewer hookup, but there doesn't seem to be much rhyme or reason regarding which sites have them. I didn't know it when I booked, but my site had a sewer connection as well. All utilities are at the rear of each site with the sewer connections a good 12-15 feet from the back of the site.
The thing that stood out to me here was the size of the campground. This allows for sites which are very well spread out, offering each site quite a bit of space. A good mix of shaded and sunny sites here. As with most all COE campgrounds, if water activity is your thing the lake here checks all those boxes.
An easy location to get to with some of the campground roads a little narrow, but not really an issue. Some sites are not angled to the roads which could make backing into to those a bit tricky for a larger rig. Having said that, any size rig can easily be accommodated here. There are several bath houses which have a couple of large shower stalls in each. These are a bit dated, but the one I used was clean.
Fairly close to the town of Sardis which offers ample opportunities to stock up on the way in.

Camped here one night in October. Not full , even on the weekend. The restrooms do need some renovation, but otherwise everything is fine. Good access to lake, level sites, standard amenities.