Unicoi State Park & Lodge

Not happy with the campground or sites at all. I’m sure it’s a great spot to bring the family if you live close, it’s clean, but if you like your space, privacy and not be around a couple of strange people pass on this one, site isn’t leveled at all, and they run it way too tight, they make you check in either at the check in at campground station or lodge if after 5 ( they will want to see you ) she said on her courtesy call. not sure why you have to check in if you purchased online… water pressure is 20 PSI as well. Too low. Was going to stay here 2 nights and we’re going to keep it a one nighter. $75 is way too much for this place, should be $20. Gave it 2 stars because it’s a place to sleep if you need to be close to Helen, other than that a 1 in my book.

The Georgia pines trembled in the wind, towering high above our little campsite. Every color imaginable was reflecting in full vivid glory even against our tarnished Airstream's aluminum. The sound of campers prevailed, but not rowdy drunkards, just that nice background tone of kids having fun and family's happy to be out in the woods.

The hike around the lake is highly recommended, by both myself and numerous websites dedicated to such recommendations. It's easy, barely any elevation change (and I mean practically none, just a few ups and downs that a grasshopper could leap in a bound or two), and the entire time the lake is reflecting the trees and mountainside all around.

They also have a bunch of very interesting cabins if you're into that sort of thing, not your usual designs, perched high above the lake.

Nearby Helen, GA is one of those "we're pretending to be a German mountain town" places, very touristy, very expensive, but worth a visit. Not a bad place at all to visit, for sure.

Unicoi is a beautiful state park near Helen, GA. Visiting this area in the fall is a must. We stayed here to celebrate my husband's 53rd birthday.

We had a very interesting and uncharacteristic beginning to our time at this state park. Driving up to the entrance was a bit surreal. The bright skies became dark, the wind whipped up, and leaves fell like rain. It was actually quite like a dark fairytale-type of scene. Our jovial banter ceased and we paid close attention to the road. As we pulled up to the Visitor Center to check in, the rain came. My husband had to make a run for the building. He got the paperwork all squared away and we left with a blue tag to seek out and choose from one of the full-hookup sites. There were three spots left...an ADA site that we aren't authorized to use, one in between two other closeby campers, and a site at the end. We chose the last one so there was at least one side to look at for views of the forest. It was a back-in site, so in order to get in this spot we had to go up the road to turn around. We got in position to back in when a large 5th wheel camper came straight at us and veered over to block the space. We tried to talk with them, but the man would not roll his window down or look at us. His wife jumped out like in the movie "Far and Away" with her blue tag and stood in the space feverishly trying to find a place to stake her claim in the rain. LOL! It was so ridiculous. In all fairness, the site we wound up getting would have been hard for them to get into, but if we just talked about it for a second there would not have been any need for childish antics. That was the first time we've ever experienced such absurd behavior, so don't lose heart for camping if you're just starting out.

We stayed in our site for about an hour, but the closeness of the full-hookup sites really wasn't for us. So, my husband called registration (after 5 p.m.) and a lady named Robin helped us downgrade from full-hookups to just an electricity and water site in order to have more options. She was so professional and made absolutely sure we could change spots first by calling and checking with their Ranger David. He said they were pretty full that weekend but downgrading was not a problem because so many people actually like having full-hookups and want to upgrade all the time. WIN-WIN! So, Mark met with Robin and got a new red tag. We found site #1 was perfect for us. It was funny, because the sun had come out and the wind settled down as soon as we pulled into the new site. It was like a real representation of how we felt. A huge thank you to my hubby for tearing down and setting up twice in so short a time, all the while maintaining a good attitude. Thank you God for him and for working it all out way better than we could have believed. Ranger David came around several times to make sure our stay was going well. He seemed to be genuinely interested in the wellbeing of every camper there. What a great asset to Unicoi.

Mark's birthday was the next day. It was fantastic. We went to Habersham Winery and did a tasting of their 2015 Gewürztraminer, Cherokee Rose, Peach Treat, Heritage Red, and 2014 GA Chambourcin wines. We bought a bottle of the Heritage Red. It's a mix of red and muscadine. Then we went to Jumping Goat Coffee and bought the k-cups Ivory Snow Coffee. It has cinnamon, hazelnut, and vanilla. We bought Pioneer's Porridge at the Nora Mill Granary after sampling some from a black cauldron. It had white and brown sugar, butter, and salt added. Oh YUM! Their Queso Blanco was good, too. In Helen we got Cherchies Hot Banana Pepper Mustard and Rold Gold Pretzel Sticks from Betty's. All these yummy treats and I still managed to lose some weight on this trip! (The "My Fitness Pal" app is terrific. It helped me stay at 1600 calories a day.)

We finished his birthday with a nice hike around the 53 acre Unicoi Lake. It was beautiful. The trail was interesting with all the twists, turns, rocks, roots, pine needles, and views. There's a beach with nice sand, canoe rentals, and through the rec center there's information on zip-line adventures and archery. I think they are all in full swing during the summer months. We did see swimmers while we were there, but there was no lifeguard on duty. The dam was really interesting to see up close as we continued on the trail.

We met some nice campers with a Class A, Chris and Terri. They had a sweet trike that was actually a motorcycle with a trike conversion kit. So, it really had four tires, but you only saw three of them. I liked the tiny little bell Chris pointed out that was hanging from the bike for "safe travels". They own a dog boarding facility called Southern Paws down in Macon, GA. They recommended a restaurant called Happy Hawg BBQ in Hiawassee, GA. We drove out there and they had the absolute best sandwiches EVER. Mark got the chopped pork and I got the carved turkey. My favorite condiment was the South Carolina Tangy sauce. We probably wouldn't have even found it because there was a larger BBQ place before it that we might have pulled into if it wasn't for the recommendation. We would love to go back again.

Before I close, let me just mention that Unicoi has a wonderfully stocked General Store, plenty of places to explore, and the coolest tent camping area I've ever seen. It's called "The Squirrels Nest". It's like an apartment building without the walls. Just levels and levels of floors for setting up your tents. It has a nice sized community fire pit and area that I imagine would be nice for frisbee playing. If I were a tent camper I would want to try that out.

Unicoi State Park and Lodge
1788 Highway 356
Helen, Georgia 30545
Phone: (706) 878-2201
Sites: 84
Recent Rate: $50

Your can reserve a spot but it's first come, pick your site when you get there. Some sites can be smaller so allow enough room when you book the site. Our site # 40 was easy to get into & not bad, not private though. Lucky us my cousin was next to us.

The restroom is downhill there is a path to it, but uphill coming back to the site. Nice restrooms, good camp store where you check in the staff is so nice. The manager offered to drive our Kayak down to the lake and drop it off for us it was a ways to walk it to the water. Free Laundry in the check in center, yes it's free to do your laundry.

From the campground you can get to Anna Ruby Falls which is beautiful There are 2 rivers/streams that run side by side each has a waterfall. We watched a guy propose to his girlfriend while we were next to the fall. Nice walk around the lake, the fall colors were brilliant. If you Zipline you can do that there too.

The town of Helen is close and on the way there make sure you stop at Fred's famous peanuts, a peanuts throw away from Helen. Good boiled peanuts, fried ones too.

Zac Brown's distillery is not to far, small but great whiskey 120 Proof. Was a nice drive there, hilly & colorful. There was a road with hundred of crosses with small american flags & the Veterans name on it. Very touching!

If you take a left out of the campground towards the lodge & keep going there's a house down the road with good firewood for sale. We stocked up it was cold there at night (November 6th - 12th). It did freeze one night got down to 28.

We went for Spring Break March 27-31. We opted for a full hookup site even after reading reviews of site size. We just aren’t ready to travel with the blue boy. Our site size really didn’t bother me that much. Yes we were all pretty close but there was nothing but a creek behind you and nothing but a hillside out the driveway. So you weren’t completely surrounded by people in rv’s. HOWEVER.. the traffic... OMG the traffic. The full hookup road is the road ALL the campers have to use. It is the road all the weekend visitors have to use. The diesel alarm clock started about 6:30am and was pretty constant (especially on weekends). I didn’t feel like it was unsafe for the kids but it took away from the surrounding natural beauty.

The park itself is wonderful. Incredible lake, great walking trails, Helen nearby, boat rentals, etc. We let the kids (6&8) take an archery class that went well. The archery/air gun facility surprised me. First class. We didn’t try food at the lodge but it is available. The campground shop is pretty well stocked. The staff were all friendly and helpful.

Went in September for 4 nights during the week. We stayed in a full hook up site and loved it! Yes... the sites are close but they have little gravel patio areas and ours was very private. Set up the clam and it was our own little world. Very quiet during the week... There is a restaurant and tavern on the property that is a short hike through the woods. Laundry was free! Albeit there was only one working washer we could find... did 3 loads and never saw another soul looking to do laundry. There is a beautiful lake with a beach, dock, fishing and kayak launch. Also a solid 3.5 mile hike through the woods down to the cute little tourist town of Helen and/or a free shuttle to the town as well! We hiked down and took the shuttle back! Lots more to see in the area... will definitely return!

Stayed in FHU with 50amp service back-in site. Well shaded by trees, paved access, friendly office staff. Easy for pets to play and run. No issues with 38’ Class A w/toad. Lots of activities available although we mainly visited for Oktoberfest in Helen just a few miles away. Will stay again.

This is the first state park we've stayed in with our 38' fifth wheel. I saw another review said that it was easy for big rigs, but I'd say it was a little tight. The site was at an angle, so backing in wasn't too bad, but the roads around the campground are narrow.

To check in you have to go to the very back of the campground and go in the visitor's center. Seems a little backwards, but it worked. No one ever picked up the phone to answer any of my questions, such as check-in time (which is 1:00 by the way... check-out is also 1:00).

We had 50 amp and water, but no sewer. Side-to-side the site was almost level, but front-to-back... I've never raised my jacks so far! It was fine, though. The site was clean and had a fire pit and picnic table.

We had three bars of Verizon with fast download speeds enough to have a video conference and watch movies. We had some AT&T service around the area and around the park, but not at our site at all.

The lake is nice and the town is cool, but I'd say the best part is Anna Ruby Falls.

This all may be virus related. I've stayed in the lodge before though and had some of the same issues.

Check in was routed to the lodge. A line of vehicles were backed up with people standing in line outside to check in. Finally a young man comes out with clip board and asks if any of us are camping. He writes our name down and tells us to go to the campground to check in. Once there they say they don't have our reservation, then after searching they tell us we're already there. Super unorganized.

Sites are close together, place was packed. Some sites had 4-5 vehicles parked at them. Tents off the pads. Looked like a homeless camp in spots. People burning their trash in the fire pits left smelly haze.

The only reason I'd stay here again was the access to trails right from the campground. Once off the road we hardly saw anyone.

This was our second time camping here. The park is beautiful, the few staff we saw were friendly, campers are all pretty respectful. There is a lake loop trail that was easy enough to hike with our two small kids and there is a playground with a small creek that the kids loved playing in. Woods behind our site had lots of little trails that the kids ventured through.

The camp site was a good size and level. It has water and electric hookups and there is a dump station as you leave the loop. There is an offset area with a fire ring and picnic table and, depending on which site you have, it is sometimes on the driver side which could be awkward if you have a traditional set up with an awning on the passenger side. Our set up is pretty flexible so this actually worked really well for us. There were some time periods that we were without water. They were doing some work in the tent area on the water lines. We were never notified when water would be turned off or turned back on, which was an inconvenience.

The bathrooms on this loop leave a lot to be desired. The stall doors didn’t close well, some of the toilets shook when you flushed them, and the showers were smaller than most RV showers. Even though I did see someone cleaning the bathrooms (once in our whole trip), they did not seem to be taking any extra measures. In fact, there was a robe hanging on the hook by the main sink that was there our entire trip. Not super thorough.

There are signs everywhere regarding bears. Take them seriously. We had two different times a bear came through the loop, once right through our campsite. Our camp neighbors were there when this happened and said it seemed more curious than anything, just passing through then up into those trails behind the campsite.

The campground is a very short drive from downtown Helen. Lots of shops, restaurants, tubing, and a mountain coaster. Nearby there are also numerous waterfalls and day hikes. We had no cell reception at the campsite but did have it in other areas of the park as well as in Helen.