Prairie Creek Park Campgrounds

Date of stay: August 2014

I was looking for a place to stay in semi-lower Alabama before I hit the white powdery beaches of Destin, Florida. And it was Labor Day weekend. What is a guy to do? Stay at a US Army Corp of Engineers campground in the middle of nowhere, Alabama.

As I often times do, I checked online to get a feel for whether I needed to make reservations or not and it looked like I could easily get in without them. Turns out I was right as I was able to get a premium water front site because the reservation for said site was just cancelled that morning. Sometimes things just work out.

The park was pretty full for the holiday weekend. Not sure where all the people came from as there literally isn’t much around.

No trails to hike or bike, but otherwise it was a very nice campground. I have yet to stay at a bad CoE campground, though I am sure they exist.

Turns out that the campground is right in the middle of the Selma to Montgomery civil rights march route (1965). I literally had no idea when I picked this place, but I didn’t waste the opportunity and checked out the nice interpretive center just down the road. Also made a trip into Selma to check out that end of the march.

Verizon signal was barely usable with my booster.

We camped here in April, 2015 in a 35 foot fifth wheel. The rate shown is with the Federal Senior Pass discount.

Prairie Creek Campground near Lownesboro, Alabama was the first Corps of Engineers park we ever stayed in. Were we pleasantly surprised back in 2007 to find big sites, paved parking pads and a well maintained park. Ever since that first stay in a COE campground we look for them whenever we are traveling.

Our return trip in 2015 was just as memorable. Our large, back in site was right beside the Alabama River with spectacular sunset views. The shaded site had water and electric hookups, a paved parking pad, picnic table, and fire ring. The bath house was conveniently located. There is a boat ramp and playground in the park.

Bring all your food and supplies with you as it is a pretty long drive to any stores or gas stations.

Prairie Creek is located a short distance off of Highway 80 between Montgomery and Selma. This section of the highway follows the route of the 1965 Selma to Montgomery Civil Rights march and has been designated as a National Historical Trail. There are historical markers along the highway and the Lowndes Interpretive Center in nearby White Hall is a short drive from the campground.

If you value having a campsite right on the water, this place is for you. There are campsites on Prairie Creek, as well as on the Alabama River. My preference for campsites is for pull though, and they have those, too. My site was right next to the bath house, which also had laundry facilities. The electricity and water are available at the site, and there is a dump station, too. The weather was such that I didn't take advantage of what was available outside. I had good television reception with my antennae, but no cell reception at my site. When I drove around, I found that there was reception at some of the other loops.

We stayed a week at this beautiful campground, in site 36, a pull through site. We had 50 amp and water. Dump station is near the entrance of the park like many other Corps of Army Engineers campgrounds. The site was roomy, nicely paved, handicapped accessible picnic table, fire ring, fire grill. It was quite wooded with a large variety of trees. I saw the largest acorns I’ve ever seen at our site and the smallest I’ve ever seen in other parts of the property. Our site was not on the water (my mistake for choosing this one) but many of them are.
The campground is on a point nearly surrounded by the waters of Prairie Creek and the Alabama river that is great for fishing. There are tent camping sites at the point. I was thrilled to see all the herons and egrets flying all around and landing nearby. Grocery stores are not very close so we usually went to Montgomery. The leaves were cleaned up at least twice in the week we were there. I went into one bathroom that is by the dump station and it was not a pretty site. I cannot vouch for the other ones that are closer to the camp sites as we use our own facilities.
Verizon cell service was sketchy and there was no wi-fi but the 2 of us really enjoyed the relaxing atmosphere.
Our weekly rate was $80 because we have the National Parks Senior Pass
We loved it here and will definitely go back!

The entrance to this park is worth the price of admission. Pastoral and seasonal hay rounds in a freshly mown field. The person who greeted us allowed us to check in 30 minutes early without hesitation which was nice because it allowed for us to take a nice bicycle ride around the campground and then down the road to the lock and dam.

Our site on the water was level and clean. While the the past few COE sites at which we've stayed were cement, our site here was finely packed composite material. I should mention that site 16 next to ours has a dock which, to my thinking, makes it a bit more desirable. Wish I'd known.

While there were a number of units in the campground, it was quiet in the evenings save for the a few local birds making a bit of racket on ocassion.

We had a full hook up site. The price reflects my senior discount pass. The bathhouse near us was more than adequate, the water hot and the facility clean.

There seemed to be a number of campers with an intention to fish. Without belaboring the obvious, campground located on a nice body of water, if fishing is your thing, this must be the place. There's even a nice place to clean your catch located on site.

While we're still relatively new to the genre, though I'm a longstanding backpacker, I'm making all my observations with relatively new eyes. But it seems to me, after a few stays at three different campgrounds, the COE has an eye for this type of camping. This one, no different.

Many lake front sites to choose from on R.E. “Bob” Woodruff Lake. Beautiful spring scenery with plenty of Spanish moss. Sunrise and sunset from either direction. Clean sites, good hookups, and a nice restroom and shower (with laundry). Plenty of paved campground roads to ride bikes on as well as hiking trails within abandoned original campground used by the Corps initially to construct the recreational facility.

Beaver Point is an especially nice vista at the end of the park. Situated in a tenting area the point is reached either by foot or bicycle. Several benches are available to relax on and take in the views.

This campground is located in an historical area. The Civil War's Holy Ground Battlefield Park is just down the road as well as the the Civil Rights' Freedom March Trail running from Montgomery to Selma. But bring what you need to eat with you. Nothing close by but nature.

Generally, when AT&T reception is non-existent or severely lacking, an entire star is deducted, but this campground offers so much in relaxation, recreation, and beauty that five stars will have to do. Sometimes we just need to to disconnect. The host informed me that Verizon is very good here and AT&T is nowhere to be found even though the AT&T service area map for 4G shows plenty of coverage in the area. There was “no service” at all for miles as we drove in from the south. Somehow we managed to get wifi on our Nighthawk however and perform our usual internet routines.

Our second visit to this beautiful and relaxing campground. This certainly has come to be our favorite among the many Army Corps of Engineer facilities we have had the good fortune of an overnight stay or two. Absent good AT&T service there is nothing to complain about. The restrooms are clean, showers are hot, laundry room available, and the waterfront sites are kept clean. The entrance to this campground is also one of the prettiest I have seen. Of course, hard to beat Old Florida-style vegetation, but both sides of the road sporting rolling green pastures on a wooded backdrop is quite memorable.

Arrived without reservation, but website showed lots of availability. Plenty of open spots during our stay. Ended up on site 39, it had a nice spot by the creek to watch wildlife. Beaver Point, next to our site, is tent camping (with water and electric!) and was empty; great to take a walk to the overlook at the point. Great hosts!

Selma is about 20 minutes away. Campground is a good staging place if you want to check out the historical Selma to Montgomery Historic Trail, be sure to visit the Interpretive Center on US 80 towards Montgomery.

(Nightly rate is with senior pass)

We rolled in on Friday afternoon for a Father's Day camping trip. For Seniors, there isn't much better camping experience than the COE campgrounds. The campgrounds are clean and well maintained. The price is fantastic for Lifetime Senior Interagency pass holders!
We were surprised and dismayed that we only had 1 bar on our Verizon system. No phone calls from our sons for Father's day, and limited texting ability. We have decided that to make sure we can stay connected at COE campgrounds (our favorites), we will be investing in a Cell Signal Booster.

We followed the COE website instructions versus our GPS that wanted to take us farther down US Highway 80 to turn on Benton Rd. Per instructions, we followed the COE signage with no problems. But going down to Benton Rd where our GPS wanted to take us would have been fine too. We checked in at the gate office with no problems and proceeded to W&E site 51 for our 2 night stay. Our rate was with the Access Pass discount. Site 51 was one of the better/most spacious sites in the CG. We had no problem backing down the long site cement pad with utilities at the back. Water pressure was good at 45 psi and 50 AMP worked fine. This is an older COE but in good shape with many of the sites right on the water. We were impressed with the separate standing BBQ and a separate fire pit. The picnic table was to the back of the site on a gravel patio type setting overlooking the lake. We got 2 bars on Verizon. If you need better cell service, it seemed to work better near the CG entrance. With all the trees, satellite could be iffy but there are some sites such as 21-23 with a southern sky view. We got a fair number of OTA channels to include major networks. Laundry was open with one washer and dryer for $1.50 to wash and $1.00 to dry. There were plenty of areas to walk the dogs but we were warned to be careful at dusk due to feral pigs. However, we did not see any. We were also warned to be careful of snakes around the water but didn’t see any of those critters as well. This was a great location with many sites right on the water and away from any highway noise. They also had courtesy boat docks periodically spread out around some of the water sites. Wish we could have stayed longer and would definitely stay here again.