Lake Russell Recreation Area

We were greeted by excellent camp hosts on this very quiet campground. Close to Tallulah Falls, Anna Ruby Falls and some amazing historical southern towns.

Don’t let the GPS send you to Old Russell Lake Rd. it dead ends with limited turnaround area. Sites are basic, none are waterfront. Huge 2” yellow wasp are attracted to lights at night and will chase a flashlight toting runner. All areas are very clean. Gates are locked from 10pm to 7 am, so no exit. Walking trails are convenient and appear to not be heavily used.

We camped here for one night on a Monday. We were in Loop B, with 5 other campsites occupied. The hosts were very friendly and welcomed us and checked us in right away. Our site was easy to back into and was level side to side with picnic table, lantern stand, and fire ring. As with many National Forest sites, there has been some deferred maintenance. Our picnic table was in need of repair and some of the sites needed additional leveling work. The interior of the bathhouse that was open was very clean, appeared to be recently renovated, and was heated. Plenty of hot water in the shower. There appeared to be several trails in the area but I never saw a posted map or information about the trails available. While the sites do not have electricity or water, there are many water spigots throughout the campground loop. There is also a dump station just before the entrance to Loop A that has a fresh water fill.

The staff was just super friendly and helpful. They were very lenient on switching sites. We originally booked site 40 on line but site 20 was open and it is GREAT. Very large, very private. The campground is worn and in need of a lot of maintenance. We have a small 23 foot Lance trailer (the only RV there) but even with that, getting level was a challenge. I could only get to within a half inch as my leveling system is only good for a 3" boost. The bath house restrooms were very clean and kept that way. Cell coverage was poor. I never tried a call, but texts would go through after a while. Lake is beautiful clean and quiet. We had a lovely quiet relaxing weekend.

We were only going to stay one night but decided to stay two because we got a site right on the lake. If we had our kayaks we could have launched right from our site. We arrived on a Wednesday and we did not have reservations, but it wasn't busy at all. The road in is paved and in pretty good shape but the roads around the camping loops are bumpy in spots but nothing horrible. Loop A was completely empty but from what we saw most sites were not level at all. We found a really nice spot in loop B, site 33 but we still had to level a bit in the front, and we only have a 23 ft B+ van. The bathhouse was nice and clean, heated with warm water shower! There is a boat ramp, picnic area and swimming section in the Day Use area. There is a trail around the lake we hiked a little bit with our dog, then rode our bikes. On the way out we stopped at the dump station and was surprised it was pretty nice with a hose for potable water. The campground managers were very friendly and welcoming. This campground does need some TLC, but I can see these folks are working hard to make it better. Normal rate is $24/night but we paid $12 with the American The Beautiful pass discount.

Arrived in mid February. Only one loop open and one bathhouse. Cool nights, beautiful sky at night.
Lots to explore.
Have 36 foot 5th, tight but doable access. No hookups, water and dump availability. Shade most sites so not good solar production. Had to run gen to recharge. Long sites available, plenty of room for my setup. Not level as mentioned.