Cotton Hill Campground

Cotton Hill has been recently remodeled. The bath houses are now climate controlled with loads of hot water!! It's just a few miles from the USACOE regional engineer's office so we always seem to find everything ship-shape. Georgia side of the lake is always much more quiet.

We stayed here on the recommendation of a Campendium review and were glad we did! We arrived without reservations. The friendly host who checked us in made sure we had a site with shade and a view of the lake. As we explored the campground we could see that most of the sites did have nice views. The bathrooms were spotless and, as noted in the previous review, air-conditioned! Cell service (Verizon) was adequate for a hotspot. Our site was nice and level. We were right in front of a playground and swimming area. The swim area was shallow, very warm and had lots of vegetation on the bottom. I would suggest something for just floating. So the swimming wasn't great but the families with boats and jet skis were having a ball. Clearly many campers had boats. We really enjoyed the family atmosphere here. On a side note, a good day trip (about 40 miles) is Providence Canyon State Park known as Georgia's "Little Grand Canyon". Beautiful!

We've fallen in love with Army Corp of Engineers sites, and this one is one of the best. We arrived without reservations, and there were just 2 sites available because of spring break. One was right across from the playground, so we took the other one (which wasn't much better). But then we asked Marvin at the office (he was great) if there were any other sites coming available. He told us that #6 was likely to be empty soon (fully story there, but not appropriate for the review). We kept an eye out the next day and sure enough, they were out by about 10:30, and we were in by 11:30.

It was a GREAT site, #6 - one of 11 walk-in, unreservable sites on the Old Mill loop. The sites are all separated by 20 - 40 feet of trees, and nearly all have walk-to access to the lake. Except for one neighbor for 4 days with a yappy little dog, it was quiet and secluded.

The lake is beautiful with geese (there were two pairs with babies) and ducks. The signs say watch out for alligators, but we never saw any and there were children in the water fishing (so I assume their parents knew something we didn't?). Quite a few deer spotted on the walking trail and our dog found a possum hiding in the roots of a tree near our camp. And LOTS of squirrels (both my dog and cat would tell you a thing or two about those damned squirrels!)

They've recently installed a dog park area (two fenced areas near the dump station and dumpsters). Nice large grassy areas, suitable for frisbee throwing. Didn't see any other dogs using the dog areas.

The only complaint is the showers. One bath house with two shower stalls on Old Mill loop. Showers had plenty of hot water, but the shower heads were crappy and too close to the wall - so to rinse your hair you have to stand RIGHT up against the wall. Water was very soft, though.

Not much in nearby Fort Gaines - Post Office, Library, Bank and one expensive grocery store. Don't plan to do any more shopping there than you absolutely have to. Didn't find a restaurant. But they do have an dog-wash (like a DIY car wash). It was great. $10 and 10 minutes later the dog was washed with flea shampoo, rinsed and dried ... and I wasn't even wet.

Site 32 is a pull through by the water. Beautiful area, friendly staff and clean shower and bathrooms.

We had two trailers and a tent with full hookups for $52 a night, over Thanksgiving, which is a bargain. It was a buddy site. Individual sites are $26. You can wake up with a great view of the lake and the occasional rifle shot in the background from people hunting deer on the Alabama side across the lake. Also, lake and beach at Bagby further up the road and Florence Marina as well. Seems like an awesome place for summer. State Parks nearby are Providence Canyon and Kolomoki Mounds.

Late arrival after dark, volunteers there to check you in until 10 pm. Volunteers helpful, but a little strict. You have to show your car hang tag on the way out. We had problems that were our fault, one of our campers, locked his keys in his truck with the truck running. Since this is almost the middle of nowhere, AAA nor the police would come out to help. We eventually broke the plastic handle lock got in. Additionally, we brought a motorized golf cart, which had been no problem at Florida Parks. But they are banned here. The volunteer charged with enforcing the rules just seemed rude. We had additional problems, with this volunteer. My sister has a small German Shepherd, that she was in the process of putting the leash on. This volunteer drives his SUV down the hill, parks in our camping are and proceeds to walk through our campsite. As we see him do this, we question “Can we help you?” To which he replies “Is that your German Shepherd?’ “Yes, it’s my sister’s” As she is working with her dog to get the leash on. My sister already frustrated with dog and now having someone add to the stress, said some rude but PG rated things. The situation resolved and the volunteer left. However, instead of storming our campsite, like its drug bust, he should have calmly identified himself, and then inquired about the dog. Our safety felt threatened to have this man storm through our campsite. It was dangerous for him to do so as well. This particular German Shepherd was abused as puppy, so she is very timid. However, full bred German Shepherds can be territorial and charge at someone invading their territory.

No Sprint cell service here, had to drive to the top of the dam road or as close to Alabama as I could get for service.

This is a beautiful spot featuring a huge lake and wonderful forest. I’m a first timer and from my arrival night I knew this would be a memory I will always remember. The hosts were thoughtful and very helpful with knowledge about the campground and surrounding communities/highlights. They treated us like family. They made the park a perfect experience.

The campground crews are on site everyday and keep the sites clean and welcoming. The sites are all kept clean, functional and tidy. The bathrooms/showers spic and span and warm. The laundry room was simple but clean with working machines using $2.50 per load of quarters (bring them with you).

I will stay here again just for the peace and quiet of being on a lake with a forest background.

We had a great campsite on the water, you could put your Kayak in the water & keep it in front of your site near the water. The best site in our loop is 73, 72 is nice & on the end but it had a big tree down from the Hurricane. Site 81 was nice too these all face west. There is a boat ramp, nice screened in fish cleaning house, some trails, clean restrooms, and a playground.

Rubo's market isn't too far they have a good assortment of things along with a great deal on firewood. Providence Canyon isn't too far it's a small Bryce Canyon yet created from poor farming way back when.

Kayaking was good, there are some big gators off some of the islands out there but they take off when you get near them. Beautiful Cypress Tress, big Osprey nests and a pair of Eagles with a juvenile Eagle with them they frequently flew over us.

Would go back.

Top notch Corps of Engineers park. On the water and heavily wooded. Great privacy.

Super clean bathhouse. Remodeled but a bit dated nonetheless.

Made a reservation for site 17. Driveway down to concrete pad was super steep. 30’ class A bottomed out before getting to the pad. Fortunately it was off season and there were many available sites and switching was no issue. Beware that there are many sites like this here with gouge marks in the pavement to prove it.

Check out our attached blog post for more details, at the end we list the sites we think our 39-foot motorhome will fit into next time. You will not have any issues with a big rig maneuvering around the park, with the exception of the 90+ in the SE loop because there is no actual turn around at the end. The park staff advised us we should turn the opposite direction and back down the road into site 92. We would not hesitate to come back here with our big rig. There is so much more we need to explore in this area. It is about 30 minutes to Super Walmart over in Alabama. You have to go completely around the lake to get to any larger services. If you are coming from the south you will have to turn more than 90 degrees off of the main road to the first county road, it is a tight but ok turn. Speed tests are in our blog post for AT&T and Verizon.

Stayed during the week so the campground was very quiet. Not sure how it would be on a weekend. My site was away from the beach and playgrounds. All sites seem spacious but be cautious when making your reservation and look at photos of the camp sites. Many of them have steep driveways approaching the pads. Most pads appear to be level. Many of the sites are mostly shaded. My site, 24 was all shade with large impact area. Restrooms are clean and kept up. Will stay again!