Gunter Hill COE Campground - Third Visit - Halloween

We left Gunter Hill COE Campground from our second visit wondering what happens at the park during Halloween weekend that makes people talk excitedly about it. By the time we parked our trailer at Fort Rosie, we decided to make reservations for Halloween weekend. We were surprised that both loops were nearly full. The Catoma loop, the one recently reopened after renovations, was full. There were about a dozen sites open in the older Antioch loop.

Surprisingly, site 101 was open so we booked it. This was the second time we were able to reserve this premium space and this would have been impossible in previous years because this site was typically reserved months in advance.

Since we figured that this was going to be a festive weekend, we decided to buy some decorations for Rosie, our Airstream trailer. We found some orange Christmas-type lights at Home Depot plus we bought some awning lights at Camping World. We knew that we would be able to fit in with families camping over Halloween at Gunter Hill Campground.

As we were checking in, the park attendant said that he just had a cancellation in the Catoma loop. He also said that there were only seven open sites in the entire park for the weekend. For the second time, we switched from site 101 to an unknown one in the new loop.

The park attendant described Catoma as the "festive" loop. We understood what he meant when we turned into the campground area. There were lots of Halloween decorations and lights everywhere in the park. Suddenly, we knew what the camper meant three weeks ago when he excitedly asked if we were planning to return for Halloween. It was apparent that this was going to be a fun weekend.

You have to keep in mind that Gunter Hill is, in my opinion, one of the top Corp of Engineers parks in our region. They have great sites, full hook-ups and the park is well maintained.

Rosie, our Airstream trailer, with Halloween lights

We have already talked about this park in previous posts. This posting is about being in the park during Halloween weekend.

Some of the festive lights at Gunter Hill's Halloween weekend

The Trick-or-Treat Parade at Gunter Hill COE Campground

Autumn colors at Gunter Hill Campground

Fall at Gunter Hill Campground

Annie getting very involved in a game of Sorry

We learned that a number of other parks have "holiday specials." The obvious dates are the 4th of July, Labor Day, Halloween, Thanksgiving and New Years. We found that Gunter Hill's Halloween celebration was great fun and well worth the trip.

This was also a time when the park was filled with families and small children. It also seemed that most people in the park knew each other. We were in the Catoma loop because of a cancellation. It appears that the family that cancelled was probably related to the campers all around us. Fortunately, the family was very nice and we enjoyed camping next to them.

We plan to return next year for Halloween at Gunter Hill Campground.