Wind Creek State Park (Alabama) - 2016

Sometimes you simply forget about the campgrounds in your backyard. We used to camp in Wind Creek State Park once or twice a year. Of course, that was before we retired and I could easily commute to work from the park.

Wind Creek State Park in Alabama

Commuting distance is no longer a priority when selecting campsites. Of course, our still-too-busy schedules and appointments are the things we need to work around now and it seemed that our calendar was crowded with other things for too long. We started itching to go out in Rosie, our 25 foot Airstream trailer, but our calendar was limiting this trip to a single week.

Instead of commute distance being the deciding factor, we were looking for a place close to home to maximize our time in the woods. There are two campgrounds we frequented back when the distance to work was high on our agenda. It had been several years since we camped at Wind Creek State Park, so we decided to load up Rosie and head there.

We were pleasantly surprised by the changes in the park since our last visit. The State of Alabama invested some money in improving the park by creating some "premium" sites.

Our campsite in Wind Creek State Park

Wind Creek State Park is on a huge lake, not along a tiny creek as the name suggests. Many of the campsites are along the shore and overlook the water. The premium sites were created by removing some sites along a popular section of the park and using that space to make the remaining sites larger. Full hook-ups were also added to the premium sites along with a premium camping fee.

While the premium sites are very nice, we elected to camp in one of the more basic "water and electric" sites along another finger of the shoreline. We found a good site that had easy access to the lake, an important feature since we brought along our kayak.

Rosie at Wind Creek State Park

Another view of Rosie at Wind Creek State Park

Our camping loop was about 30 percent full. That meant our loop was quiet. That was a good thing since this was Suzy's, our five month-old Yorkie, second time camping. Less distractions were seen as a positive thing.

Suzy with her stuffed toy

Suzy in the park

Suzy out for a walk

The "star of the show" turned out to be our inflatable kayak. We were able to explore the park from the perspective of the shoreline. We found several interesting natural features from the vantage point of our kayak. It was also fun to paddle around the various camping loops in the park.

The view from our kayak

On the lake in our kayak

We did have a big storm while at Wind Creek State Park and lightning destroyed my 30 foot vertical amateur radio antenna and its tuner. I'm thankful it didn't break anything else.

Antenna knocked out by storm

Here are some specifics about this park:

• There are multiple camping loops in this park. Some, but not all, are along the lake's shore.
• Some sites have full connections and others have water and electric.
• Our site had 30 and 20 amp service.
• One bathhouse served our loop. The bathhouse was clean and well stocked.
• We could not receive any TV signals using Rosie's antenna.
• AT&T placed a good 4G signal over the park.

In all, we enjoyed our adventure at Wind Creek State Park and will return again when we are looking for a quick getaway.

Looking at the lake

Selfie at our campsite

Silo in the park