Gunter Hill COE Campground- Montgomery, Alabama (January 2020)

Shakedown!

You can almost hear Deputy Barney Fife yelling “shakedown” as we started talking about a short camping trip to help us figure out where things should go in our new Rosie. (Rosie is what we call our Airstream trailer.)

We didn’t want to stray too far from home in case we discovered a big problem with Rosie. For the record, we found a few things Airstream needs to fix and we went ahead and made our reservations for some Airstream factory warranty service. 

This was our sixth visit to Gunter Hill COE Campground. As with most U.S. Army Corps of Engineer Campgrounds, this is a great place. The sites are large and the Catoma loop offered full hookups. The older Antioch loop wasn't open this time, but it didn’t have sewer connections the last time we camped there.

Sign at Gunter Hill COE Campground

The temperatures were pleasant during the day and close to freezing at night. This allowed us to test the heat pumps in Rosie along with the furnace. As expected, the heat pumps worked well until the temperature dropped too low, then the furnace took over and made sure that Rosie was very cozy.

Rosie in Gunter Hill COE Campground

Roads in the Catoma loop were paved and that made it nicer to walk Suzy, our long-haired Yorkie dog. On one of our walks, we talked with a retired U.S. Army soldier. He said that this was the first COE campground that he and his wife had camped in and he was surprised at how nice COE parks were. We told him that there were a few “rustic” parks out there, but most COE campgrounds were very nice.

Paved roads and the bridge in the Catoma Loop

One of the things we didn’t understand was the reservation system. My estimate was that only one-third of the campsites were occupied. We went in as a walk-in because the online reservation system showed the park as full. This wasn’t an isolated event because we experienced the “ignore the empty sites because the online reservation system says the park is full” syndrome at other COE and state parks. 

There is what appeared to be a river behind the campground. There wasn’t a convenient path to the shore.

Along the shore at Gunter Hill

Here are some specifics about this campground:

• Our site had 20, 30 and 50 amp electrical service 
• Our site had a water connection
• Our site had a sewer connection 
• There were two dump stations in this park, one for each loop
• Sites in the Catoma loop had concrete pads
• The Antioch loop was closed so we were unable to note the condition of those sites. They were dirt and gravel two years ago 
• Our site in the Catoma loop was level
• There were two bathhouses in the Catoma loop. Both were modern, well maintained and clean
• The park did not provide WiFi service 
• AT&T provided marginal 4G voice and data service over our campsite 
• We were able to watch ABC, CBS, FOX, PBS and NBC using Rosie’s TV antenna. We also received digital channels Antenna, Buzz, Decades, Escape, Get, Grit, H&I, ME, Movies and THiS 
• This was a pet friendly park 

A selfie

Rosie's campsite