We had a first at this campground. Our assigned campsite was paved with asphalt, but it was difficult to back into. The site was narrow and had deep drop offs on both sides. When we extended the steps, there was less than six inches of pavement to step onto. We worried about safety exiting Rosie, our Airstream trailer, without twisting an ankle or breaking a leg.
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| Sign at entrance to Cumberland Mountain State Park |
Then we looked at the leveling bubble we use to help us decide which leveling tools to use. The bubble was all the way to one side meaning we had a very pronounced side-to-side lean.
We were able to safely raise one side of Rosie six inches. Unfortunately, the level bubble didn’t move. We looked at the trailers on either side of Rosie and they appeared to be leaning also.
We felt the site was unsafe because it was too narrow and the slope was unacceptable. We called the office and as soon as we told them our assigned site number, the park staff person said she would find us a better one.
She did! Our new site was at the end of a loop and backed into the woods. It was a significantly better site! The new site's pad was wider so we didn’t worry about injuries when exiting our trailer and we were able to level Rosie. Plus, it had a great view. Yes, it was a better site.
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| New site in Cumberland Mountain State Park |
We saw the loop's Camp Host while moving and explained what we were doing. When we told her the site we were moving from, she volunteered that was one of two sites in the park that was nearly impossible to level and people reserving those sites frequently asked to move sites.
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| Our site was surrounded with woods |
While setting up in our improved second site, we watched a trailer attempt to park in the second site mentioned by the camp host as impossible to level. It didn’t take long for that trailer to move to another site.
A two year-old toddler in a site near Rosie fell in love with Suzy, our Yorkie dog. She was able to pet Suzy when we passed her site on a walk. Her grandmother said the little girl kept saying she loved Suzy and spent the day looking out their trailer's window calling for Suzy. I think Suzy liked her, too.
We found a walk around the lake. That walk became part of our morning routine while in the campground.
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| Selfie along the walk around the lake |
Another morning routine at this park was looking for the trash cans the raccoons visited during the night. There was a trash can at every site. The lids were held on with bungee cords to keep the raccoons out, but some people failed to secure their trash cans at night. Somehow the raccoons were always able to find the unsecured trash cans and scattered the contents on the ground. It always reassured us to double check the bungee cord on our trash can every night.
We were awakened in the middle of a night by what sounded like gunfire. It didn’t take long to determine that we were hearing fireworks. We asked the camp host the next morning if she knew why we heard fireworks during the park’s quiet hours. She said that there was a farm near the park that frequently used fireworks late at night. Then she added that the farmer also had a cannon that he was fond of shooting at 3 a.m.
I had an accident while in this park. We were riding our bikes one morning, as we normally did. I turned too quickly onto too steep a hill while in too high a gear. My bike came to a sudden stop and started tumbling over. I was able to catch myself before hitting the pavement, but I injured my back. I ended up having to be very careful after that.
We enjoyed listening to the many birds in this park. We have an app on our iPhones that identified the birds around us by their calls.
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| Becky's watercolor sketchbook painting of Rosie's site |
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| Becky's watercolor sketchbook painting of the bridge in this park |
Here are some specifics about this campground:
- There were multiple loops in the campground
- Our site was a back in
- Our site had shade
- Most sites had some space on both sides
- Our site was paved with asphalt and we needed to use leveling tools to correct a side-to-side lean
- Our site had 20, 30 and 50 amp electrical service
- Our site had a water connection
- Our site did not have a sewer connection
- There was a dump station in this park
- There were trash cans at every campsite in this park. Bungee cords were used to hold on the lids and keep raccoons out of the trash
- There was a bathhouse in our camping loop
- The park did not provide WiFi service
- AT&T provided 2 bars of 5G voice and data service over our campsite
- We were unable to watch any over-the-air TV stations at our site using Rosie’s TV antenna
- There were restaurants and shopping nearby
- This was a pet friendly park
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| The iconic bridge in this park |
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| At a local restaurant |
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| On our morning walks |
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