We received a text message from High Falls State Park in Georgia while we were on the road headed there. They wanted us to give them a call and check in prior to arriving.
Since we were about 90 minutes away from the park, my thought was to simply check in after we arrived. I was outvoted. We called the park's office, checked in and was given the gate code.
The need to check in early made sense when we arrived. A sign directed us to a narrow road that took us up a hill and deep into the woods. After a few anxious moments, we saw the gate that required the passcode we were given earlier via phone. The park office I imagined at the entrance to the campground was missing. It turned out that we really needed to check in via phone prior to arrival.
Once inside the gate, we wandered around the camping loops looking for our site. We quickly discovered that the park lacked what we considered to be normal campground signs directing visitors to their sites and that problem was compounded because we didn’t have a campground map.
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| Really? This was the sign at the entrance to our camping loop! |
After circling what we thought was the entire campground, we saw two park employees and asked them how to find our site. They told us to turn on a single lane side road that appeared to go nowhere except up a steep hill then gave us the dreaded “you can’t miss it” phrase. I had visions of having to back Rosie, our Airstream trailer, down that narrow road but was surprised when we actually found another loop and our site.
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| Rosie in our site |
We quickly realized that this was probably a “weekenders” park where nearby people from the area tend to gather for a few days. That was a plausible reason for not distributing campground maps and the lack of signs detailing the various loops. If the same crowd is there most weekends, the park doesn’t need maps and signs because everyone knows the layout.
There was an office in this park. We didn’t find it until we went exploring the next morning. The park appeared to be on several parcels of land on both sides of a highway with businesses and private homes sprinkled between them. It would have been easier to find the office and camping store if we were simply passing through the park and not camping there. I doubt that we would have found the office while pulling Rosie and following the few signs guiding us to and around the campground.
We also found another campground in this state park down the road and across a bridge. It had great views of the lake, but sites were for campers less than 25 feet long. It became a game watching RVers turn into the wrong campground then having to ask someone where their site was only to discover it was down the highway and on the other side of the road.
This is a great campground if your goal is to be cut off from the world. AT&T's cell signal would drift in occasionally to the point that we could receive a text message. We couldn’t find a single TV signal using Rosie's antenna. It was a good thing we brought a DVR loaded with some movies we wanted to watch.
We were pleasantly surprised by the sounds of birds in this park. We loved hearing the many birds that were around this campground.
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| One of the many birds in this park |
We had visitors while camping in this state park. I frequently participate in the Airstream Club's RV Service Net on the 40 meter Amateur Radio band. One of the net control operators and his wife who is the club's newsletter editor dropped by for a visit.
The lingering question about the park has to be about the falls. When a park is named High Falls, you expect to find high falls there. Perhaps the falls could be more accurately described as cascades and they are high cascades for the region. We enjoyed hiking to the falls and enjoyed their beauty.
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| The falls |
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| The dam |
There were multiple things to do and see in this park, but the drawback was its isolation. While some people may want to be in a place where their cell phones don’t work and their TV sets cannot find a signal, we prefer being in a place where our family and close friends can reach us. We were glad we explored this park, but I doubt we will return.
Here are some specifics about this campground:
- There were two campgrounds in this park on opposite sides of the road about half a mile apart
- There were multiple loops in the both campgrounds
- Our site was a back in
- Our site had shade
- Most sites had some space on both sides
- Our site was paved with gravel and we needed to use leveling tools to correct a side-to-side lean
- Our site had 20 and 30 amp electrical service. The AllStays app lists this as a 50 amp park. Only a few sites had 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 at the park's exit. It was a long way from our site and you had to exit and re-enter the park after using it with your sewage tote
- The trash cans were along the side of the bathhouses
- There was a bathhouse in our camping loop
- There was a washing machine and dryer in our loop's bathhouse. The cost was $2 per load to wash and another $2 to use the dryer
- The park did not provide WiFi service in the campground. WiFi was provided during business hours at the campground office, which wasn’t close to the camping loops
- AT&T occasionally provided half a bar of 4G over our campsite, which allowed us to receive an occasional text message. Phone service and data connections on our iPhones didn’t happen
- We were unable to see any TV stations using Rosie’s TV antenna
- Shopping and restaurants were available a few miles up the highway
- This was a pet friendly park
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| More water features in this park |
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| Selfie next to Rosie |
