Paul B. Johnson State Park Campground Review

We took a week-long camping vacation last week (third week of June).  Our first stop was Paul B. Johnson State Park near Hattiesburg, MS.  This state park is super easy to find - right off Hwy 49 South about 15 miles south of Hattiesburg.

Paul B. Johnson State Park is a large park with lots to do.  If you have kids, they will surely enjoy this park.  There is a 225 acre lake where we saw people skiing, fishing, and just enjoying the water.  There is also a designated swim beach, playground, disc golf course, nature trail and lots of paved roads to ride bikes.  The park has a huge day use area with lots of picnic sites as well as group pavilions.  The park office is inside the Visitor's Building adjacent to the swim beach and has a game room with video games, pool tables and a sundeck.

The 125 campground sites are sectioned into 5 loops.  The first section is across from the Visitor's Center and consists of several pull-through sites that are very close together with no privacy.  It reminded me of a parking lot with some grass.  The next two sections are traditional campground "loops" with a bathhouse containing laundry facilities in each loop.  Some of the sites are well spaced.  The next section, called the straightaway is a roadway with camping pads on both sides.  One side borders the lake.  Some of the lakeside sites in this section have gravel "patios".  This straightaway section has a circle at the end with 3 campsites that back up to the lake (this is where we stayed).  The final section, called the North End campground,  looked newer with level concrete pads.  But, this section had no shade and not much privacy between the campsites.

 There is a primitive tent-camp area located behind the North End area.  Each of the RV campsites have electric, water and sewer.  There is also a central dump station.

Our site (#85) had a beautiful view of the lake but had little shade.  If we were to camp here again, we would opt to stay in the first loop in a more shaded spot.  We fished from the bank but it was "guarded" by crafty turtles.  If you ride bikes, be prepared for some challenging hills (at least they were challenging to this out-of-shape middle ager).

The large lake and close proximity to Hattiesburg make Paul B. Johnson a big draw for local campers on the weekends and the park was full both Saturday and Sunday.  By Monday when we left, the park had thinned out a bit.

We used this park as a rest-stop on our way to Santa Rosa Island outside Pensacola, FL.  It was a nice park with lots to do.