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.

Hernando Point COE Campground Arkabutla Lake, MS

We have had an unusually cold and long winter in north Mississippi this year and did not have a chance to go camping after our stay at John Kyle State Park at Sardis, MS last fall.  We decided to stay close to home for our first trip out this year so we chose Hernando Point COE campground at Arkabutla Lake.


The Army Corps of Engineers operate several campgrounds around Arkabutla Lake.  The one we usually stay at is at the South Abutment but we decided to stay somewhere we have never camped at this time.

We had a site (#7) right on the lake.  It turned out not to be such a great weekend to be on the lake.  It was extremely windy with constant wind and gusts over 20 mph. The wind made it impossible to enjoy sitting outside for any length of time.


On our walks and bike rides through the campground, we found that there were several sites in the "interior" sections as well as along the back loop that were protected from the wind by trees.  If we ever go back to camp here again, we will opt to choose one of these sites instead of a lakeside site.

This is a nice COE park with 83 sites and 3 bathhouses with hot showers.  Each site has water/electric hookup with most being able to accommodate large RVs.  Sites 25-64 are non-reservable (walk-up) only sites.  The rest can be reserved through recreation.gov.

There is a day use area with a swim beach but it was closed.  There is also a well-used boat launch area.  This campground does not offer a lot in the way of

things to do.  No hiking trails, disc golf, etc.  But, you can take a very nice walk along the beach or walk and/or bike ride through the campground.

We stayed here April 11-13, 2014.

John Kyle State Park in Sardis MS

Fall has finally arrived in northwest MS and we have been dreaming of camping for a while.  After several weekends of working on a construction project at home (a cover for our camper), we are finally finished and can take a weekend off to go camping.


Sardis Lake is a pretty large lake in northwest MS, east of the town of Sardis and a little north of Batesville, MS.  It has a state park (John Kyle state park) with a campground as well as multiple Army COE campsites, day use areas and boat ramps.  There is a large "upper lake", a dam, and a smaller "lower lake".  While

we were there, the spillway at the dam was open but not full blast.

We watched a guy pull catfish out with minnows one after the other near the spillway at the lower lake.






This is our first time camping at this state park.  It is an older park with mature trees scattered throughout the campground.  There are over 200 campsites and must of them are spaced very close together.  There is electricity and water at the campsites and some have sewer on site.  There is a dump station in the campground.  One thing to note - some of the utilities are in odd places.  We noticed some of the electric pedestals are a long way from the campsite.  Some of the electric pedestals are shared as are the water hookups.  It is best to be prepared with a proper extension cord/long freshwater hose.  We camped at Premium campsite #216 which backs up to the lower lake.

Here is a picture I took out of the camper's back window as the sun was coming up.

We picked this site due to the large living area at the "living" side of the camper.

This campground has laundry facilities, 2 older bathhouses and one new/updated bathhouse.  All of the facilities were cleaner than I thought they would be.  The older bathhouses were .....well, old.  We did notice quite a few unoccupied campers in the campground - not sure what that's about.

There is a short trail - I think it is called Clear Creek trail.  At the beginning, it is a raised trail that goes into the marshy wetlands area.

The trail circle around to the street then crosses the street and climbs a ridge through the hardwoods.  It ends with a staircase back down to the parking area.

This is a GREAT area if you are interested in fishing.  We are also considering camping at the adjacent Army COE campground at Sardis called Oak Grove COE campground.  That campground had around 80 sites and they were spaced nicely.  There is a boat ramp between the 2 campgrounds.

We camped here Nov. 1-3, 2013.  The fee for this campsite is $24 (lake site with sewer).

Persimmon Hill Campground - Enid Lake, MS

Summertime is our LEAST favorite time to camp.  The heat and humidity in Mississippi just makes you want to stay inside in the air condition and well...that's just not what camping is about.  So, this past weekend is the first time we have been out since our trip to Pickensville during the Memorial Day weekend.

We decided to stay at a nearby campground at Enid Lake.  Like a lot of lakes around the northwest MS area, Enid Lake has both a MS State Park as well as

Army Corps of Engineer parks.  One of my favorite campgrounds is the State Park at Enid (Cossar State Park) but this time we camped at Persimmon Hill Campground, an Army Corps of Engineer campground.

Persimmon Hill has 72 campsites, some are reservable (www.recreation.gov) and some are first-come, first serve.  They have "fairly" level concrete pads with water and electric.  Each site has a picnic table, fire ring, grill, and a large tent pad.  There are 2 very well maintained bathrooms with showers.  There is a playground with swings, slide and basketball court.  There is also a paved walking / bike riding trail that connects with an adjacent day use area.  The day use area also has a playground along with 2 group picnic shelters.  This is a very popular campground and is packed during holiday weekends and when school is out.  My Sprint cell phone and internet service worked great here.

The campground is laid out in 2 loops, each ending in a turn-around at the lake. Be

aware that even the waterfront sites are not right at the water unless the lake rises significantly.  We really enjoyed our stay at site #2.  It had a large yard area to the back and a very large side yard area.  When we go back to this campground, we will probably stay at this site again.  We camped here Sept. 26-29, 2013.

Pickensville, Alabama COE Campground

This past Memorial Day Weekend, we stayed at the Army Corps of Engineer campground at Pickensville, AL.  This campground is in western Alabama, just a stone's throw from the Mississippi state line.  It is one of  seven campgrounds that the Army Corps of Engineers operate along the Tennessee Tombigbee Waterway.


Knowing that campgrounds (especially those with large bodies of water) fill up quickly for Memorial Day weekend, we made reservations a couple of months in advance.  When we arrived on Friday afternoon, there was a sign at the entrance that indicated the campground was full.

Pickensville is a large campground with five camping loops.  All of the site have electric / water and some have sewer hookups.  The most popular sites along the waterway are first-come, first-serve only.  One of

the unique features about this campground (and I guess all along the Tennessee Tombigbee) is that it is a navigable waterway.  During our stay, we saw or heard several tugboats.  The working boats share the waterway with recreational boats of all shapes and sizes.

We camped at site #44, which was a very roomy spot with woods to our "living side".  This was one of the sites with water/elec/sewer priced at $20 per night.  



This campground is great for children.  There are several playground areas with basketball courts, volleyball courts, and playground equipment.

You can walk on a mostly paved trail that crosses through all of the campground loops.  There is also a lot of area to ride bikes.  Since we had full hookups, we did not use the bathhouses at the campground; however, each loop has a clean, well-lit bathhouse with a washer/dryer.


In the middle of the campground, there are many sites that back up to a body of water named "Clear Lake". The name is a bit misleading because the water is so dark that you can't see anything in it.  It is actually a cypress swamp.

On the other side of the big bridge that crosses the waterway, there is a day use area with picnic tables and a swim beach.  Since our campsite was not on the water, we decided to pack a lunch one afternoon and head out to the day use area to sit and watch the boats go by.  While this portion of the waterway does not get barge traffic, there were a number of recreational boats that zoomed by.  It made for a very nice and relaxing afternoon.

A few miles down the road, you can visit the Dam and Welcome Center.






The Welcome Center was fashioned after an antebellum plantation home.  It looked over the waterway and had a very nice courtyard area.  If you stay at this campground, I would highly recommend a visit to the dam, welcome center and day use area.

Even though we would have liked to be right next to the large waterway, we enjoyed our stay at Pickensville COE campground.

Hitch Up and Go!

The good folks at Hitch Up and Go have added me to their Directory of Camping / RV Blogs.  I discovered their website while looking for other campers that write about the campgrounds they have stayed in.

Hitch Up and Go has a directory of camping websites as well as one for blogs about camping or RVing.  If you have ever been interested in finding out about campgrounds in other parts of the U.S. (and other countries) , what it is like to live full-time in an RV, or how to modify or repair something in your camper, take a look at their expansive directory.

Link - http://www.hitchupandgo.com/index.htm#.Ub0Q1_mG2So

The Road Home on Hwy 61-part 11 of Natchez Trace Parkway Series

For our trip back home, we decided to take Hwy 61 up from Natchez.  This is the "scenic" route but to the honest, its not all that scenic unless you think shacks and miles of cornfields are scenic.  Since I live in a rural area, I am used to seeing shacks and row crop fields all the time.  But, Hwy 61 is a part of the Mississippi Blues Trail and if you are a fan of the Delta Blues you may think you have struck gold.  For more information on the The Mississippi Blues Trail see:
http://msbluestrail.org/     Also, you may wish to read this article in the National Geographic about Hwy 61:  http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/road-trips/blues-highway-road-trip/


One of the big highlights for me was finding The Onward Store.  We had already passed Vicksburg and were starting to get hungry and in need of restroom facilities.  With no prospects for miles (and miles), I was wondering if I was going to have to get Rick to pull over in a cornfield.  In the middle of nowhere, like an oasis in the desert, we came across a store called "The Onward Store".

This place could almost be a destination in itself.  The front was an actual store with snacks, sodas, beer and gifts while the back is a restaurant.  There is a deck on the back with patio furniture and the waiter said they are trying to get live bands.  The food, wait staff, and atmosphere were great.  

If you ever find yourself in Rolling Fork, MS, I recommend that you pay The Onward Store a visit.

http://theonwardstore.com/