Davis Lake Campground Revisited

I would say that Davis Lake Campground in New Houlka, MS is a "hidden gem" but this US Forest Service campground in the Tombigbee National Forest is no secret.  In fact, it is a very popular campground and it is not unusual to see all 26 sites occupied.  Some sites are reservable (recreation.gov) and some are walk-up only.

The campground is just 4 miles off the Natchez Trace Parkway near Tupelo, MS.  This is our second stay at this campground.  We first camped just for an overnight stay at Davis Lake during our Natchez Trace Parkway trip.  

The main attraction for this campground is the 20 acre lake.  It is a "no wake" lake except for Saturday, Sunday and Federal Holidays between noon and sunset.  During that time, people can ski in a clearly marked area.  This lake is primarily a fishing lake and the no wake rule helps preserve the tranquil setting.

Davis Lake campground has a swim area (no beach), playground, and 2 bathhouses (1 at the day use area and 1 at the campground).  This campground is pretty small with not a lot of area to ride bicycles, but the New Houlka "Whistlestop" of the Tanglefoot Trail is only about 5 miles from the campground.  

Each site has electric and water, but no sewer hookups.  There is one dump station at the entrance to the campground.




Neither my Sprint cell nor Rick's C-Spire had any signal here - but I had 4G service just a couple of miles down the road.  We did pick up several over-the-air TV stations.  

We loved this campground and wished it were closer to home.  We camped here (site 14) Labor Day weekend 2019.

Gulf State Park in Gulf Shores Alabama Campground Review

We camped at Gulf State Park in Gulf Shores, Alabama the last week of June 2019.  Gulf Shores is just west of Orange Beach, Alabama.  The main draw to this area is, of course, the beaches.  They are beautiful white sand beaches at the Gulf of Mexico.

I like the sound of the surf and I think the beaches are very pretty, but I am not really a "beach" person - meaning I don't just like to hang out at the beach all

of the time.  Fortunately, there are a lot of other things to do at and around Gulf State Park.  See my posts Other Things To Do At Gulf Shores (Part 1) and (Part 2).

If you like the beach, this may be a place you want to consider camping at.

I couldn't help but wonder how this area looked before all the condos blocked the beaches.  This area

brought to mind the lyrics from the Joni Mitchell song Big Yellow Taxi, "paved paradise, put up a parking lot".



The traffic to get to the Gulf State Park area was horrendous.  We left our house in north Mississippi on Saturday morning and we encountered wrecks and traffic jams from Jackson, MS all the way south through Hattiesburg to the Gulf.  Really, there is no good way to get around it.

Now, on to the campground review.  The campground has close to 500 campsites, most are RV full hookup sites with a few tent only sites.  The campground is well laid out in sections with several bath houses, a swimming pool, campstore and laundry.  None of the sites are on the beach, but some are on a lake.

Our site was #155.  I chose this site based on the shade it looked like it had on Google satellite view.  We were very happy with this site.  It had privacy and shade. 

Our campsite had a 30/50 amp electric, water, sewer, and grill.  You have to bring your own above-ground fire ring, if you want a campfire.  Since it was 100 degree + heat index, we did not even consider a campfire.

There are warning signs everywhere about alligators.  You may never see one, but please keep an eye out for your children and pets!

This is one of the lakes that border the campground.

The Campstore was stocked with a few grocery items, ice cream, T-shirts, and camping/RV supplies.  They also had bicycle rentals.  There were several ice machines that took credit cards.  The laundry was very well maintained.  The bathhouses were air conditioned and clean.

There is a dog park in the state park (down the street from the campground).  They have a separate area for small dogs.

We made our reservations on the Alabama State Park website.  Due to this being a resort area, there are a bunch of extra fees that get tacked on to your campsite fee.

We enjoyed our stay at Gulf State Park and were very pleased with our campsite. Our cell phone service worked great and we could pick up many over the air TV stations.

Getting There:  This area is very popular and highly developed so traffic is a nightmare.  We were coming from north Mississippi, so we went through Jackson, over to Hattiesburg, down through the tunnels at Mobile and then to the gulf.  We chose to get off I-10 at the Baldwin Beach Express, then over to Foley Beach Express (toll road).  We figured it would be quicker than the over-developed Hwy 59 corridor.  Wrong.  It was packed.  If we were to go again, I would opt for Hwy 59 through Foley, turning left on Fort Morgan Rd.  Follow Fort Morgan Rd to Hwy 182 - turn left and then another left onto the Campground Rd.  This is the way we went back and it was much easier.

Table Rock Lake State Park Campground Review

From Woolly Hollow State Park, we traveled north on Hwy 65 to Table Rock Lake State Park.  This was our first camping trip to Missouri.  The drive from Bee Branch, AR to Harrision, AR has a few steep grades on 2-lane roads, but once you get to Harrison, the road widens to double lane highway.  

Once you reach the campground office, you will get a map that shows where your spot is and how to get there.  There are 2 campgrounds at Table Rock Lake State Park.  Campground 2 is close to the marina.  We were in Campground 1 which has 2 main loops.  Our section looked to be a new section that had full hookups.  The older section had electricity, but no water hookups.  You can get fresh water at the dump station area, much like a lot of the Greers Ferry Lake campgrounds.  The trade-off is the full hookup sites have little shade, while the electric only had nice mature trees.

We were in site #128, which did offer some shade if you moved your chair around a bit.  This campground stayed pretty full, even during the middle of the week.  It looked like most people use this campground as their spot from which to explore the greater Branson area.  

All sites in our loop were asphalt with a concrete area to the side with a picnic table.  There are fire rings with a flip top grill grate, but not a separate grill.  The bath house is similar to the ones I see at U.S. Forest Service campgrounds.  The shower stalls are little rooms where you can lock the door.  They had some kind of very low-flow shower head at the bath house and it was pretty hard to take a shower and get all the shampoo out of your hair.

Table Rock Lake is absolutely beautiful.  It has very clear water and is popular for fishing and other recreational water activities.  We went down to the lake several times and even tried to get Sally Mae to swim, but she didn't like it once it got above here "elbows". 

There is a paved trail that goes all the way from the State Park Marina to the Dewey Short visitor center.  We walked it (or part of it) several times while were were there.  We biked it from our campground to the visitor center.  Along this trail, you will come across the boat ramps, the Branson Belle, the Army COE office and the visitor center.

We could pick up lots of over-the-air channels on the TV from the Springfield, MO and both my Sprint phone and Rick's C-spire service had 4G (until Rick took his phone for a swim).

Woolly Hollow State Park Campground Review

We decided to go to Table Rock Lake State Park on our annual "vacation" camping trip this year.  I looked for a place to stay for a couple of days on the way up there from Mississippi to break up the drive.  I found Woolly Hollow State Park in Greenbrier, Arkansas.  The park is located a few miles off of Hwy 65, not too far north of Conway, AR.  

What a great find!  This is a relatively small campground with 30 full hookup sites and 10 tent sites.  The full hookup sites also have a tent pad.  The RV sites are very nice with asphalt parking and good space between them for privacy.  Most have decent shade, as well.  They are equipped with fire rings, grills, and picnic tables.  

We were very happy with our site #1.  This site is a pull-thru with the tent pad down a few steps from the RV site.

Woolly Hollow State Park has a 40 acre lake with a snack bar (open during the summer), boat rentals, and a swim beach.  This would be a fantastic place to bring your kayak.

We did hike part of the Huckleberry Trail.  Sally Mae is getting older (as are her humans), and she has some disc problems so she can't walk as much as she used to.  If we had stayed a day or two longer, I would have liked to walk the rest of the trail.  This park also has a 9.4 mile mountain bike trail.

The bath house was fairly standard.  I confess that I usually like to use the handicap showers, as the regular shower stalls don't have adequate space to keep your clothes dry.  That is what I did here.  The handicap shower has a separate curtained space for dressing.  The water pressure in the bath house was great, but it was pretty weak at the campsite.

The town of Greenbrier has several places you can go to get groceries, ice, gas, etc.  They had a Walmart market and a Harps grocery.  I went in the Walmart and found it to be clean and well-stocked.

Because of the close proximity to Little Rock, we were able to pick up quite a few over-the-air TV stations.  My phone (Sprint) had no service here, but Rick's (C-Spire) did.  We camped here 9/9/18-9/11/18.

We really enjoyed our stay at Woolly Hollow State Park and I would like to go back someday.