I just spent a week at Trackrock Campground with my two middle school aged kids. It was beautiful and amazing. I am a tent camper. I've been camping all my life, primitive before having children, but now I like good amenities.
I always dread the campground bathrooms, but I have to say they have the cleanest bathrooms I have ever seen in all my years of camping. The showers had good water pressure and they were clean and remained clean the entire week! I'm from Florida, and I've determined that people in small town Georgia are just nicer, more respectful (and respectable) people than those I've encountered my entire life in Florida
The sites were large and I like my privacy. That is another thing that tends to be lacking these days. Trackrock was hit and miss on this, but you choose your own campsite, so pick what's best for you. We were at the top of a hill by ourselves, with plenty of room to spread out. There were RVs above us, but we couldn't see them through the woods. Below us was a small ravine with two bridges to a row of other sites that remained mostly empty while we were there, with a couple of exceptions who spent a night or two. We could hear them, but they weren't disturbing. Everyone respected the 10pm quiet time. My kids ran up and down the hill, over the bridges, down into the ravine. They had a blast.
We were there for Independence Day. They had a celebration at the lake with free food, games and live music. We spent most of our time in the lake, but it was a great time.
My kids spent hours on the lake both swimming and kayaking. We brought our own kayaks. The lake is perfect because you can swim through the whole lake, not like Florida where you can't go into the water without risking gators and pollution. There's a platform in the middle of the lake. They pulled their kayaks up onto the platform and were jumping into the water.
The air and water is so clean up there! I felt great the whole time I was there because of the fresh air.
Trackrock Stables is on property, although run separately. We took an hour trail ride and the guides were very friendly. When we got out on the trail in front of an amazing mountain they went out of their way to line us up both as a group and as separate family units and use our phones or cameras to take pictures. I was raised with horses and worked with them when I was younger. They were typical trail horses, well-behaved and safe. my friend's five year old was allowed to ride by himself. I was surprised, but both he and her eight year old were given solid, safe horses who gave them no trouble whatsoever. All of the horses appeared very well cared for and content with their life / job.
I was also pleased to discover they had a small laundromat under the office. I was able to wash all of our clothes and blankets before driving home so I wouldn't have to worry about the laundry mountain when I returned, exhausted from an amazing week and a long drive.
My biggest praise is just how down to earth and friendly everyone was. I encountered many of the people who worked there, from the office to cleaning the bathrooms, to the numerous people who coordinated the event on the 4th. They were all really nice and helpful.
Smalltown Georgia is so very different from Florida. They even have an "honor box". The ice machine is left open, $2.50 a bag and there is firewood and starter bundles available. You put your payment into the "honor box" and take what you need. That would never work in Florida!!
I have two small complaints. I'm a tent camper, which means sleeping on the ground. I have an air mattress and the kids have foam pads, but the tent sites are completely gravel. Climbing in and out of the tent was painful on the feet and knees (and so was putting up the tents). More importantly, my tent pegs are aluminum, basically junk. They wouldn't go in the ground AT ALL! The guy in the office offered me a hammer, but they would just bend, so I declined
My other complaint was the power. The site had power and water and the camp provided an adapter to use the RV outlet that was there. However, I have two electronics minded kids who were struggling to get their game time. Plus my phone and my camera, plus rechargeable fans. It simply wasn't doable. It's not like you could leave anything out overnight. It would get damp. I charged some things in my car when we were driving, but it wasn't enough.
However, overall the entire trip was amazing and those two small complaints weren't enough to ruin our week. I didn't want to go home. I spent an extra night and I'm going to try to talk my parents into renting a cabin together so I can show them a whole different world. I highly recommend anyone who loves camping to give Trackrock a try.
Thank you to e everyone I encountered during my stay. :) read more
