Hornsby Hollow, TN

 

Hornsby Hollow is a favorite campground of ours. We first visited back in 2016 when we had our Cargolite Xtreme.

Cargolite Xtreme Toy Hauler by Watts Bar Lake

This time we were on the opposite side of the campground and I have to say that I prefer the side we were on before. It just seemed a little more crowded than the last time we were there. 

But I'm getting ahead of myself. Where is Hornsby Hollow? It is in Ten Mile, TN between Chattanooga and Knoxville. It's right on Watts Bar Lake (one of the largest lakes in the south) which makes it a favorite for fishermen and water enthusiasts. TVA created the lake when it built the dam. 

Hornsby Hollow is easily accessible from I75 or I40

The sites are spacious and absolutely gorgeous. I would argue that every site has a view of the lake. We were lucky enough to snag a site right on the water.

View from Campsite

The sites will cost you, though. It's definitely not the least expensive place we've camped, but it's not the most expensive either. Their website indicates that the average site will cost $40-$43/night. We were told that the reservation system is going to change, but for now, you have to call the morning of and reserve a spot then. 

Cell service is okay but not great. Wifi is available but only at the entrance. Water and electricity are available at the sites; the dump station for gray and black water tanks is located at the entrance. Each site has a picnic table, lantern post, and a firepit/grill.

All of the sites are equipped with a grill/fire pit

A very small store is at the entrance with a book-lending library and a residential washer/dryer. When we arrived, we were able to go directly to our site since Robert paid online. I was surprised at the great site he was able to get, but even more surprised that there were so many sites available on the weekend. The bathhouses are plentiful and the shower pressure is good. 

The bathhouses are energy efficient

Spacious shower with good pressure and warm water

Nice big bench in the shower far enough from the water to keep your things from getting wet

2 sinks with paper towels!

More pictures of the campground:

Boat ramp with more sites

The sidewalk leading to swimming section

Stairs to the swimming section

Playground

Like I said at the beginning of the post, I prefer the other side. I'm sure it's not, but it feels like there's more room over there. Luckily, we didn't have anyone in the site next to us so it felt like we had more room than we actually did. 

Would we stay here again? Absolutely. It's not far from home so it's good for a quick getaway. It's peaceful hearing the water lap against the shore and watching the fishermen out on boats. Not to mention watching the water birds.  We aren't water people but we do enjoy being close to it and watching others enjoy it. 

F. D. Roosevelt State Park, GA

Robert spent a night at FDR State Park on his way to camp in Florida. He said it was a place we needed to return to, so when we were looking at someplace to camp in mid-March, I suggested FDR. It was further south which was important for warmer weather... or so we thought. Since we were in the Delica, we took the back roads instead of driving on the interstate. The drive wasn't bad at all, although there was one section that was a bit boring. We arrived after 5:00 so we checked in online. We found out the day before we left that we still needed to check in with the office so we could put a tag on our post. (Oops...totally my fault. I thought since I had checked us in online it would be taken care of.) What's a trip to a state park without us getting in trouble for some minor infraction! 

We chose a site on the outside of the campground since the lakeside sites were taken. We weren't sure how close together the inside sites were; we like our privacy. There is plenty of space; however, so we would have been fine with an inside site. Our site backed up to the woods, perfect for our next-door neighbor's golden retrievers. They had plenty of space to run and do their business.

Campsite on the inner side

The lakeside sites are absolutely beautiful. Robert was lucky enough to snag one of these sites when he stayed there. 

All of the sites are level and have electricity and water. Gray water dump stations were numerous. If I had to say anything negative, it's that the only place to throw your trash was in the dumpsters which were quite a walk away. In fact, there are only 2 of them for the entire campground.

In addition, the sites also have a table, a fire ring, and a lantern stand. We opted to set up the tent on the drive instead of on the tent pad; we put the gazebo on the tent pad. 

This campground had the nicest playground I think I've ever seen. 

The bathrooms are very clean. In addition to a regular shower, there is a handicap-accessible shower. We were in area #3; the restrooms in area #1 were updated but they did not have paper towels...they only had hand dryers. When I'm camping when it's cold, I like to be able to make sure my hands are dry before I go outside. Personally, I'm not a big fan of the hand dryers at all. 

I was pleasantly surprised to see these messages in the bathroom. Even if 1 person is helped, it's worth it.

FDR is Georgia's largest state park. It is located right next to Callaway Gardens in Pine Mountain, GA.  If you haven't heard of Pine Mountain, you've probably heard of Warm Springs, where FDR went for polio treatments. Visiting the Little White House, walking the trails in the park, and visiting Pine Mountain are some of the activities available. We really enjoyed the Little White House, the pools at Warm Springs, and having a picnic lunch on Dowdle's Knob. This is definitely a place we would revisit.

Brick oven where FDR would grill while on Dowdell's Knob

Camping on a Tuesday: Jake Best Campground (TN)

 

I had one more week before it was time for another school year to begin. We decided to take a mid-week break and take a chance on a campground that is first come, first serve. We were a bit concerned that it might be full, but...

We had the whole place to ourselves. Jake Best Campground is in the Cherokee National Forest in East Tennesse, between Vonore and Tellico Plains. More specifically, it is in the Citico area. As we made our way along the gravel road to the campground, several dispersed camping areas were on the creek. This one is on the other side. The ones on the creek are quite spacious.

There is no fee to camp at these sites. Jake Best is $6/night and includes no hook-ups. The campground is open from around the beginning of March through the end of November. There is only one bathroom with a vault toilet.

Yes, I said only one toilet, but there are only 7 sites at this campground. During the peak season, there is a campground host who takes 1 spot. 5 sites are up a hill from the creek; there are 2 on the other side. Those 2 back up to the road; however, the road is one lane. When we were there, there was very little traffic. Robert said that the area gets quite busy once trout are released in the creek as well as during hunting season.

The road leading to the campground

The road leading to the campground on the other side.

Right beside the toilet is a box with envelopes and a pole where your payment is inserted. I'm not sure about other times of the year, but we didn't see any rangers while we were there.

The sites are a good size and are fairly level. There is no electricity or water, so be prepared. There is also no cell service so you're able to completely get away from distractions.

Site 2 seems to be the best site for RVs

Site 3 seemed to be the shortest site.

We chose Site 7 because it had a view of the creek down the hill at the back. The site next to ours also had a view but it wasn't quite as good.

The back of Site 7; the creek is down the hill

Site #7

Since this is bear country, bear-proof trash cans are provided. There are 2 right next to Site 5 and 2 beside the toilet. We didn't see any evidence of bears, or even raccoons for that matter. The campground was very clean and the garbage bins were empty when we got there. 

Bear-proof bins next to Site 5

Bear-proof bins next to the toilet

I would definitely stay there again. It was a little unsettling to be the only ones in the campground the first night but the second night I wasn't bothered by it. We had a backup plan in case the campground was full so we would definitely do that again. There is another campground not too far away that has overflow camping so Indian Boundary may be another option.

We very much enjoyed the solitude of Jake Best. The walk to the creek was easy. The water was very cold and very clear. Robert took a couple of dips in the cold water (I got in once) and we skipped some rocks. It was an exceptionally relaxing couple of days.

PEI National Park (Canada): Cavendish Campground

We took a trip to the Canadian Maritimes in July. Robert traveled that way on his motorcycle a few years ago and knew that I would love it. We planned to go a couple of years ago but had a change of plans due to family matters. We had a not-so-relaxing vacation the previous summer and our Christmas vacation was a fiasco. We were looking forward to what we hoped would make up for the past year's "vacations".

Robert had a new Gazelle Tent to try out. Since I'm not a big fan of sleeping on the ground, before the trip I tried out an older cot. I set it up in a spare bedroom and spent the night. Nope, it was not comfortable at all, so I tried Robert's cot. It was fantastic! I hopped right on to Amazon and bought my own. I've got to tell you: after a few nights in an AirB&B I was looking forward to sleeping on the cot again...that's how comfortable it is.

We debated about taking the trailer with us or tent-camping part of the time. Not taking the trailer was a good decision. We knew it at the end of the first day of travel when we went through a good 2 hours of torrential rain and thunderstorms. Robert had just enough when we got to our first destination.

We decided to do a mixture of B&Bs, camping, and we even stayed at an AirB&B during one leg of the trip. Robert wanted to make sure I could sleep on a cot in a tent before he committed me to a whole vacation in a tent. When it was said and done, I definitely could have done the whole time in a tent.   Especially this tent and this cot.

We camped at the Cavendish Campground on Prince Edward Island for a couple of nights. We had an awesome spot.

Looking out to the Gulf of St. Lawrence

Bank Swallows were nesting across the road from our campsite so there were no sites open. The only time we had rain was when we camped, but it only rained a bit and then it was done. The tent stayed dry so no worries about getting wet, plus it held up great in the wind. We put up Robert's Rhino-Rack 270 Degree Awning and 2 side panels that he has on his truck.

I thought we had a sweet little set-up. Unfortunately, we didn't take a picture of the inside of the tent with our cots in it. We had plenty of room for both cots and space to walk around.  The best part about this tent is the set-up. We had the tent up, staked down, and the rain fly on in about 10 minutes. Pulling the tent up (literally, pulling it up) took about 2 minutes, if that long. It was definitely a lot quicker than getting the trailer set up.

The campground was pretty nice. The water pressure in the shower wasn't that great, but it was about the same in the B&B where we stayed the previous nights. We washed clothes right before we left for the next leg of our trip. The washing machines and the driers were extremely efficient and quick. Each campsite had a fire grill. Since we were in the tent section we didn't have electricity or water; however, there were "charging shelters" (I don't know that that's what they're really called.) strategically placed around the campground. It also has water spigots so you can fill water jugs.

Bathhouse

Playground

"Charging Houses"

The campground is conveniently located, with a store nearby and the House of Anne of Green Gables not far away. Our site was very close to the beach access, so I took advantage of it and walked to get a better look at the Bank Swallows.

Beach Access

Bank Swallow flying into the nest

Another Bank Swallow flying in

It might not have been the prettiest sunset I've seen, but it was the first time I saw the sunset over the Gulf of St. Lawrence

Someone asked about the bugs. The wind kept most of them away, and I made sure I put on some spray. I had no trouble at all with the bugs while we were there. I used a spray with all-natural ingredients so I wasn't really sure how well it would work, but it worked like a charm!  I also used "camping soap" from the same company for added protection. For more information, click here.
I would have liked to have stayed there another day or 2 to explore PEI; unfortunately, we had a limited amount of time and were expected at our AirB&B. We would definitely stay here again.