Hernando Point, Hernando, MS

This review was written by the Young family
We have been avid campers for approximately 15 years now and we have stayed a number of different campgrounds over several different states. We started camping in tents like most of you and graduated through the years through pop-up’s, hybrids, and now our current towing trailer. We currently camp in a Jayco 287bhsw. Hernando Point is located just South of Hernando MS just a few miles off of Hwy 51 and the dead end of Wheeler Road. It sits directly on Arkabutla Lake which is one of several watershed lakes that Mississippi started implementing back in the 1920’s. Hernando point is a “Class A” campground having both 50 amp and 30 amp service with approximately 83 sites We live in Hernando so we have the obvious advantage of this campground being in our backyard so let me go ahead and get that fact out of way. Having said that Hernando Point is one of our most favorite campgrounds that we frequent for a number of reasons:

Cleanliness of the park and bathhouse

Distance between campsites

Parking pads are all somewhat level

Good variety of waterfront and non-waterfront sites

Park Road does not stack sites behind one another 

There are a few negatives to the campground such as the dump station being a good bit away from the campground so intermittent drop off to the dump station become annoying. Additionally the dumpster is also in my opinion too far away to be considered convenient. However as of September 2018 I am pleased to inform you that the Army Core has started revamping the sites one section at a time to upgrade from asphalt pads to concrete pads as well as install full sewer hookups. While I don't have an ETA of when the upgrade is to be complete, my understanding is they will be continually working until the project is complete one section at a time.

Rates: 

$20.00 a night

Amenities:

Check in:  6:00pm

Check Out:  4:00pm

Accessible Flush Toilets
Beach Access
Biking
Boat Ramp
Boating
Drinking Water
Dump Station (no sewer hookups at site)
Electric Hookups (30 and 50 amp service availiable)
Fishing
Hiking
Hunting
Interpretive Trails
Picnic Shelters
Playground
Showers

Craighead Forest Park, Jonesboro, AR

We visited Craighead Forest Park on September 14th thru September 16th 2018.

 

This Dad's Opinion:

The drive in from the South was kind of boring. It is flat, but sometimes flat and boring is peaceful. The roads in are very well kept. The address on the site leads you directly to the entrance to the park. This campground is a first come first serve with no reservations allowed. The roads from the entrance to the campground are very nice. However, there is a traffic circle that is a little tricky for the larger campers at the turn from the entrance to the main campground road. The trees around the campground roads are cut high so no chance of dragging across the tallest rv’s. Our site was mostly level and long enough for “Big Girl” to fit which is one of the items we spoke to the park ranger about. Not all of the sites are made for big rv’s. Each site has water and electricity (50 amp and 30 amp), but no sewer. Most if not all of the sites have a lot of shade that was made up of very few pine trees which we liked. There was not a lot of grass due to the shade, but to us that is an acceptable trade off. Just outside the campground there is a dump station with plenty of room to dump and clean your equipment. The dump station has a water wand and hose to help with the cleaning. This park does allow you to hook up your sewer line and drain your gray water out the back of the site, but that was not necessary for us since we only stayed a couple of days.

Just One Mom's perspective: 

Simply and quiet spot. This is our second time at this campground ans do enjoy our time there. I love the fact that the bath house is close, clean and has a lock on it just in case you need it. The bigger slabs are closer to the front so you get more of the traffic. The slabs to the end of the cove are small but have lovely views of the lake. I wish they had larger rv options closer to the lake. The Ranger did mention, they are building more spots so hopefully that will be taken into account. The area’s signage is not the best but it is pretty easy to figure out. Our spot did not have a separate slab poured for our picnic table like some of the others so it was in the dirt. Hope that is added soon. 2 things that make this campground stand out to me is that they will deliver cut firewood to your fire ring spot when you check in and each site has its own city trash can. I guess it's the little things but these make it feel convenient and taken care of. I love the lack of tons of pine trees, as with those can come ticks. The mosquitoes were being sprayed for while we were there and we did not have a problem with them either. The chiggers on the other hand, ate a few of us up after sitting outside for a couple of hours our first night. The low deet repellent and citronella candles did nothing to help for those.

Rates:
Daily - $25.00
Weekly - $150.00
Daily senior (55+) - $15.00
Weekly senior (55+) - $90.00

Some Features:
26 Sites with Water and Electrical (50 amp)
Table
Fire Ring
Grill
Bathhouse
Pets Welcome
Dump Station
Tent Sites and Primitive Tent Area
Open 365 Days a Year 

Okatibbee Lake, Meridian, MS

We visited the Okatibbee campground and rv park August 31st through September 2nd in 2018.

This Dad's opinion:

As my wifes states below, the address to the park took us to the entrance using our Garmin GPS. The ride to the park was good with the roads being in good shape. Once we entered the park, their is a building where you check in. They have a walk up window which made things convenient. My wife paid and checked us in. You will need to get a parking pass at this time. The check in time is 4pm and Check out time is also 4pm. We arrived at late dusk or basically dark. We had campsite 29 and it was the inside portion of the curve. It was my first time parking “Big Girl” at a campground, and I was nervous. As you would expect, I had an audience consisting of different people from different sites. The road was 1 to 1.5 lanes wide which added a little issue, but this site helped me out with the angle of the pad. I made it on the first try with a little hiccup. My spotter (my son) told me there was a tree. I said yes, there were a lot of trees. I did not see what he was talking about, so I bumped the back of “Big Girl” into a tree that is pretty close to the end of the pad (See Pics). No real damage, just a nick in the paint. You will also need to be a little careful when lining everything up. Make sure you have room for you slides on the driver’s side. My slide was about 5 inches away from the power pole. Now, the weird part. The sewer connection was not on the side with the power pole. It was actually under the camper in the middle of the pad. Good thing I had my son there to help with the sewer connections. And now, the weirdest part of the hook-ups. The water connections was about 2 inches off the ground on the passenger side of the camper at the rear. It took every bit of the 25ft hose, filter, and spring extension that I had to get it all connected. The pad itself was pretty level, and there were plenty of places to put up hammocks. The site was covered in pine needles and we had issues with ants (see my wife’s comments). I really enjoyed the size of the site and the location. It worked out well for us.  My favorite campsites would be 25, 27(No Shade), 28.

Just One Mom’s perspective:

Well, first of all , I will say kudos to Garmin GPS, it actually took us directly to the parks entrance( trust me This is not always the case. The staff that greeted me was nice and helpful in general directions for the park. The spot that was recommended to us when we made the reservations was a nice one maybe not what my husband would have picked, but had views of the water on 3 sides. The view was a bit elevated and through the trees so accessing the water was not an option from our area. However, the sunsets over the water were breathtaking and the location was mostly peaceful.Backing into the spot at night was done with minimal help from our son and a neighboring camper. The one snafu I would mention is a medium sized tree that is directly in the middle and not far behind the parking pad. You could imagine what that meant for parking for the 1st time in the new longer RV. The campsite itself was fairly large as it was at the end of a circle. That part was nice however the lay out of that spot was kind of awkward. The Picnic table was on the other side of the RV, for example. Unfortunately, whoever had the spot before us left quite a bit of trash behind so I'm guessing they don't clean the spots regularly. I did not see any large trash bins or dumpsters to throw away your trash, which I felt was strange. The spot we had had several pine trees in it which may have attributed to an ant infestation. Not only were they on the ground that they were climbing up everywhere on or are we including climbing inside the RV. Special note: for those of you who have seen other camping suggestions that say try vinegar or Comet to get rid of ants, neither worked. We ended up using an actual pesticide. This spot itself was heavily treed as was most of the campground. That was nice as we enjoyed using a couple of our hammocks as did other campers we saw around the campsite. The shade was very nice as well. The bathhouses were very far away from the majority of the campsites as there was only one per main section.

If you have young ones, bring their bikes, scooters, skateboards, etcetera all the kids seemed to enjoy riding around the circle as did the dog walkers.

Without that being said, it was a nice relaxing weekend for the most part and we would probably come back to the park if we were going to be in that area again but perhaps not in that same spot.

From a young adults view:
I only got to stay one night and two days due to college; however the place was wonderful. The people at the check in place were really nice and gave a warm welcome. All of our camping neighbors were welcoming as well. Kids rode their bikes and scooters around the loop. There is also a playground as an option for your kids. Families walked their dogs and sat by the bonfire circle. The sunsets on the lake were absolutely beautiful. At our campsite we put our enos up and watched the sunset with our furbabies. Some dogs roamed without a leash so if your dog does not do well with others then keep a close eye out. It was pretty windy when I was there so since we were under the trees baby ticks and ants would occasionally fall on you. I would recommend checking yourself regularly and giving your animals tick medicine. The only negatives that I have are that there was some trash that needed to be picked up off the campsites and the ants were HORRIBLE. There was also no wifi which I thought was good because it makes people get off their devices and actually have family time.

From a high school boys point of view:

The campsite did not have wifi at all. On the other hand we did have good tv. We were able to watch the football games while they were on.

Rates:
Reserved Inland - $22.00 per night
Primitive Camping -  $24.00 per night

Day Use:
Adults - $3.00 per person
Children - $25.00 per child (2-12)

Camping Discounts:
Military Discount - 10% off with presented military ID

Some of the features:
Cabins
Shelters
RV (30/50) amp service
Fishing
Boating