We were just passing through the area and stayed here overnight only. The park appears to be well maintained. The staff is very friendly and helpful. The park facilities have recently been renovated including all new utilities and pads, and new or newly renovated bathroom/shower facilities. We stayed on a pull through pad which was long enough to park a 37' fifth wheel and three vehicles. The downside to that is the picnic table and patio area was approximately 50' from the utilities hook-ups, so bring extra sewer hose etc. The only other concern you will have is the park entrance road makes a sharp "S" curve between two giant boulders that come right up to the edge of the road. With a longer trailer or fifth wheel you need to be prepared to stop for oncoming traffic so you can crowd the centerline when passing through the "gap". There is a good restaurant in the park lodge where we enjoyed a great meal at very reasonable prices and enjoyed wonderful service from the friendly staff. Although we were on a tight schedule on this trip, we definitely will return for an extended stay in the future. We camped here in a Fifth Wheel.
Review Rating
[ 9 / 10 ]
March 2010
$30
I agree with all the positives mentioned by other reviewers. Facilities are brand new and exceptional. I'd give it a 9.5 if I could, but not quite a 10. The one small negative is that many of the sites aren't level. Not horribly so but with all the money and effort that obviously went into the recent upgrades, it's a shame that my front jack was at full extension with blocks under it and I needed blocks under one side too. Verizon signal was adequate. Satellite dish might be a problem at some sites when the leaves are on the trees, but It wasn't for me. The laundry facilities at the store, and both bath houses were nearly new, clean and in excellent working order. We camped here in a Travel Trailer.
Too many street lights, looks like a Wal-mart parking lot. Where did all the stars go? Shower stalls are "tiny" and there is only one hook for pants, coat, shirt, towel. Very nice staff and we enjoyed hiking in the park and in Little River Canyon. Thank goodness for the "national preserve" law. Please turn out the lights! We camped here in a Tent Trailer.
We camped here over Thanksgiving and my wife's only request was that she didn't want to cook Thanksgiving dinner in a camper. A short search of the internet found the DeSoto lodge was serving a Thanksgiving buffet! This campground has just been renovated and has all new sites with full hook ups. That's right, full hook ups including cable and sewer in a state park. This might be normal for some, but for those of us from Georgia this is unheard of. We would highly recommend this campground. We camped here in a Travel Trailer.
It is a very modern campground in a nice state park. There are a large number of spacious back-in and pull-through sites. Most of the back-in sites have more space between them than any other park we have ever been. The roads are broad, paved, and very well lit at night. There is wi-fi at the office/store, but not at the campsites which is about all this park is missing. It is a beautiful area, highly recommended. We camped here in a Fifth Wheel.
DeSoto is a gem with it's large, level, wooded sites, widely separated from others. This lovely state park has numerous woodland hiking trails. It is a full-service campground at state park prices. We camped here in a Motorhome.
Stayed in site 89 four days. Very quiet. Great location to the canyon and waterfalls. No WiFi at the sites. I would highly recommend this campground during high waterfall times. We camped here in a Fifth Wheel.
This park is very nice. Bathrooms are new and kept clean and stocked. Sites are large with some more shaded then others but no really a bad site that I could see. Lots to do in the area. WiFi is only at the lodge and office, not in campground. They have a pool but of course not open this time of year. We are planning on going back next summer. We camped here in a Travel Trailer.
Review Rating
[ 10 / 10 ]
September 2009
$18
This is an incredible campground. We stayed here 4 days visiting all the waterfalls and wineries and did geocaching. It was very quiet, roomy, clean and everyone was so nice and helpful. Wi-fi service is only at the Country Store/laundromat area. The laundromat is is very clean and well kept. Would definitely come back here again. We camped here in a Travel Trailer.
Love this park: it's very nice since the renovation. The staff is great and very helpful. Lots of trails to hike and things to do in the area. The restaurant at the lodge is very good. Only thing that would make it better is if it had Wi-Fi in the campground and not just the office. We camped here in a Motorhome.
We only had one night to stay here, but would have been happy to have had more time here. It is not a convenient park for a quick on/off of any main roadway, but well worth the drive. We camped here in a Travel Trailer.
This campground was remodeled earlier this year and is very nice. The bath house was extremely clean and air-conditioned. There was soap and air hand dryers also. There is an upper and lower loop, along with some pull through sites. The pull through sites were not very well shaded, but some of the other sites had some shade. There were several sites that had nice locations for tents off the gravel area of the sites. There is a lake at the falls area, but it was very muddy and smelly while we were there. There is a pool, which they charge $3 to use, whether you are a camper or not. I think that it should be a decreased or no charge for campers. There are many trails available, ranging from easy to moderate. They were all very well marked and easy to find the trail heads. There is also a nice playground and picnic facilities. I would have given this campground a 10, except for the pool issue. I will definitely be back, and would like to go when there is a little more water on the waterfalls. They were all dry except for one - but that's not the park's fault, it's just summer there. We camped here in a Tent.
Excellent Campground!! The recent renovations made this be one of the nicest campgrounds we have ever visited. Beautiful campsites, excellent bathhouses and friendly staff make this an A++ Campground!!! Everyone needs to visit and support the Alabama State Parks! We camped here in a Travel Trailer.
We camped with our 3 grandchildren, and our sister and her husband camped with their grandchildren The improvements are great however, they removed the playground! We have always loved camping at Desoto and will continue to do so even though the playgounds have been removed. Great place: quiet and clean. We camped here in a Motorhome.
Campground has been nicely renovated. Campsites are spacious and spaced well apart. The staff at the country store was very helpful and suggested several activities we enjoyed during our stay. The scenery was beautiful. The roads are paved and campsites are gravel. Our site was level and it appeared most were. All sites have cable, sewer, picnic tables, fire rings. We thoroughly enjoyed our stay and will definitely return. We camped here in a Motorhome.
Nice park w/many new renovations. Bath houses (2) were very clean and air conditioned. Sites have been nicely improved and are roomy. All sites now include sewer and cable. Campground staff and hosts were friendly and helpful. One note though, last time we were here we had electrical problems with our hookup and found others there having similar problems all because of old worn out electrical equipment. On this trip approximately half of our camping loop lost power for about 5 hours and this is with new upgraded electrical equipment. We will definitely be back. We camped here in a Travel Trailer.
This is a newly renovated State park campground. The bath houses are new & very nicely done. The roads are paved & sites are gravel. Sites are roomy but most are not as shady as we like. There are rock fire rings, sewer & cable at each site. Staff at the campground store are very friendly & helpful. There are attractions a few minutes' drive away (Little River Canyon, DeSoto Falls, the town of Mentone & skiing on man-made snow in winter). Attractive, quiet campground. We camped here in a Travel Trailer.
We were in a pull through site. There was plenty of room, and it was quiet and peaceful. We stayed for 6 nights. The staff were friendly and helpful as well. We camped here in a Fifth Wheel.
We camped in a back-in site. Plenty of room for both camper and truck. The sites have lots of room between each site so you're not bothered by your neighbor. Full hooks up with about 70+ cable channels. Lighted power stations make late night hookup easier. Also, street light give just enough light to walk the campground road without a flashlight, but not too bright. Many hiking trails. Restrooms are new with tiled floors & walls, stainless steel wall panels in toilets & showers. Some sites are sloped more than usual, need to bring extra leveling boards just in case you end up in one of these. We camped here in a Travel Trailer.
We camped in the new section that had very large sites. This park has lots of easy hiking trails that lead to creeks and water falls. The downfalls include unlevel sites, distant trash dumpsters and a front office staff that had no interest in listening to the wishes of the customer. We were told on the phone this was first come first serve. When we arrived we were told the sites are assigned prior to arrival. We camped here in a Motorhome.
We were very pleased with this park. When we called they had no full hookup sites available but when we got there they had upgraded us to a foll hookup site. The pull-thru sites are asphalt, very large, clean, and level. The park is only about 8-10 miles from Little River Canyon which had some of the most awesome autumn foliage and scenery we've experienced. If you don't feel like cooking every meal, there's a lodge that has both buffet and a full-service menu, with good food at reasonable prices. I would have liked to have stayed longer than 3 nights in order to have taken in more of the local sites and the numerous hiking trails. I'm sure this would also be a great place to visit in the spring when there has been more rain to feed the many nearby waterfalls and when the azaleas that are numerous in the area are in bloom. If you have a big rig, and are coming in from the north, you might consider NOT taking exit 213 off of I-59 but waiting to exit 222 and coming in through Fort Payne. The exit 213 route is a lot of narrow winding road through mountainous terrain. We would have rated this park a 10 except for two things. We think they should allow you to reserve specific campsites instead of just a certain type so that we can have less worry that we won't have the length or level site that our big rig requires. Second, the signs off of interstate I-59 and even some places in the park need to be updated as, due to age, they are missing arrows or are hard to read. We will definitely make a point to find our way back to this park! We camped here in a Motorhome.
Nice State Park camping if you call for res# you might be able to get 50amp/sewered pull thru site. nice trails, good programs on weekends. We camped here in a Motorhome.
Excellent State Park, was quiet, and had a site close to the campground, there are so many things to do in this area we will be back to check out more of the activities in the area... We camped here in a Travel Trailer.
The campground was nice and quiet and had large sites. We had an electrical problem with the campground's hookup. They staff worked diligently to get the problem resolved and finally did. This isn't the first time we have had electrical maintenance issues at an Alabama State Park. The staff said that this park is in the planning stage for renovations and electrical upgrades. Overall a nice campground with plenty to do. We'll be back! We camped here in a Travel Trailer.
This was our first time to camp at DeSoto and we were very pleased. Our site was well shaded and well spaced away from our neighbors. We would camp here again. We camped here in a Travel Trailer.
Review Rating
[ 9 / 10 ]
March 2007
$16
Very nice state parks in Alabama. The pull-thrus sites are level and spacious. We will stay again. We camped here in a Motorhome.
DeSoto has some beautiful scenery on location and short distances away. The pull throughs are nice sized and pretty level. Very peaceful and quiet. We enjoy camping in the mountains and the woods and this place had both. We camped here in a Fifth Wheel.
Very nice park with nice large sites. We stayed in the pull through sites, all of which are paved and fairly level. Back in sites are large and also fairly level. There are about 12 full hookup pull through sites and 10 back in full hookup sites. All remaining sites have water and electric. Campground staff was friendly and campground is protected by a gate that only allows registered guests to enter. We really enjoyed the campground and will be back again. We camped here in a Travel Trailer.
We loved our stay at Desoto Park. It is so beautiful with the mountains and scenery. The bathhouses were clean and everyone was very cordial and friendly. We will definitely be back. As a matter of fact, we liked it so well that I am trying to seek employment there. We camped here in a Tent Trailer.
Review Rating
[ 9 / 10 ]
April 2006
$18
This park and the area has so much to do that any visit should exceed a week. The staff is friendly and cooperative. Our site was clean, quiet and level. The park has several good hiking trails and waterfalls. The park is within a short drive to stores but a visiter can remain isolated in a natural environment. Cell phone reception at our campsite was marginal. We highly recommend this park. We camped here in a Fifth Wheel.
A very beautiful park. We went in the fall, which was absolutely breathtaking. The nights were crisp so building a fire was a must. I would highly recommend this campground. We camped here in a Fifth Wheel.
Well run state park. Town is about 5 miles down the mountain. The pull throughs have a
lot of room. The security gates have key pads. This park is great for a weekend or longer stays. Will go back soon. We camped here in a Motorhome.
Review Rating
[ 9 / 10 ]
2004
$18
De Soto State Park is located at the top of a mountain right outside of Fort Payne, Alabama (the home of Alabama the country music group). The park is very clean and the sites are reasonably spaced. Some of the sites are not very level, but they're not too bad. The surrounding scenery more than compensates for any deficiencies in the campground. This park has some beautiful walking trails. It is a short drive (5 miles) to Little River Canyon National Park - a must see, especially the falls. DeSoto Falls are not far (10 miles) - another must see. (For the Alabama Fans, Randy Owen's mansion is near the canyon). This park is located in one of the most scenic areas in Alabama. The lodge in the park has a guest musician on some evenings. The one there the night we were there really catered to entertaining the kids - such as by making up a song with their names. On some evenings, there is a nature program showing various wildlife in the nature center. We have camped here twice and I'm sure we'll go back again. The operators are very friendly. We camped here in a Travel Trailer.
Review Rating
[ 9 / 10 ]
August 2003
$20
This is a big park but only a small portion is accessible by car. Located atop Lookout Mountain high above the city of Fort Payne, AL. There is a motel, restaurant, cabins, pool and lots of hiking trails. Pads are earth and not all are level, if we get a lot of rain they tend to wash out somewhat. I've found that 2 or 3 1x12's solve that problem. Near Little River Canyon National Recreation Area and is a must see. In summer there are a lot of campers here. Unlike a lot of parks, you really don't know all the spaces are occupied. For some reason you feel sort of isolated despite 77 other campers are there with you. The pool and other stuff is a ways away and due to the steep hills you may want to reconsider riding the bike or walking. Also the roads going to the camping area are county roads not State park roads so you may encounter some local traffic. Avoid trying to access the CG the first week of August. Thats when they have the world's longest yard sale. The road to the State Park will be lined with yard sales, people stopping every 50 feet. You will be going 50 feet every 10 minutes in some places. Get there early or wait till its over. Fort Payne has just about everything you could need, I recommend the Foodland for groceries (great meats), the Wal Mart has limited RV supplies (Camping World in Chattanooga), there is a movie theater, an excellent hospital, a Ruby Tuesday, Cracker Barrel, Lowes and much more. Chattanooga is about 45-55 minutes away via US 11 or I-59. You can also drive to Chattanooga on the top of Lookout Mountain. If you go to Chattanooga be sure to take in the Aquarium, it's great. Ft Payne is 70 miles from Huntsville, AL; 100 miles to Birmingham and Atlanta (via Rome, GA). We camped here in a Fifth Wheel.
This park is new. The bathrooms were spotless. The location is great. It is approximately 1 mile from the Little River Canyon water fall which is beautiful. It is about a mile from the ATV/horse trail head for Little River Canyon and about 12 miles to the beautiful DeSoto falls. The owners were very helpful in providing information about places to see and in finding restaurants. The Ft. Payne/Mentone area is very picturesque and has lots of things to do. Over all, this is a really good RV park in a really good area. We camped here in a Travel Trailer.
This campground is still under construction, but will be nice when completed. We camped here in a Tent.
Review Rating
[ 8 / 10 ]
August 2009
$25
This is a brand new park, just opening. Will be great when finished. The owners are very nice. I camped with my sister and 4 grandchildren, and the owners were always making sure we were okay and having a great time. When finished, they will have cable TV, a playground and other amenities as they determine the needs of their campers. We intend to go back in October to see the progress they have made. We camped here in a Motorhome.
We stopped here for an overnight break. The office was empty when we arrived, but a note said to pick a site as all were full hookup. The pull throughs were long enough to accommodate our 42' and toad. There had been excessive rain and we had to dodge some puddles, but our site was fairly level with good amperage and water pressure. The cable TV worked well, but I could not get Wi-Fi in my site. The sign on the door says to pick a spot close to the office for good Wi-Fi reception. The dog walk area was large and drained fairly well. The owners were extremely nice and because of this, we would probably stay here again. We camped here in a Motorhome.
Good place for an overnight stop. We stopped twice in a week. The park is close (about 2 miles) to lots of restaurants and shopping. The sites are plenty long if you keep your toad hooked-up, and fairly level. As stated in previous reviews, this is a work in progress, the playground, pool and tent camping area are in the "future projects" area on their site map. There is a major power transmission line running between the current sites and the bath house. We tried using AT&T broadband without much success (maybe interference from the power lines?). The sign coming from the north (exit 222) is tough to see. We camped here in a Motorhome.
This is a very nice campground. It is a work in progress. They have made great progress since last year. Owners live on site and are readily available. They are going to enclose the Pavilion next year. Camped here with a Good Sam's Club and while there we voted to go back next year. I would like for them to add permanent fire rings at each site. If you want a fire they will bring you a portable one. Very nice and quiet. We camped here in a Fifth Wheel.
This is basically a campground out in a country field. OK for a night or two. Entrance road was rough and narrow. Owner evidently has big plans for expansion. Restrooms farther out yet in the field. Owner said he only has a Wi-Fi router in the office and that we could go to Wal-Mart for access. We took a pull-through site close to the office and were able to reach Wi-fi. Sites are close together and the pavers under picnic tables consisted of 12, uneven blocks. Little River Canyon was great. We camped here in a Motorhome.
This park is very nice and located in a great area. It is not too big or too small and has a family-oriented feel to it. We felt very safe here. The sites were nicely maintained as well as level. They are also spaced to give campers plenty of room. We camped in a back-in site and were next to a stand of pleasant shade trees. The site had a patio and picnic table. The restrooms were cleaner than any other campground we've been to. Washers and dryers are located next to restrooms and were new and not too costly. The owners were incredibly kind and helpful. My husband and I enjoyed our stay here and felt more at home than we have at any other campground. If I had one complaint, it would be that the area has so many different attractions and restaurants that we didn't have time to visit all we wanted to. We will be going back very soon! We camped here in a Travel Trailer.
Review Rating
[ 9 / 10 ]
January 2009
$25
Stayed there as a one night stopover en route to home. Very friendly staff. She took a few minutes out of the Crimson Tide game to sign me in! Too bad the Tide wasn't rolling. Easy to access pull-through sites, good wi-fi and convenient hookups. Quiet with no highway, planes or trains noises. Easy to access from the freeway, with diesel available at the northern of the two exits off I-59. This is a great no-frills RV park that we will visit again if the need arises. We camped here in a Travel Trailer.
This is a relatively small campground which is just a mile off the exit from I-59. We had planned to stay at Monte Sano State Park but it was full so we ended up coming here instead. At first we expected to be disappointed and only stay one night until Monte Sano opened up. After arriving at this nice campground, however, we were quite pleased so we chose to stay here for the entire trip. You can hear the highway traffic just slightly in the background if you listen for it but it is not loud enough to suppress the crickets and other sounds of nature. It is a fairly new facility with few trees and mostly pull-through spaces which made it much easier to park and setup. The spots are pretty close together but this wasn't a problem since it was only 30-50% occupied at any given time. Some of the units were there purely for storage or seasonal visits so it was actually pretty quiet with very little traffic. We had 3-4 spots open on either side of us and it was quite peaceful. Nice view of the trees and hills and big blue sky behind the facility. The only activity we noticed were a few other campers walking their dogs but all were quiet and well behaved. The owners were super nice, very polite and helpful when we had questions, even came over to help us fix our awning and tell us about some nice local attractions. We now plan to go back to this location again whenever we are in the area. We camped here in a Travel Trailer.
The price reflects the Passport America rate with $2 additional for 50 amp plus tax. This is an 18-month old campground with the owners putting in a lot of hard work to make it a very nice park. There was a little interstate noise with the doors and windows open, but it was not a distraction. The park was well-kept with owners in the process of putting in brick "patios" so wherever you exit your rig, you step onto the patio. The seasonal and few full-time residents were indistinguishable meaning all the sites were neat and uncluttered. There is much to do in the area which we look forward to seeing the next time we visit. A Wal-Mart and Cracker Barrel are within a couple of miles of the campground. We camped here in a Motorhome.
This campground is new. The owners are nice and are working to make a good place to stay. The roads and sites are gravel. The sites are far enough that you have room between your awning and the site next to you. Grass is between each site. The shore power is good, Water is about 50 lbs and sewer is good. The Cable is good, a little fuzzy on some stations but viewable. Site was level enough that I did not have to level side to side, front to back was a little off but not a problem. There are no trees for shade around the existing sites. The restrooms are clean. I would be sure to use shower shoes if taking a shower. The laundry has 2 washers and 2 dryers. $1.75 for washers $1.25 for dryers. Both are new and were working good. The restroom and laundry are in the same building which is set quite a distance from where the sites are located. Will be more central later when they add more sites to the north which has some nice trees. There are some extended stay clients, but the sites are clean and not cluttered. I would stay here again when passing through. We camped here in a Fifth Wheel.
Small park near interstate, and if you can see it you can hear it. Owners are nice and helpful. There are lots of fire ants. Will camp here again. We camped here in a Motorhome.
We are not "campers" and we loved this park. It has everything a "traveller" wants. If you need entertainment for your kids you will not find it here. No trees, so satellite works. It has Wi-Fi, many pull-throughs, good gravel roads, near the interstate but no road noise, cable TV, there's good distance between sites, and friendly helpful owners. We used it as a base to visit the Huntsville Space Center, the unclaimed baggage store in Scottsboro, and Desoto State Park with its many waterfalls. We camped here in a Motorhome.
This is on the way to being a really nice park! The park has only been open for a short time, and it is evident that the owners want it to be a success. They were very accommodating and made us feel very welcome, even though we were only there for one night, . The sites are gravel, but level and have concrete pads with tables. All sites were full-hookup, and most all have cable. Fort Payne has a lot to offer for the outdoor enthusiast, and is also home to the country group "Alabama", and their fan and welcome center. Not to mention, it is a beautiful area! This park is right off of Interstate 59, close to a Cracker Barrel restaurant and K Mart. The only reason that I didn't give it a higher score is because they are still in the process of adding amenities. Otherwise, safe, clean and nice people. We camped here in a Travel Trailer.