I had called a couple of days before our planned arrival to see if a reservation would be necessary; I was told there would no problem getting a site. That turned out to be quite true. We arrived about noon and were quickly checked in to a nice site, #63, facing the river.

Date of visit: March 2014

No sooner had we parked when the first of dozens of tugs and barges came by our site. The channel seems to be on our side of the river, so they're pretty close.

So let's begin our little tour of the campground. Here are sites 61, 59 and 57, also riverfront sites.

Across the road is site 62.

A little further down, also on the inside of the road, are sites 56, 54 and 52.

If you'd like a little more sun than is available at most sites, I'd suggest sites 49, 47 and 45.

Around the back side of the campground are generally smaller sites, such as 25. This is a really a tent-only site; the parking pad is very short.

Site 22 is another smaller site.

There are five full hookups sites with sewer connection, among them sites 73, 71 and 69.

Site 9.

Site 13.

Fire rings are missing at most sites, although in some cases there are cement pads. Most also have a raised BBQ grill, but some do not; likewise for tables.

Sites 17 and 19

There is an open area with room for a number of tents near the parking area.

I can't tell you much about the bathhouse - it is kept locked. Should you want to use it, you'll need to put down a refundable $5 deposit for a key.

There's a play area for the kids.

Just beyond the campground is a large picnic area with fire rings and tables. Judging from the cement slabs, there must have been at one time shelters over the tables.

The park has an extensive ATV trail system.

There's paved boat ramp down the river. It's pretty steep, curving and narrow so one needs to be careful when backing down.

Here's the electrical box at our site. The 50-amp outlet did have a breaker, but one has to reach inside the box among the wiring to flip it. There was a separate 30-amp outlet with no breaker, so to use it, one has to plug in "hot".

Here's a picture from the 38-foot observation tower that gives you an overall idea of the park's setting.

As for barge activity, there was plenty of it. We read one sign that indicated that tugs and their barges go upstream at half the speed they come down-river, thanks to the current.

Some of the tugs were pretty big...

...while others looked more like "Tuffy the Tugboat".

Sunset from our campsite.

Amenities

68 campsites: FHU - $15, E/W - $13 ($12 for seniors), Tents - $10

Dump station, showers

Good VZW 3G coverage

Coordinates: 33.353575 North, 91.124756 West

Elevation: 120'