Do not camp here
I will preface this review by stating that it applies to the campground only. There are many nice day activities in this park and the poor management of the campground should prevent one from enjoying the other attractions within in this park. This, however, is exactly what happened to my family on June 3, 2011.
My wife and I purchased a camper earlier this year and have spent several weekends enjoying the various state parks in Alabama. We plan our trips three to four weeks in advance and make reservations in advance. With our reservation in hand, we arrived at Oak Mountain on Friday and they confirmed that they had reserved a campsite for us. Unfortunately, writing the reservation down was the only thing the management and staff at this facility were able to accomplish.
Our drive through the campground as we hunted our campsite was unlike any we had seen before. The roads are hard to distinguish as the pavement is spotty. These narrow paths took us through campsites that had as many as five tents and what appeared to be 30 or more people in the same, small, and poorly maintained campsites. The campsites are marked poorly and one has the feeling of traveling through a maze. “Junky”, “trashy” and “low rent” are all words that came to mind as we drove by over occupied campsites and searched for an empty spot to park our camper.
After forty minutes of searching (and reassuring my wife that I brought extra magazines for my handgun) we came to the realization that Oak Mountain had taken our reservation and allowed the campground to fill with tents placed all over the full hookup campsites. We did find two campsites that were not marked as occupied but both had tents placed squarely in the middle of the pull through sites and one was blocked by cars due to the fact that it would be difficult to park 5 vehicles in the campsites.
The front gate staff apologized as we left for a two hour drive back home. Six hours and over $85.00 in gas later, we arrived home exhausted and tired. Shortly before 11:00 today we called to complain and cancel the remaining two nights we scheduled. The staff politely explained that they did not refund reservations, admitted that the campground was overrun and argued that they had a site available today. A more formal version of this complaint will be forwarded to our local representatives today.
If you are planning a camping trip to this area, do not camp here. As I stated earlier, the park provides many great outdoor activities that can be enjoyed in the day light hours. Just leave before dark.