Blanchard Springs Campground

we arrived early afternoon a few days before memorial day weekend. so we had lots of sites to pick from. it’s very easy access and lots of room at each site. By Thursday evening it was completely full, lots of children and mostly tent camping. it’s a family campground for sure. it’s not very big rig friendly, although there was a converted school bus camped on site 16, the best site in the campground. besides tents, camper vans were the most popular. we had site 29 which was awesome. all have lots of shade and all seemed very level
there is a connecting trail to the main trail at site 24. the main trail.
the bathrooms and hot water showers were cleaned every morning. no hookups but there is a dump station as you enter the campground , and drinking water at the campground.
pay station is located at the campsite 15.00 camping fee and $3.00 day use fee. 1/2 that if you have an annual pass

To get to Blanchard Spring the road in is good but you do have to drive through a creek. For this reason the campground closes when the water level gets high. Beautiful spot. You can hike without crossing the creek. Look for a trail going up the hill across from the bathroom. This will take you up to the main trail. The bathrooms have flush toilets and separate shower rooms that were heated. We were there on a Saturday in April and there were only 3 other campsites taken. There was no service on Verizon and T Mobile but we could get one bar on Verizon when we hiked up the hill.

We stumbled upon Blanchard Springs Campgrounds while traveling west through Tennessee. It was a bit out of the way, but looked really nice and the nearby caverns interested us. We intended to only stay one night, see the caverns the next day, and then continue our travels. We ended up staying for three nights because we were so impressed with the people we met and the beauty of the area. Sites are $10 and allow up to 8 people in two tents. RVs are also allowed. Cell service wasn’t available there, but could be found by going to a nearby town, if needed. The sites are all in great locations and bathrooms and showers are available in central locations. There are lots of hiking trails and a couple places to swim (at your own risk). The rangers there were very welcoming and accommodating.

The caverns are spectacular and I highly suggest visiting them! They’re only about five minutes away from the campground. There are 8 miles of caves and three different tour options. One tour is available year-round and is only $10.50. The others are more difficult and are only open from Memorial Day to Labor Day, but look awesome! Some bats in this cave have had the white nose fungus, but it hasn’t had a large impact on the bats there. They require you to walk through soapy water at the end to lessen the likelihood of taking it other places, but suggest that if you plan to enter a cave without the fungus to wear clothes that haven’t been in a cave with the fungus before.