De Soto State Park

We had a great time here. The sites were well spaced, there was plenty of room. Sites like ours that were on the outside of the loop had access to hiking trails, so you could hike right out of your campsite. We did lots of hiking, there are plenty of trails. They aren’t all marked as well as they could be, so make sure you have a map.

We didn’t expect to have cell service here, which proved true. We barely had enough of a signal to receive/send texts, but not much else. Rumors were the Campground had usable WiFi, but that was not our experience. We could see the WiFi and connect, but it was not at all a usable connection. This wasn’t a problem for us since we were on vacation and this is what we expected, but we do work/school from the road sometimes and that wouldn’t have been possible here.

The only real con for us here was the elevation on our site. The driveway was fairly steep up from the road. Once we got to the pad, in order to level we had to raise the front jack up a foot and the back jacks were almost on the ground. This site (#17) would be better for a smaller trailer, maybe a pop-up. Anything larger than our 24’ might not be able to level. Most of the other sites were ok, but the sites on either side of #17 had similar issues.

So during our national crisis, we were so happy to still the able to get away for our 1st camping trip of the season. Fort Payne AL (Home of the Country Music band Alabama) is a nice old town that also has modern stores on the outskirts. Unfortunately, most places were closed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. DeSoto State Park is located in Lookout Mountain and also part of the Appalachian Mountain. Beautiful views and many awesome hiking trails and falls around to explore. Also right up the road was Little Red Canyon Falls, what a beautiful site. The campsite was very roomie and also had full hookups. Everything was kept very clean and I doubt it was just for this pandemic. Staff that we were in contact with were very friendly and helpful. we are surely keeping this on the our favorite list.

Very clean! Great Bathhouses, Tons of trails, Good Staff! Camp store is very lacking it is a little ways back to town to pick up food items (larger) so if you forget it will take you about 45 min round trip to a larger grocery store. Nature is what this park is about and we love it. Stays busy the year round but doesn't mean it feels crowded. Plenty of space between sites and has buddy sites at both upper and lower campground. Also has a large amount of pull thru sites. Internet services is just so-so. Full hookups and also has a dump station as well as rv storage. Visit Little River Canyon National Preserve while there and Desoto Falls. You have a place to kayak above Desoto Falls. Swim below and above Little River Falls. Not to far off of I-59. Some sites are sloping front to back steeply so ask to see the sites they have if that is a concern.

The pull thru section is paved with full hookups. You have the city of Fort Payne down the mountain with access to Interstate 59. Little River Falls and DeSoto Falls are close by as well as a short drive to Chattanooga. Camp store is a little sparse but that is not surprising considering that Alabama State Parks have very lean funding. The staff makes up for that with a great attitude and a helpful nature. I did not have to use the bath house but I checked it out. It was very clean with washers and dryers as well as a large sink.

Wonderful large level spot. Gravel pad, picnic table, grill, fire ring. The site was fairly private with trees in between the sites. Our site was a back-in, but they did have plenty of pull-in sites. It was perfectly level - I’d say the easiest site we’ve ever camped in. Close to cute Mentone, AL and Fort Payne, AL. Very close to the Little River Canyon, which is why we picked it. There are tons of trails in DeSoto park itself, and DeSoto falls is also close by. I would definitely return and certainly recommend the campground.

Campsite #29 in the improved campground loop of Desoto State Park, Fort Payne, Alabama for 2 nights. $42 per night with reservation fee, full hookups plus cable. Cabins, Country Store, Lodge, tent area and Restaurant in the Park. Extensive trails system. Desoto Falls and Little River Canyon National Preserve and Scenic Drive nearby. Very weak Verizon and AT&T. Only had internet in RV with our Weboost cellular Booster turned on (2 to 5 MB/S down). Also our Verizon phones only worked in the RV when they were near our Weboost indoor antenna. Very nice well maintained campground. Did not check campground bathrooms.

The website warns you not to use GPS to find the park. We recommend you follow the directions given on the DeSoto Park website as there is another road that goes to the park that is not big rig friendly.

We arrived on a Wednesday. When you reach the country store there is a place on the right to park. The store is closed Tuesday and Wednesday and there is a sign right there that provides a phone number to call. You just need to call and give your name. You will be provided with the security gate password. When the store is open you can go down and pick up your DeSoto State Park map. The store has snacks, souvenirs and some camping/hiking supplies. Also near the store is a laundry room and a Nature Center. The Nature Center is great for kids.

We had a pull-thru site. The site itself was steep. There isn't a lot of privacy either with this site. Due to the time of year (March) the leaves were not on the trees so we felt a little more exposed. The position of our fire ring was also close to the neighbors site. If we had to do this again we would reserve a back-in site. There are many sites at this park that offered more privacy. We booked this site 2 months ahead and due to the number of days we were staying we didn't have a lot of sites to choose from. Our site was next to comfort station 1. We didn't check out the bathrooms, but there are vending machines and a small laundry room. The laundry room has 2 washers and 1 dryer ($1.50 a load). One of the dryers was out of order. During our stay here we never had any issues getting in to do laundry. There is also laundry in the other comfort station (we didn't check this one out). The laundry down by the store offers more washers and dryers.

The cell coverage was spotty at times. We had a lot of cloudy/rainy days during our stay which we think contributed to this. We have Verizon and with our booster we had 2 bars of 4G. Wi-Fi is offered here and was very good. The only time we had some issues was on the weekends when the campground would fill up and one of the weeks the kids were on school vacation, so it got bogged down a little bit. We were able to steam movies on Netflix with almost no issues.

There are lots of hiking trails around the campground, which we enjoyed. We saw many birds and deer on our walks. Amenities are close in Fort Wayne. We highly recommend making a trip over to Mentone and eating at Wildflower Café. The food was delicious! There is a restaurant at the park, but we didn't try.

The campground offers primitive camping. We walked up to that area and would definitely recommend if you tent camp. There is a vault toilet and the sites looked very nice. It seemed very peaceful.

Overall we were very pleased with our stay here and would definitely recommend. The only thing we would change is the site we chose. Great place to stay!