Doll Mountain Campground

The reports about a really winding road up the mountain are true. It's a thrilling, beautiful drive up through the fall foliage if that is when you happen to come here. If you are a confident driver with a good tow vehicle/engine, just take it cautiously around the turns. Typically one of us warns the driver of upcoming curves on the way up and down mountains when the turns are very tight using google maps. "S curve to the left, then right coming up with a very tight turn on the back end" (for instance) so that the driver can prepare a bit before hitting the curve. We did just fine on this beautiful steep road but it was exhilarating at times.

Check-in was self-service and easy. Fill out a card, drop it in the box and go to your reserved site. No issues. Our $12 a night rate includes a 50% discount with our access pass for federal parks.

Our site has an adjacent walking trail down to the water. Next to our site and at the trailhead is parking for 2 cars, so others can drive here, park and use the trail. It is steep down to the water but absolutely lovely at the water (see photos). 30amp with water at our site, no sewer in this park as the cliffs are really too steep to make that work. There is fresh and new-appearing deep gravel on our site with a large outdoor area with metal in-ground firepit, picnic table and view to the forest all around our site. We had to use our leveling wedges to get level side to side but it was not hard. We were able to get level with very minimal work. This is a silent location (except for birds and crickets, other wildlife) with quite a distance between us and other sites. We have not checked out the bath houses inside. Only one seems to be available, up the road towards the dumpsters at the boat ramp. There may have been another bath house at one time by the playground. Right now there are pipes sticking out of the ground and the whole area is roped off as it it's under construction.

AT&T service with a 4G hotspot was good for video calls, working online and streaming. Between 35-75 down and 2-9 up. Tmobile phones had very low 4g signal (1/.5) but tmobile home internet had better service with its better antenna. 4-10 down/2-8 up on tmobile home internet. It is usable. We moved it to a different side of the RV and got better signal. I drove around the park a few times and had near consistent AT&T signal with maybe the exception of the area with the lowest site numbers (under 10). Most of the park could get 10/3 or higher on at&t. Tmobile home internet was very patchy and not very usable anywhere except right at our site (21), and that is in one particular spot in the RV. No signal on tmhi in many places and very poor in others.

It's fall in North GA which is lovely with the leaves changing, apple orchard season and pumpkin season. The park is about 15-30 minutes to the apple orchards (depending on which one you want to go to). Very accessible to Ellijay and East Ellijay which have shopping and supplies, and about 30 minutes to Chatsworth. Wherever you go from here, the drives are beautiful.

Excellent example of a well built but aging Army Corps of Engineers campground in need of some maintenance. Sites are well spaced and level. Very good water, and stable electricity. Not 5 stars due to absolutely horrible steep, very twisty tDoll Mountain Road in from GA-382. Would have given this a 4 star rating, but in Summer 2022 while stayed, there was only one functional bath/shower building for the whole campground. Would stay here again; second bath/shower house demo’d and hopefully will be rebuilt.

We stayed in site 11, so it was paved and very level. There’s is a little trail from that site down to the water (a little steep) so I was able to take my paddleboard down and leave it down there while we camped for the weekend, vs lugging it up and down the hill. The camp hosts were so kind, they do not sell firewood but the hosts had lots of extra they were happy to give away.

Nice, quiet campground on the lake. All sites appear to be shaded. #24 was a bit too tight to open our slides and fully extend our awning. Just an unfortunate placement of trees and no big deal. 50 amp service, fire ring, and grill. Had a great time visiting Elijay and tubing down the Cartecay river. Camp host was very nice. Bath houses were well maintained and clean.

Pretty steep and twisty road to get in but nothing too crazy for a first timer with a 30 ft travel trailer (me!). Pulling through the drive at the gate was the hardest part. I tried to pull up to the shack window like I was at Wendy’s....should have gotten out and walked to the window. Learning as we go!

We would definitely go back.

Doll Mountain is one of 2 RV-friendly COA campgrounds on Carters Lake. This one is on the south side of the lake and is easily accessible from I-75 and 575 from on the west and close to Elijay to the east. If you're a fisherman (fisherperson?) you have truly struck gold with this campground. There are 2 boat ramps; both have plenty of parking and easy access. It appeared that many of the other campers there were there to fish.

There are several RV loops and most sites have a view of the water. Unfortunately, that's where it ends in most cases as the slope to the water is quite steep and no trails were visible. The sites are well spaced, and it appears that majority can accommodate very large RVs. There were fire pits and grills in every site that I saw.

Our site, #39, was level, and a relatively straight back-in with one gotcha -- the entrance was a bit narrow with curbs on both sides. As of this writing, we're not the most experienced backers, so it required a lot of work (let's call that practice!).

The whole park is well maintained, the access roads are easy and the baths/laundry/playgrounds were well cared for. When we were there it was mostly families, many with small boats.

There are tent-only areas and one of those clearly stood out: It's at the end of the northernmost point and offers only vault toilets, but the views and privacy were the best in the park! There was also water access there too!

The hosts were friendly and helpful and encouraged us to call rather than reserve online for the best selection.

So what to do if you're not fishing? That's the hard question here... we're not very good at sitting around. We took a drive to Ellijay, 18 miles away and also visited the other parks on the lake. Hiking? Not at this park, but there are at other parks on the lake and in nearby areas. There are two mountain bike trails as well at Ridgeway and Woodring Branch. The recreation areas near the dam have a variety of things to do.

Running is good here-- the roads have nice shoulders and there wasn't alot of traffic. Be ready for the hills, though -- it's either up or down. I easily put together 4 miles and more would be doable if you included the road into the park.

We had a nice stay, but next time will likely choose Woodring Branch on the north side for the trails and water access.