Douglas Dam Tailwater Campground

Clean well maintained campground. We had direct water access to launch paddle boards, however, water was a bit complicated by strong current from dam. Enjoyed sitting outside overlooking the river with a view of the mountains in the background. Beautiful views available at the top of the dam. Cell service was challenging. 1-2 bars of Verizon with very little data available.

Site 4 was an easy back-in site of pea rock that was plenty long enough for our truck and trailer. Neighboring sites were pretty close, with no foliage between, but there were a few trees for some shade. The bridge over the river is busy and noisy during morning and evening rush hours but pretty quiet overnight. Reservations and check-in were easy. Well maintained grounds, clean and spacious restrooms. The restroom closest to the camp host sites had only one shower stall, didn’t check the other restrooms. It’s a nice spot for fishing or bird watching and close to area attractions and restaurants. Good price for the amenities.

Check-in was easy, just stop by the campground store and get your tag. Sites are pea gravel,fairly level, electric (30amp) and water worked well. Sites are nicely spaced with a few trees throughout.

There is some road noise from the bridge especially with the sites closest to the bridge.

A few sites were open during the week, filled up on weekend. Dump station on site.

Fishing is near impossible with 2-3 generators running. 0-1 generators is a nice slow current.

Good AT&T cell service , no HDTV channels.

Wonderful location and host are friendly, but you need to pick your campsite carefully! Many sites in this campground are snug and squeeze you in next to your neighbor. Other sites are nice and spacious. The campsite map is NOT helpful or accurate when picking a site. If you choose to camp here without seeing the campground I would highly recommend calling the campground store and asking questions about the specific sites that you are considering.
That said; if you are in a good site, this campground is heaven! Most sites are a few feet from the river therefore have a great view! The bathhouses are kept nice and clean, but do get hot in the summer months since they only have screened windows for ventilation. The campground is very flat for east TN which makes for pleasant and easy strolls through the campground and along the river up to the dam. The river water levels change throughout the day as TVA releases water through the dam.
We enjoy putting in our Kayaks at the boat ramp and paddling to the public boat ramp that is under Hwy 66 3.5 miles down river. When the dam isn’t running the river is quite shallow and takes about 1.5 hrs to make your way to the take out. We like this float because of the bald eagles and osprey generally keep us company. Not to mention all the large fish you can spot when going through the shoals. If the dam is running 3 or 4 gates open then it’s a quick 40 minute paddle to the take out.

We camped here 4 nights in June 2021. Our site, 32B is probably the nicest one here - great views down the river, access for kayaking or fishing, all day shade - almost perfect. Only drawback is that the site is pretty close to site #33, nothing to separate the sites. I’m amazed there are no reviews on here for 2021 even though campground almost full Friday & Saturday night. Staff very friendly, grounds clean & well maintained. We’ll be back if we’re in this area again.

Our stay was split between site 52 (ADA site) and site 48. 52 was fine other than the odd layout that backed in very close to the Camp Host site. Site 48 however, was directly under a huge black walnut tree that was dropping the walnuts on to our 5th wheel all night! It sounded like someone throwing baseballs at our trailer. There were also a tremendous amount of fallen walnut husks on the ground, rotting, and attracting a lot of gnats. The campground itself was ok but could have been better if those rotten walnuts were cleaned up from time to time.