Gunter Hill Campground

We love COE parks but this one didn't live up to our other experiences. We are traveling across the country and to beat the summer heat planned several COE stops so we could use our kayak and cool down. While the sites in our loop were nicely spaced, level, shaded and quiet, that's about all the praise I can offer. The bathrooms were dirty, the women's restroom did not have hand soap the entire 3 days we were there. We couldn't launch our kayak from the campsite or anywhere else nearby and frankly the water was not at all inviting. We did enjoy our visit to the National Memorial for Peace and Justice and the Montgomery Zoo but outside of that can't recommend staying here.

Good COE campground. Large site and not too close to your neighbor. Be prepared to ask tons of questions on the way inside. They do not provide a map and the are NO signs to specifics sites!! The only number is on the post at the site, if you can find it. Very easy to wander and hope you find your site. Lastly, some of the most unhelpful volunteers we have encountered. Why be a campground host if you don’t want to, or are un willing to interact with campers?? I don’t get it!?!?! Should be a 5 star after these hosts move on.

Date of Stay = February 2021, price reflects 50% Access Pass discount

Sites here are long -- we paced one off at 50 yards! -- paved, level, and well-spaced.

There aren't many trails in the park, but the roads offer plenty of walking/hiking/biking space, and it is approximately four miles round trip from campground to campground. (only the Catoma Loop was open during our stay and is the nicer one for bigger rigs) It was too cold for us to do water activities, but if that's your thing, this would be a great park for it. Otherwise, unless you have something to do in the Montgomery area, there isn't much to do but relax and unwind.

Laundry facilities = wash $1.50 dry $1.00, both worked well.

Plenty of OATV reception.

We stayed here for 2 nights during the week in site 23 in out 44 ft motorhome. It was a super easy drive off of I 65 to get to the park from where we store our RV in Calera. You do travel down a narrow 2 lane country road to get to the park. Check in was easy, they had our hang tag ready when we arrived. No one had previously been in our site so we were able to check in around 1. (Note: checkout is not until 3). The roughest part of the whole trip was trying to find our campsite! There are NO signs anywhere even site signs and the only map you see is when you are checking in which was not very helpful. We started down and quickly realized we needed to park the motorhome and drive to find the site. We parked the motorhome in the boat launch parking lot. Unless you know where you are going, I highly advise this, especially if you are big rig. The roads are 2 way so you kind of have to figure out which way you have to come in to be able to back into your site. There are some pull through sites also. We were on the Catawba loop which was full hookups. We did have to tie several branches back as we were getting into the site to keep them off our roof, but not all the sites were this wooded and I imagine not everyone's height is 13 ft. We were not on the water directly but there are lots of waterfront sites. The sites here are HUGE and super long and all that we say on this loop were paved. I had to work some and even though my ATT only had 2 bars, I was able to use my hotspot and be on Webex calls and had no problem getting service to do work. We didn't use any of the bathhouses while we were there. We did walk down one trail to the water and they had not emptied the trash and there was trash everywhere on the ground but overall the park was beautiful and groomed nicely. It was very quiet, just what we wanted, even though the park was almost full. There is definitely not much around it so I would buy groceries prior to coming in. There is a Dollar General that is super close though for other random needs. We really liked it here and will definitely be coming back.

We try to find COE campsites because we’ve found them to be well made and well maintained. Not this one! Our site was not level at all. It hadn’t been checked since the last campers left and there were stakes in the ground and litter around. The bathroom on Antioch loop was in terrible shape. It was dirty and the stall walls were falling apart. The one decent toilet in the ladies room was out of toilet paper (of course). There was poison ivy coming up all around the back of the site where we had to walk to set up our trailer. Every garbage can was full to overflowing and I could barely stuff our bag of garbage in the dumpster. What a disappointment!

This is always our go-to place to stop at when in the area. Lovely rustic campground divided into two distinct loops, one feels like it’s from the 70’s ( w&e, no sewer) and the newer side that has full hookups for an additional $4 a day. Last time I was using ATT, and coverage was fair. This time I am on Visible with a WeBoost-and struggling to view presentations with any consistency. Be warned if this is a necessity. We love the campground and will be back

Gunter Hill is a COE (Corps of Engineers) campground. This is my first experience with a COE campground. I've heard great things, and this one sets the bar high. Because it is a COE, it is eligible for discount through the US Park Pass system with the access (handicap) pass or the senior pass. This pass used to be referred to as the America the Beautiful Pass. These are basically all sites reserved through www.recreation.gov. These are the sites I always prefer first because they aren't in a RV Park arrangement usually and offer a decent balance of price and nature.
As far as this campground is concerned there are two different loops-- Antioch and Catoma. The Catoma loop has been recently renovated and has full hookup sites on concrete pads. The sites are very spacious and decently level. There also seems to be both 50 amp and 30 amp power located at all of these sites, as well as sewer. It's the sewer hookup that you usually don't get on any recreation.gov site and it's nice to have. On my weekend trips, it's really not necessary though. There are a lot of sites right on the lake. That being said, a lot of the sites have some elevation change to the water, so it's not like you can just go jump in the lake from your camper.
All in all, I'm very impressed with this campground. It's probably the nicest campground that I have ever been in so far. I highly suggest to check it out, as it is a bargain as well. We used it as a pit stop on the way back from Florida for two nights and with the access pass it was only $15/night!

This was our first Army Core of Engineers campground. It was beautiful! Even in January the birds were singing, the sun was shining off the river, and the temp was mild. Our site, #28 was situated right on the water. If we had Kayaks we would have been able to put them in right from our site. (Other nice sites were 27, 36, and 40. ) We had morning coffee and evening cocktails while watching the river and wildlife around. No ants that we could see as many people warned about. Showers were OK, warm enough but not as hot as I like. Bathrooms were older but clean. Friendly people!