High Falls State Park

We enjoyed our stay here very much. Our site had one of the few water views of the river through the woods. Camping in the river area as the very helpful check-in lady suggested avoided noisier day users at the lake area campground. If the bath house had been air-conditioned, it would have been ideal. Not sure if all Georgia state parks have no a/c in the bathhouses; we'll find out! We bought the state parks annual pass which includes one free night of camping. We will get 10% discount on camping in the future. We got two bars of Verizon on our hot spot; slow, but workable. Stayed on a Sunday night, so all was very quiet.

I rented a yurt at this park to break up a long drive. The park is great- beautiful falls, multiple hiking trails, canoe rentals, etc. the pool and mini golf were out of service when I was here. The bathrooms were not great but worked. The yurt had a full size bunk bed and a futon (you have to bring your own linens), a shelf, and a table and chairs. Wraparound porch also had chairs and looked over a beautiful lake view. Next to the site is a picnic bench, grill and fire ring. What it does not have is air conditioning and that was no joke. I sat in my car with the ac on every once and a while for a break. It finally cooled down around midnight. Just keep that in mind if you’re staying in the summer. Also, they rangers did warn me about the ticks, but I didn’t have any issues.

The previous reviews pretty well cover this park, but I’ll add a few comments. Note that this park only takes reservations for 2 or more nights, but I checked Reserve America a couple of days before and saw there were lots of sites available, so we showed up and were able to stay for just the one night. We were in the River loop and were quite satisfied with our site. However, after driving the Lakeside loop decided we would try to stay there next time. We hiked right from the River loop on the Tanquil trail which connects to the Historic trail that ends up along the river. The next morning we hiked the Falls trail. Both were great hikes. Note that our rate included a senior discount.

High Falls State Park is the perfect place if you have a desire to dabble in many types of outdoor recreation. The lake is gorgeous and a little frightening considering that from it flows a large waterfall. Don't worry, it's corded off, but still...that drop-off! We rented a kayak and had a wonderful time. I'm even more thankful that my hubby is a strong paddler and got us away from the edge really fast. We saw many people fishing from boats and along the river's shore. Pictures were posted at the restroom entrances of large fish caught in the park by visitors. For the person who likes to see the bottom of a body of water, there's the park's pool which just opened for the season on May 20th.

The hiking was fantastic. We accidentally got lost though when we veered off of the Falls Trail because the river's views were so captivating. Fortunately, my hubby got GPS up on his phone and guided us back to the trail in no time. The paths are so very clearly marked that we had a good laugh about it later. We are definitely no Lewis and Clark.

We found the staff helpful and kind. The only problem we had was right in the beginning when we were checking in when a very new employee sent us to the wrong camping area. Word to the wise, the Lakeside Camping Area is very nice, but the sites are tiny and steep. Those sites are marked with a red tag. If you get a yellow tag (it wouldn't take much because we just have a 19' travel trailer) you want to go to the River Camping Area. Those sites are long and many are quite private. We stayed at site #27. It was super sweet.

Here's the negatives. Ticks, ticks, and more ticks. Be prepared! We also lost power several times after the park filled up so I wonder if it was due to low power. So glad my hubby installed a hard-lined surge protector! The internet connectivity was very slow and dropped off completely at times, too. But hey, it's supposed to be a break from the rat race, right? Just don't plan on getting computer things done so you don't get frustrated. I actually read quite a bit of a very good book I brought, Early One Morning, by Virginia Baily (http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24396860-early-one-morning). One more thing that doesn't really matter much to me, but some do care a lot about, was that many of the bathrooms were old and kind of gross.

The negatives are nothing in comparison to all this park has going for it. We definitely hope to come back again and enjoy its beauty.

High Falls State Park
76 High Falls Park Dr
Jackson, Georgia 30233
Phone: (478) 993-3053
Visit Campground Website
Sites: 106
Recent Rate: $32 4/2017

Sites along the river do not provide river views. The previous reviews pretty much cover the important facts. The extra day pass cost as mentioned below can be offset if you plan to visit other Georgia State Parks. The annual pass costs $50 but it includes one night of free camping so if you visit three more parks in the following 12 months it pretty much covers that day use fee.

I've always said that if a picture is worth a thousand words, than a video is worth a thousand pictures. Here's a video of our stay :-)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TR-0XsOvRqk&index=11&list=PL2v8LB6vz74sfHnqrsK05tUxQ04kIz1ZN

Also, about 20 minutes up the road is a great place to spend an afternoon. Beautiful grounds to hike around in and lots to see. Open 7 days a week and free admission.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXHkDbU_lVc&t=94s

At the time, sites were not specific (now you can request a site). Internet access in the woods was hard, even with boosters, but we opted to ride our bikes across the street to the park on the hill, where we worked from a picnic table overlooking the falls and had great signal.

The hikes along the river were awesome, every part of the park was beautiful.

We will be back!

This was sort of a weird set up. Three separate entrances with a public roads running through. It is very convenient to I-75.

We were surprised to find out that a day pass is required to be purchased separate of your camping fee. The campsite was $32 then $5 for the day pass. From what I understand this is a GA SP requirement.

The office had signs regarding ticks being plentiful and they weren't kidding. Hubby found two on him and I found a dead one on my dog's blanket. Good to know Advantage is doing its job. It looked like there were some nice trails to explore but we opted out with the tick infestation. Maybe seasonal; we were there mid-May.

We camped in the lake campground which was quiet and uneventful. There is only 1 site on the lake. We drove through the river campground to use the dump station (no sewer hook ups at any sites) and noticed the sites looked closer together than the lake campground. Didn't look like there were river views from what we saw.

I stayed here in Sept 2016.

If you're looking for something fairly near Atlanta but far enough away to be remote, this park is a great selection. The waterfall was beautiful and the sites are shaded and peaceful. The staff was very nice and helpful.

This is 1 mile off HWY 75 and very easy to get to. Once inside the park, the hills are steep but still doable in a large rig. The pull thru 50 amp sites were easy to get into fairly well spaced.
There's a couple of great but short hikes. Biking it not very feasible unless you want to bike up and down the hills. There's a nice lake here for kayaking and paddle boarding.

Site accessibility (The hill into the park was a bit steep and signage for the D loop was non existent but the park was a very easy 1 mile off the hwy) - 4
Campground location (30 minutes to Macon, 45 min to Atlanta) - 5
Nearby amenities (Had to drive 30 minutes to get to anything. The local stores are not good) - 2
Site Privacy (Good spacing on the sites but not a lot of trees/foliage in between) - 3.5
Campground amenities (Average bathrooms, laundry, trash cans easily accessible) - 4
Dog friendly (Dogs allowed on all trails) - 5
Activities (cool hiking around the waterfall but not a lot of trails, kayak rentals, mini golf) - 5
Cost ($35/night for 50 amp/water but no sewer) - 3.5
Staff friendliness (Incredibly friendly staff. Camp hosts were always available and rangers also present) - 5
Connectivity (Good signal IF you have a booster. No ATT signal w/out booster) - 4
Total rating = 4.10