SP Campground Review – Crooked River State Park, St. Marys, GA
A gorgeous, peaceful, relaxed, green State Park on the very SE tip of GA. Gateway to Cumberland Island National Seashore.
Link to campground here: Crooked River State Park, GA
Link to map here: Crooked River State Park, GA
- Site Quality = 4/5
Very nice sites here with just a few minor dings. All sites are large, gravel sites (can accommodate up to 50-foot RV’s) with a mix of back-in and very long pull-throughs. Each site has electric/water and all sites are 30A except for a select few (sites 50/54/57/59 and ADA-site 46) which offer 50A . Each site also offers a spacious “sitting area” containing picnic table, fire-pit, and lantern pole. Generally all sites are nice and there is a good separation and a nice selection of trees and shade throughout, but the two sides of the campground do have significantly different feels:- Left-Hand Loop (sites #1-38) – This is the more “open” section of the campground. There are plenty of trees here, but no ground-level vegetation between sites, so there is minimal privacy and you see other RV’s through the tree trunks from your rig. Some of the sites are also less defined here, and separation is not as consistent as the right-hand side. However, most of the sites are nicely separated and a few in the back of the loop (#11,12,14,15) have a slice of water-view out the rear so if you’re looking for that, check those out. All sites on this side are 30A/water.
- Right-Hand Loop (sites #39-62) – This is the more “private” section of the campground. Lots of ground-level vegetation between sites here so sites are very well-defined and there is both excellent separation and excellent privacy throughout. All sites on this side are 30A/water except for a select few (50/54/57/59 and ADA-site 46) which offer 50A/water. This is where we stayed and it was by far our favorite section of the campground.
- NOTE1/ At this park you can book a spot (either a “regular” campsite or an ADA-accessible campsite), but NOT a specific site. So, you simply drive around and chose an open (available) site after you’ve checked in.
- NOTE2/ There are also rentable cottages which are very nice indeed. These are separated from the main campground loop and many have river views.
- Facilities = 4.5/5
Facilities include flush toilets & 2 individual shower stalls. Everything was clean and showers had individual hot/cold water control and nice shower-heads. Only ding? Only one of the showers had a “bench area” for your clothing (the disabled-access shower), whereas the other was rather cramped and did not. Also each facility (one in each loop) offers a single washer & dryer for laundry ($0.75). On-site dump station. - Location = 5/5
You come here to escape into nature and go visit Cumberland Island National Seashore, and for both purposes this is an excellent location. The campground is ~10 miles from Hwy 95 so it is incredibly peaceful and quiet, yet it’s only a short drive into St. Mary’s which offers the ferry to Cumberland Island as well as a cute little town with restaurants, grocery and shopping. At the campground itself there are miles of excellent hiking trails, a lovely river (Crooked River), boat launch, miniature golf (yes really), plenty of picnic areas and fishing. It’s the perfect place to veg and enjoy nature. - Pet Friendliness = 5/5
Great place for doggie. Lots of space in camp, plus miles of nature trails to hike. There is also river access for doggie to dip paws into the water. Only word of warning? Watch out for ticks in summer season (main trails are fine, but the woods do have them).
Overall Rating = 4.6
BONUS ALERT = Camp in green and quiet by a lovely Crooked River!
Video Overview: Want to see it in living color? Check out our ~15 min video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Deot9kwvJcw
Summary: We’ve always heard great things about GA State Parks, and Crooked River definitely delivered on that promise. It’s a wonderfully peaceful, green State Park at the very south-end tip of GA. It’s in a great location right by Crooked River in a forested, green area only a short drive to St.Mary’s which is a cute little town that offers restaurants/groceries/shopping as well as the ferry to Cumberland Island National Seashore. The campground itself is everything you’d want in a State Park. Large, gravel sites with good separation, large “sitting areas” and water/electric hookups (mostly 30A, but a select few do offer 50A). There are 2 loops which differ a bit in feel. The left-hand loop (sites #1-38) is the more “open” section of the campground with lots of trees but little ground-level vegetation so only moderate privacy. Some of the sites on this side (#11,12,14,15) do have water-views out the back though. The right-hand loop (sites #39-62) is the more “private” section of the campground with lots of ground-level vegetation and excellent privacy. This is where we stayed and we loved it! As is typical in GA State Parks you can book a spot, but not a specific site so you simply drive around and choose an available site after check-in/registration. We like this arrangement since it allows us to chose exactly the kind of site we like. In addition the campground offers miles of hiking trails as well as lots of spots to hang in nature (picnic areas, boat launch, fishing) and even a miniature golf course. We loved our stay here so much that we barely left our campsite the entire time we were here. A gorgeous park that we would return to in a heartbeat!
Extra Info: Solid, usable cell signal (3 bars Verizon LTE, 2 bars ATT and T-Mobile Binge-On worked great). Total 62 sites all reservable on-line (you can only reserve a spot, not a specific site). All sites are water/electric only (NO sewer) and cost $32/night. There is an additional $5 GA State Park pass fee for all campers (unless you have the yearly GA pass). On-site dump station.
No one does campground reviews as well as you do! They are excellent! Great information and photos. Well done!
The farthest East we have been camping was by Knoxville TN and we won’t be going any farther East but the Georgia Park you reviewed here sure is lovely.
Thanks for the video! I’ve looked at this campground and park numerous times and pondered a visit. Think we might have to check it out! Don’t know where you’re at tonight, but if you’re anywhere near me in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, you’re in for some COOLER temperatures! It’s almost cold!! I want my warm temps back! It’s rained all week. Been downright dreary! Made for a muddy Derby for sure! Don’t know if you watched it, but I for one wish I had some greenbacks bet on one of those first three ponies that crossed the finish line! Wow! What a Kentucky Derby!
You guys do the most comprehensive reviews of campgrounds that I’ve ever seen. I wonder if you could support yourselves by just doing that alone. I would pay to subscribe and campgrounds would pay to have such complete work done on their behalf. Keep up the great work..very enjoyable and enlightening to see it.
Thanks for the review and great photos. I added it to my Google maps camping places. Can you tell me which screen house you have? I like that you said it is for mosquitos and no-seeums.
We bought the Coleman 15 x 13 Instant Screenhouse. It’s definitely effective against mosquitoes, but the netting isn’t fine enough to keep out noseeums. What we do that helps however, is we spray the netting with Permethrin & then we run our Thermacell (& citronella candles) inside the tent. That seems to mostly do the job.
Nina
Thanks for your answer, Nina. Do you find that the Permethrin causes the bugs to stick and then you need to clean them off periodically? It seems like we used that product (but not sure) on our camp screens in Maine. Also after using for a while, it seemed to cause the flow of air to be less. Maybe I am thinking of another product.
Haven’t encountered that problem yet, but admittedly we haven’t used the screen more than a few months.
Nina
We were there a couple of years ago and agree wholeheartedly with your assessment, it’s a great CG! You did not mention bugs so I’m assuming they were non existent or at least tolerable this time. 🙂
They were fine while we were there, or at least we didn’t notice them too much. There were noseeums around sunset, but otherwise it seemed ok.
Nina
PLUS, you never know who you might run into! Really enjoyed chatting it up, Nina! Safe travels, see you down the road someday!
Totally!!! It was a blast to meet you and have a good chat. Hopefully you’ll get North to that cool weather soon!
Nina
We’ll be there next spring after we leave Florida — thanks so much for your always wonderful campground reviews, Nina.
Oh you’ll love it here! Just your style of campground.
Nina
This is a lovely campground. We stayed last April for several days. Your review describes it perfectly.
We stayed there three years ago for five nights in the second week of April. Absolutely lovely campground but the sites on the right side loop had a mosquito problem to the extent we couldn’t sit outside in the evening without bug spray. The left side loop is more open and might have enough breeze to deter mosquitos. OTH – we revisited later that year in early December and had a wonderful time in the same right side loop.
Oh that’s a VERY good tip and makes perfect sense!! We did feel more breeze on that left-hand side and during high bug times, that would be a definite bonus. Thanks much for sharing that.
Nina
Sure wish all states would do reservations as Georgia does — get a reservation, but not a specific site. It’s so discouraging to pull into a state park on a Sunday evening or early in the week for an extended stay only to see the best sites sit empty all week long because they are “reserved” for the following Friday & Saturday only. What a shame.
I have to admit we like the GA method too. I much prefer looking around camp and deciding which site I might like that day (depending on weather, shade, orientation, mood etc.) rather than trying to book ahead, especially when all the “best” sites often get booked up 6-11 months ahead (as soon as the system opens) and then are not always used, just like you said. The GA method gives me a chance to choose, at least.
Nina
Due to fire and smoke from the active fire in Okefenokee Swamp NWR, we just cancelled reservations at Crooked River SP for next week. I’m disappointed since I, too, have heard so many positive things about this park. FYI, if you don’t already have it, be sure to save the url for InciWeb. It is an interagency all-risk incident information management system that has been a real help with up to the minute information about fires.
https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/
Oh nooooooo! I’m so sorry. And thanks for that link.
Nina
I have heard such great things about this park and I’ve been right by it even recently yet not spent a night at this point. I love when a park has the mix of loops like this. Fort Clinch is one of my favortes and has a similar thing, one loop is beach and the other woods. I’ve stayed at both and they are so different! Crooked River looks spacious either way and those cabins look awesome!
I recently posted about 5 campground shower items. The set ups can be so different and it looks like this campground is one that the over door hook I have would definitely be useful.
I also didn’t realize there were so many trails!
Did you visited the nearby sugar mills ruins while you were in the area?
No we didn’t get a chance to visit anything really. We did one short trip into town, but we enjoyed our site and the campground so much we just stayed there the whole rest of the time we were in the area. When we return we’ll book a longer stay so we can explore more of the surrounding sights.
Nina
We loved staying at Crooked River. We were there Feb 9-16, 2017. Noseeums weren’t a big problem while we were there. Weather was great! We were in site 10, because we could back our 5th wheel in far enough to have a lot of privacy, yet it still felt very open. We will be going back, because we found Jekyll Island, north of the park. We only got to spend one day there, and we could have spent 3 to 5 days there, riding on our bikes, enjoying the beaches and exploring the history of the island more. Finding Jekyll Island was serendipitous!
Jekyll Island is a lovely little spot. You know there’s a campground on the Island too right? We stayed there our first year in the road: https://www.wheelingit.us/2010/11/06/sp-campground-rating-jekyll-island-ga/