Your favorite Car camping spot when its hot outside

[highlife]

Since summer is right around the corner what are some of your favorite places to car camp when its hot?

one that comes to mind is Desoto and to go swimming at hippy hollow below little river falls.

[Lesley]

Those of you with kids will love this. I got several from childhood, here are my top three.

Vogel state park, North GA. The water there is always mountain cold.

Same for a place called Sliding Rock. It's literally a smooth rock in the river that you can slide down. It took my breath away as to how cold it was. You couldn't camp near the rock. But I remember there were lots of dense trees that kept the cool mist from the river under the canopy. It was in the Cradle of Forestry, NC. There should be camping around there still.

Anywhere off Lake Lanier in GA.

Keep in mind these are from childhood. Some benefit included accessibility to water spigots for super soaker/water balloon madness when Mom was too busy to let us in the water. And I made friends with the other hot, muggy and dirty kids brought along by insane parents.

Now I'm looking for a quiet place to sit back and nurse a beer...in the water. Super soaker still a possibility.

[Nalgene Ninja]

So far my favorite place to camp when its hot in Alabama is in Ohio! 

Shawnee SP near Portsmouth OH is where we go every other year. Cool naturalist programs, outdoor movies at the campground amphitheatre, a decent lake to swim in and hiking on the NCT.

Still looking for some places in AL, keep'em coming.

[sunshine]

Houston Campground near Double Springs AL has some good summer car camping.  It is one of the least populated of the campgrounds in the Bankhead...proll y cause it doesn't cater to RV camping as much as many other campgrounds.  It doesn't have all the hookups etc. (which is what we like about it).  They have 3 loops to choose from.  The sites are well spaced and many of them are terraced sites.  Pretty good site privacy as well.  There are showers too.  It is so nice after a hot day of camping to rinse off in the shower before heading to the tent for the night. One of the loops has good views and access to Lewis Smith Lake so you can walk right down from your site and take a nice refreshing swim in the lake.  IF you don't get a site with lake access, there is also a nice sandy beach to hang out and go swimming in the lake and they have a boat ramp nearby to take out your canoe or kayak.   

[Joshua Szulecki]

I'm not sure I want to camp in Alabama when it is hot. Sizzle.

I haven't managed to make it up there to camp because of the no-dogs-hiking rule, but I've been eyeing Balsam Mountain CG at GSMNP jealously for a few years now. The Balsams are pretty much my favorite mountains in the world, and that campground is at an ideal spot for hot weather car camping.

[weathermansam]

Oddly enough, Cherokee Rock Village.  Not a drop of water up there, but it's not a far trip to the lake or Yellow Creek Falls from here. 

[PastorLarryT]

Blue Springs AL SP (in the SE part of the state) is a great place to cool off in the refreshing 58 DegF water!!!  We always take all the picnic fixin's as well as a watermelon to leave in the spring until it cools.  They have a beach volleyball area, ample grassy areas to play, covered pavilions, and a small pond to enjoy peddle boats or fish. 

It's mostly a day use park, so those that camp have the park to themselves after gates close.

Blue Springs AL State Park

[Nalgene Ninja]

Oooh, that sounds nice. Especially on these 90deg+ days.

[highlife]

oh man, that does sound good

:copy,pasted:
A clear, cool spring is led into a concrete-sided pool with a natural bottom. This from a visitor in 2007:"The spring area is divided into two sections, the upper & lower sections. The upper section is between 4 to 20ft.deep and the lower section is 3.5ft. to 5ft. deep. There is a nice clean wading area where it flows to the river that is about 2ft. deep for small children." Very nice water and swimming. The spring empties immediately into the Choctawatchee River but there is no apparent swimming place in the river itself. Blue Springs is very similar to some springs in Florida, like DeLeon or Juniper Springs.

[WolfVanZandt]

Chewacla is really nice (if you can ignore the attitudes of some of the staff. If you go, search out the little waterfall on the boundary of the park (it's off the dirt road that circles the park) that offers cool swimming just below the fall and warmer swimming in Chewacla Creek just a little further down.

Not to far from Alabama, one of my favorite summer camping areas is Cochran Mill in Palmetto, Georgia (just east of Atlanta, a surprising island of forest, creeks, waterfalls, and old mill ruins). It's administered by Fulton County Recreation department. Use is free but you have to reserve a spot and the Rec Dept. isn't easy to contact if you're not local, so you need to check it out for day use or start early trying to get their attention.

http://www.n-georgia.com/fulton_co.htm

Has the telephone number.