RVing State Parks Near Atlanta

Editor’s Note: Our travel writer Jen F. recently explored some state parks near Atlanta in an RV rental. Here is her story…..

I love to travel and while it is easy to reserve a hotel room to use as a home base for my vacation, I oftentimes choose to do something different. Instead of a hotel room, I like to sleep in the vehicle that I am traveling in, so that I do not need to worry about lugging my suitcase around or switching hotel rooms as I move from one destination to another.

Now before you all think that I am sleeping in the back seat of my car, I want to let you know that that couldn’t be farther from the truth! I rented an RV in Atlanta for my trips through Go RV Rentals, so that I have plenty of space to move around and a place to prepare my meals. My rented RV can take me almost anywhere that I want to go, and once I load all my things into it, I am ready for anything!

For this trip, I am planning to rent an RV and visit five of the state parks near Atlanta, Georgia. It took me a little bit to narrow it down to these five and then a few minutes to determine in what order I was going to stop at them all. I decided that I would go to the one in the middle of the state first before working my way south, west, and then back to the north. I will be making a nice box shape within the state, and while this may not be interesting to you, I thought that it was pretty neat that I could do it this way!

Once I loaded all my belongings into the Atlanta RV rental and got it all stocked with food, I started out with Fort Yargo State Park as my destination. This park can be found between Atlanta and Athens, and it is best known for the 1792 log fort that people built to protect themselves from the Creek and Cherokee Indians.

And in case you were wondering, yes, that was my first stop once I had checked in and had my RV hooked up at my site. That process was super easy, by the way, because I had made all my camping reservations online. Therefore, everything was ready for me as soon as I arrived. The hookup process gets easier the more I do it as well, and while it has always been quicker than getting everything set up inside a hotel, I am still amazed at how quickly I can start my vacation.

As I said, I began my journey by walking over to the log fort and then I ventured over to the lake and the beach. It was later in the day, so I knew I wouldn’t have much daylight to explore too much. After my little journey of getting the lay of the land, I went back to my camper rental to make some dinner and eat outside with the views of nature.

Now, I can’t do perfect gourmet meals in my RV, nor do I want to while on vacation, but I have found so many things that I can make easily in that kitchen. My meals are always tasty although it might be the fresh air coming in through the windows and all the exercise I get as I am exploring that make everything taste better.

After a good night’s sleep, falling asleep to the sounds of nature, I woke up refreshed and ready to go the following morning. I grabbed my bike and headed out along the twenty plus miles of trails. I spent a good part of my day biking before heading to the beach for a swim and some time on the sand relaxing. Before I went back to my RV to make dinner, I joined a group of people who were playing a rousing game of disc golf. That is a fun game and I stayed much longer than I had planned on, but it was nice to meet some new friends.

The next morning, I began my drive to Hard Labor Creek, which is between Madison and Covington. I wanted to get there quickly, because I had reserved a tee time on their famous golf course. I didn’t have any golf clubs with me, because I don’t really play golf too often and I don’t own any. However, they rent out clubs as well as golf carts, so there wasn’t an issue at all. I almost gave up after the first hole, because I guess it is the most difficult one out of the eighteen, but I persevered. While I won’t embarrass myself too much by giving you my score, I survived.

The next couple of days were filled with horseback rides, hiking, kayaking, biking, and swimming. I had purchased a kayak before this trip and packed it inside the RV next to my bike, so I didn’t have to worry about renting one during this trip. The next park on my list was the Chattahoochee Bend State Park, which as you may have guessed is on the bend of the beautiful Chattahoochee River. This is one of the largest state parks in Georgia and as soon as I arrived, I grabbed my camera for some pictures.

Don’t worry, I did capture some pictures of my adventures in the first two parks as well!

As I took pictures, I walked along the six miles of trails that went through the woods. My favorite area to snap a few shots was the observation platform, because it had magnificent views of both the river and the forest.

I spent a lot of time at this park down by the lake and on the water in my kayak. I did take it easier in the evenings while I was here and instead of going out to see more of the park, I spent most of that time sitting outside my RV while reading a book.

My trip was more than halfway over when I left Chattahoochee Bend and I was excited to see what Sweetwater Creek would offer. My journey to Sweetwater Creek had me traveling back north towards the city of Atlanta. In fact, I could spend a lot of my time in the downtown area there if I wanted to, because it was so close to the park.

I wasn’t there for the city though, as I wanted to see the Civil War ruins and the rest of the history that this park offered. My first stop was the ruins of the New Manchester Manufacturing Company, which was a textile mill that was destroyed during the Civil War. It was a fascinating site, but nothing could compare to the views that I saw after I climbed the trail to the rocky bluffs. I wish that I could have taken my RV up to that spot, because the views of the rapids below would have been nice to see as soon as I woke up in the morning.

I only spent one night in this park, as there was no beach and I couldn’t swim in the water either. I might end up going back there again though, because it was better than I thought that it would be. I reluctantly went to my last stop of Red Top Mountain State Park, and I say reluctantly because I knew that it was almost the end of my time away.

This park has a massive, and I mean super massive, lake called Lake Allatoona. It is twelve thousand acres and I went swimming and kayaking there. In fact, I spent almost every single day on the water. I had planned three days for this park, and I used every second of each one. I spent most of my mornings bike riding and I loved the Iron Hill Trail that is four miles in length. It was the perfect length to get my heart pumping every morning.

I did hike along the fifteen miles of trails and stumbled upon the 1860s homestead during one of my walks. I also made sure that I explored as much of the Allatoona Pass Battlefield as I could, and it was interesting to see all the well-preserved trenches and earthworks that are there. On the last morning of my trip, I made myself a good breakfast while listening to the birds chirping through my open RV windows. I was sad that my trip was ending, but I was happy to be going home with such wonderful memories.

I already had a few ideas going through my head of where I would be heading for my next vacation and you can bet that I’ll be using an RV rental once again for that adventure!

Check out these 5-star rated RV rentals in Atlanta.