Schwartz Park (COE) - Cottage Grove OR

RATING: ♦♦♦♦

• Dates: Jun 17, 2019 – Jun 24, 2019
• Length of stay: 7 nights.
• Cost per night: $10 with 50% discount.
• Discount: National Parks Senior Pass.
• Hookups: There are no hookups, but a dump station is provided.
• Site number/quality: #27. Our site was paved, very wide, and fairly level, with a nice picnic table. We had no shade trees on our site, but some nearby tall trees gave us plenty of shade in the afternoon.
• Park Quality: Schwartz Park is located on the Row River, just below the Dorena Dam and Lake. The campground is surrounded by a pleasant mix of marshland, forests, and grasslands. Having no hookups is not much of an issue for us. Our on-board tanks allow us to easily survive for a week with no water or sewer hookups. And our upgraded electrical system, which includes a 200 watt Renogy portable solar panel, two 100 amp hour Battle Born lithium batteries, and a 55 amp PowerMax charger, kept us amply powered up. We only needed to run the generator for a total of 90 minutes for the whole week. Most days we didn’t run it at all. But some campers ran their generators all day, which can be noisy. Fortunately, none of them camped near us.
• Access: About 5 miles off I-5 near the town of Cottage Grove.
• Connectivity: Verizon-poor, AT&T-poor, and T-Mobile-poor.
• Return yes/no?: Yes, if in the area again.
• Notes: The area is noted for its historic covered bridges. The Cottage Grove Scenic Byway meanders past seven of them. They were built in the 1920s and 30s, and some are still in use.
• Website: Schwartz Park

Gunter Hill Campground (COE) - Montgomery AL

RATING: ♦♦♦♦♦

• Length of stay: 4 days
• Cost of stay: $52
• Discount: National Senior Pass
• Hook ups: 50 Amp Electric, water, and sewer
• Site number/quality: #37, large and level concrete pad, gravel site with large picnic table, view of river thru the trees
• Park quality: really nice park, paved roads in park (good for bike riding and walking), natural setting on the Alabama River. The campground has 142 sites. There are two sections: the Antioch Loop, which is older and has gravel sites without sewer, and the Catoma Loop, which is newly renovated and has concrete pads and sewer. We stayed in the Catoma Loop section.
• Access: Not easy, 11 miles off I-65 & I-85, down county roads and city streets, including a final stretch thru a residential area. Once inside the campground, the roads are fine.
• Connectivity: Strong Cricket/AT&T and T-Mobile, weak Verizon
• Return yes/no?: Yes
• Notes: Park is situated along Catoma Creek where it joins the Alabama River. The R.F. Henry Lock and Dam is a few miles downstream, and backs up the river into a series of small lakes upstream to Montgomery. The river is navigable from Montgomery all the way down to the Gulf of Mexico at Mobile. The park is about 15 minutes from downtown Montgomery. We have driven through Montgomery a couple of times, but this time we decided to explore a bit. The downtown area is nice, especially the Visitor’s Center and adjacent river walk. There is a walking tour that takes you to several sites and museums around downtown, most associated with the civil rights movement. The temperature was in the 90’s during our visit here, too hot to walk. We wanted to take a river cruise, but it was booked up for the next couple of weeks. We also wanted to tour the Hyundai manufacturing facility, but it was booked up for the next couple of months! I (Becky) need to get on the ball and plan a little better. 
• Website: Gunter Hill Campground

Gunter Hill Campground

Eastbank Campground (COE) - Bainbridge GA

RATING: ♦♦♦♦♦

• Length of stay: 4 days
• Cost of stay: $48
• Discount: National Senior Pass
• Hook ups: Electric and water w/dump station
• Site number/quality: #29, large and level concrete pad, gravel site with large picnic table, view of lake and dam (across the street from the site)
• Park quality: very nice small park, paved roads in park (good for bike riding and walking), no swimming pool or recreational amenities, natural setting on Lake Seminole, beautiful natural setting with great sunsets
• Access: Easy, off U.S. 90, 1.5 miles north of Chattahoochee FL
• Connectivity: Strong Cricket/AT&T, weak Verizon, and no T-Mobile
• Return yes/no?: Yes
• Notes: Park is situated along Lake Seminole, which is a man-made reservoir impounding the Flint and Chattahoochee Rivers for 35 miles. The park is actually in Georgia, just across the state line from Florida. It was hard to keep track of the time because FL is in the Eastern time zone and Georgia is in Central. Whenever we left the park, we would be in Eastern time, and when we got back, we’d be in Central. Another challenge was the sugar ants. The park ranger warned us about them, and she wasn’t kidding. But all-in-all, it was a fun stay. We met up with a couple that we had camped next to at Stephen Foster State Park and hung out with them quite a lot. We went to dinner with them at a quirky little gourmet restaurant, Rutabaga Cafe. 
• Website: Eastbank Campground

Eastbank Campground