Bald Ridge Campground – 48

06.11.20-06.14.20

Reasons we love Bald Ridge Campground in Cumming, Georgia on Lake Lanier: Heather grew up going here and has many memories riding her bike around and around the loops as a little kid. Of all the campgrounds on Lake Lanier this one is the closest to our home. Many of the sites at Bald Ridge are shady, but offer waterfront access and views of the many boats going by. We enjoy the location on the lake for that reason. The water is refreshing and inviting to swim in.

Another perk about Bald Ridge campground is the ability to flush your black tank with the campground hose. It will connect to your camper directly from the post, no need to get out your own hose. There is only one dump, but we haven’t had too long of a wait in the past.

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Three years of camping at Bald Ridge Campground and this was the first time I did not care for the site. Was I unhappy with the weekend? No. We had so much fun, but keep in mind we spent our Saturday at our friend’s site–not ours.

From the website and looking at the map I thought that site 48 would have a trail to the water and a view of the front of the cove. The site is across the water from the boat ramp. When we arrived I quickly noticed how overgrown the sites were and our particular trail was covered with ivy and even some poison ivy. At the bottom of the trail, at the water’s edge were downed trees–making it hard to swim there.

Something I have recently noticed about the Bald Ridge sites is that the concrete driveway is fairly narrow compared to other campgrounds. You don’t have a lot of options with getting closer to your campsite pad or further away. This was a problem for us when we wanted to pull our camper all the way to the curb in the back of our site. With the location of our slide and the water/electric hook-up, we were not able to do that. If you remember from our first trip to Bald Ridge in 2017, site 53, we messed up the trim on our camper because of the location of the water post. Also, you are allowed three cars at the site, but we almost could not fit two. I did notice many scratches in the concrete where people’s campers hit when backing in or out. Thankfully ours was just tall enough not to scratch and the campsite was at least level.

Next to us, site 50 had a nice trail to the water and offered more shade than our site. It also was set up the same as 48 and 53, in that we would not have been able to back up to the end of the site.

We did have a view over top of the other sites on the peninsula to the many boats going by on the lake. All of these sites (42, 43, 44, 45) have great water access and are most likely really hard to book, everyone wants them! Our friends picked up site 43 when the campground opened them back up from the flooding, It is a pull-thru site with trees on both sides providing shade. The access to the water could not have been more perfect for little kids. We spent Saturday swimming at their site.

One thing to mention about site 43 is the location of the water and electric hook-up. Our friend pulled his camper up in-between the trees, where he would have the most shade. He pulled too far away from the water and electric posts which were not located on the back side of the camper, but when you walk out the camper door the post was to the right on the living side of the site. Our friend had to borrow our extra water hose to connect his camper.

Site 44 allows for the camper to provide privacy from the road even though it was a back in site. There’s a great spot by the water to set up chairs and swim.

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Between site 44 and site 45 there is a large grassy area and at the end of the peninsula is a large tree, providing tons of shade. Site 45 itself does not have any shade, but the epic view of the water all around your site makes it worth it.

Three years ago Lake Lanier’s water level was low and now it’s a little above normal. Check out these photos that show the difference.

On Thursday when we finally got our camper backed into the site how we wanted we started to set up. Our camper was not connecting to the 30 amp outlet. We noticed that the outlet was melted and thankfully had a 50 amp adapter. This SAME situation happened three years earlier on site 53. We reported the problem to the camp host who then reported it to the work crew. No one ever showed up to fix it. Hopefully after we left on Sunday they came by before the next campers showed up.

We took our kayaks on this trip and I took them to see what the water access of our next two sites at Bald Ridge Campground would be like. I think we will be really happy with them.

Things we learned:

1. Camping with friends is awesome! Two of our good friends bought a camper recently and it was so much fun to go to each other’s sites and visit. Nice thing about camping is that you have your own camper to go back and relax in if needed. Can’t wait for all the adventures camping with them.
2. Photos on the website can’t always be relied on. While I am thankful they provide photos, there’s no telling how old they are. Hopefully my blog has helped many along the way!