Bald Ridge Campground,  Georgia Campgrounds,  Lake Lanier Campgrounds

Bald Ridge Campground – 31 & 30

07.02.20-07.05.20 site-30-water-access-bald-ridge-campground

The best sites for a holiday weekend have to be booked 6 months in advance, sometimes to the minute.bald-ridge-campground-lake-lanier-cove

We scored site 31 for the 4th of July weekend. Seems like we are living at Bald Ridge Campground almost every weekend, but this is the last one we have booked for the summer.

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Site 31 is in the loop past the beach. The driveway is long enough to fit three vehicles and our trailer. Thankfully the water and electric hook up sit further off the site than the other sites we reserved in the past (48 & 53).

The trees in this site provide a decent amount of shade for majority of the day. We did use our shade tent over the picnic table and did not put out our awning. I love how they built the site pad around the trees, it makes you feel like you are in the middle of the woods—not 10 minutes from downtown Cumming.

Site 31 does have access to the water, however it is down a hill. At the bottom of the hill you have to navigate around a fallen tree and not slip on the mud to get in. Once in the water it’s a great place to swim, though the sites next to us—closer to the beach—have better access.

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Our site sat a good distance from the road, making it private, though site 30 could see directly into our outdoor living area and vice versa. The people in site 30 were rarely at their site our entire stay and even left early on the 4th.

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The couple on site 30 had reserved the site until Monday the 6th. Because they checked out of the campground, the site became available for the night through recreation.gov (even though the campers had paid for it.) Our family members were coming in that day and we were over our limit of cars allowed in the campground. The one big downfall to Bald Ridge Campground is that they have zero overflow parking. We reserved site 30 for one night to get all of our cars in and used that site to swim all day.

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Site 30 is one of the best sites in the campground. I know I just said that about site 69 in my previous post, but Bald Ridge Campground has a lot of great sites. Site 30 has a long drive and sits farther off the road than our site. The camping pad is large and shaded. Directly off the back of the camper is a trail to a peninsula great for fishing. Opposite the camping pad, behind the camper, is a private cove for swimming. The sandy beach access is great for little kids.

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The only trail in the campground does connect to a smaller trail that leads to this cove and peninsula next to site 30. I think having the lake out our back window would be perfect. Usually we do not lift the shade because we would be looking into someone else’s site. Heather also made the point that you could stop the camper a couple feet short of the end of the driveway (especially since the driveway is so long) to open up that view of the cove to the outdoor living
area.

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The peninsula off site 30 was great for watching the fireworks all over the lake. Thinking about all the sites in the campground, it might have been the best place to watch them. I don’t have any fancy photos of the fireworks, you’ll just have to believe me that we watched them.

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Things we learned:


1. When people walked past site 30 with only my car parked in the driveway, I know exactly what they were thinking. How could someone reserve this awesome site for the holiday weekend and then no-show for the actual 4th of July? They booked the site and didn’t use it. It’s frustrating at times to see this happen, but perhaps something happened in their family or they became ill. The campground received double the money between the two of us.

2. Our surge protector needs to be replaced. It heated up and melted the plastic around the prongs and caused the breaker in the camper to flip. Thankfully there was no damage to the camper. The surge protector is brand new.

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3. We really slacked with the 4th of July decor. I’m going to blame Covid in that we aren’t wandering around Target these days.

6 Comments

  • Debra King

    I really enjoy your pics and post describing the sites and campgrounds in detail. Looks like you had a great 4th. Since I live very close to Lake Lanier I have camped at all the COE parks many times. I really miss Old Federal this season.
    Just camped at Bald Ridge in early June (site13). I agree with your review of site 30, it is the best one. I’ve never been able to reserve it. I will be at Bolding Mill next week and Sawnee in August which are both on Lake Lanier.

    • imaginecamper

      Thank you!! We really enjoyed the weekend. Couldn’t believe the people in site 30 left, but we got to enjoy their site. I had two trips booked for Old Federal this summer one being my birthday. Was super bummed that it closed. We have never been there.
      We enjoyed Bolding Mill and need to check out Sawnee. Happy camping!!

  • Betty

    This looks like a great COE campground! I like how you worded “reserved 6 months in advance and sometimes to the minute.” We love the COE campgrounds. We have visited one at Rend Lake in Illinois a couple of times. It is super nice, and we like that it is only 10 minutes from Benton, Illinois. Thanks for your post, stay safe, and Happy Camping!

  • patricia olczak

    Here it is December 24, Christmas eve 2023 and what happen to the campgrounds? they all UNAVAILABLE? i was able to book 6 months in advance.. well something is going on.. anyone know? Please email me PLEASE

    • ImagineCamper

      Sorry we are just now seeing your comment. Lake Lanier campgrounds are being switched over to county parks. Bald Ridge is not available to book yet for the new season, but should open up soon.

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