McKinney Campground – 43

04.06.22-04.10.22

Changing your booking to what you would think is a better site in the campground doesn’t always work in your favor.

We booked McKinney Campground in Acworth, GA on Lake Allatoona for Spring Break about four months ahead. The reservations for Corps of Engineer parks opens six months out and many of the sites were already booked. We have camped at McKinney Campground eight times, as it is our go-to campground, nine miles from home. To help you choose your next reservation, details and photos from all of our previous visits can be found in the McKinney Campground category.

Originally we booked site 20, a back-in site that sits high up from the water and looks out over Allatoona Landing Marina. There is nothing wrong with this site, but when 43 came open, I switched our reservation over without cost. Site 20 sits further back from the lake than site 43 and most likely would have been better with the weather we were dealt for Spring Break.

Every site has pros and cons and site 43 is no exception. It’s a 43-foot pull-thru site with a fantastic view of the lake. The camping pad is large and the picnic table can be moved around the site. We had to stop at the beginning of the pull-thru drive due to our large slide in the middle of the camper. There are trees lining the right side of the pull-thru and an electrical line near the hookups that we wanted to avoid getting tangled with the camper.

Site 43 has a great view of the sunset over the lake, but that also means no relief in the late afternoon from the sun. The site sits high up off the water, but there are steps down to a path on the left side. The path is somewhat steep and has a drop off right before the water’s edge. We did not attempt to go down to the water from this site with a toddler. It is doable for older kids and adults, but I’m glad we left the kayaks at home. There is no way we could have gotten the kayaks back up the path when we were finished.

We walked the campground multiple times throughout our stay. From site 43 around past the dump station and back up through the beginning of the campground is a one-mile loop. McKinney Campground has two beaches and the first one is within walking distance in the one-mile loop we walked. The second beach is larger and has a playground above it. We drove over to the playground a couple times for our daughter.

McKinney Campground playground beach view

Site 44 is similar to 43 in that it sits high up off the water and has a great view of the sunset. It has a larger pull-thru and sits more on a peninsula. There are stairs down on the right side, but the path from the stairs seemed to be non-existent. We took a look at site 46 when the people checked out. It is a 46-ft back-in site at the beginning of the cove we like. It had stairs off the back of the site, but again they were not ideal for a toddler.

The weather for the week was colder and windier than we expected for April in Georgia. Almost every day we dealt with 20-mph winds. We spent a lot more time in the camper than we normally do. Has me wanting to paint the walls and change out the faucets. HA! When we wanted to cook outside on the Blackstone we had to set it up behind the camper to block the wind.

Checkout time is 3 p.m. and Sunday was the best weather we experienced in all of our stay so we hung out at the campsite until the last hour. Thankfully the dump station line was not long. It seemed like people checked-out in shifts, which helped prevent a long backup. McKinney has two dump stations together in a line and does not have a hookup for the back flush. This is frustrating to us, especially when we had a clog in our black tank. We filled our bucket four times and I took it inside the camper and dumped it down the drain.