McKinney Campground – 144 & 145

07.28.22-07.31.22

150 campsites, 10 camping trips, and we have finally stayed in the back of the campground. 

McKinney Campground is located in Acworth, Ga on Lake Allatoona. A Corps of Engineers park, it has 150 RV campsites, two beaches, one playground, and a boat ramp. We have camped at McKinney Campground ten times; it’s 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. 

In October of 2021, our friends rented a camper to stay with us at McKinney Campground for our daughter’s birthday. They rented through RV Share their first time and enjoyed the camper so much they rented directly from the same owner. The family wanted to spend a summer weekend on the lake with us and let us know about five months before the summer.

All of the waterfront campsites on Lake Allatoona need to be reserved when the window opens, six months ahead of time. We were about five months away so there were slim pickings, especially trying to find two sites next to each other. Campsites 144 and 145, located in the back of the campground, were available for the last week of the summer. 

We reserved campsite 144 to begin on Thursday afternoon so that when our friends arrived with their rental Friday we would already be set up and able to help them. Heather and I both worked on Friday, so we dropped our camper off for the evening and went back to our sticks and bricks. It took us about 20 minutes to back our camper into the site and set it up for the night. 

Campsite 144 is a 29-ft. back-in with a water view and path off the back of the site. We were not able to back the camper all the way to the end of the driveway because of the location of the hook-ups compared to our slide. The camping pad was large and the path off the back of the site was doable for a toddler, if holding their hand. 

Off to the left of the camping pad there is a grassy space with four trees that was great for children to play, hanging hammocks, or tying up dogs. This space is off the back of site 145, making it a great buddy site situation for our group. If you did not know the campers in site 145 they might be closer than you would prefer. The driveway is even somewhat shared.

Campsite 145 is a 36-ft back-in site with a water view at the back. The path directly off the back of the campsite was super steep, even for adults. I did notice that between sites 145 and 146 there was another path down to the water much easier to trek. Directly across the lake from campsite 145 is Clark Creek North where we have stayed multiple times.

This part of the campground is nice because the water is not as busy as the front of the campground. It is closer to the beach and playground. Campsites 139-150 are all located in a small loop, but specifically sites 143, 144, and 145 are closer together. If we had not known the other campers in the site next to us we would not want to book this campsite. 

Our friends had a major problem with ants on Sunday and the only reason we did not is because we spray the jacks as part of our setup on Thursday. When we camped on 51 we also had ants inside our camper. While no one wants to deal with it, it is part of camping in the summer. 

Places to eat, drink, have fun:

We do not usually go out to eat while camping on Lake Allatoona because we are so close to home. However, I did want to put together a list of our favorite restaurants, breweries, vineyards, and fun things to do in close proximity.

Things we learned at McKinney Campground:

1. We had hoped that the owner of the camper would have replaced the dump hoses since the last time they rented, but unfortunately they had not. Heather went up to the dump station with them to assist and they used our hoses.