Ridge Road Campground

06.30.23-07.01.23

When recreation.gov doesn’t have photos of the campsite how likely are you to book?

Ridge Road Campground is located in Appling, GA just 30 miles north of Augusta. The campground is located on J. Strom Thurmond Lake. At 70,000 acres with over 1000 miles of shoreline, it is the largest lake east of the Mississippi River.

The campground has 63 campsites, many of them with water views and access. Ridge Road has a rustic feel with campsites laid on dusty gravel and some requiring fancy negotiation. There is a playground, beach, boat ramp, and fish cleaning station.

Ridge Road Campground is a great stopping point on the way to the beach in SC. Previously we have stayed overnight at Hamilton Branch State Park and Poinsett State Park in SC. We also stopped at Mistletoe State Park in GA on the return trip one year.

We picked the campsite at Ridge Road Campground from someone’s Facebook post—since there are not photos online. Site 51 is a 35-ft. back-in campsite that is level side to side. Since we were only staying one night we kept the truck hooked up to the camper—something we have never done before. It was so nice to not have that extra step in the morning. The campsite had a wooden picnic table, fire pit, and fish-cleaning table/grill table. Heather thought this table was a neat addition to the normal camping pad. From the pad we had a great view of the lake, but sat high up from the shore.

Site 51 has two paths to the water, only one of which gave safe access. From the side of the campsite there’s a path through the woods that leads to a beach shared with campsite 50. This would be a great place to put in kayaks or shore a boat (small pebbles.) Straight ahead of our site is a steep path to a rocky overlook into the water. Water could be accessed from this spot, but it isn’t as safe as the other option.

Ridge Road Campground site 51 path to water

Ridge Road Campground site 51 water access

Differences in this park compared to other Corps of Engineer in Georgia include allowing golf carts at the campground. Each campsite is allowed four vehicles. Check-out time at Ridge Road Campground is 2 p.m. and check-in time is 3 p.m.

The dump station is located in the middle of the campground, right next to the bathhouse. There was a hose so that we were able to back flush our black tank before heading onto our next destination, Huntington Beach State Park.

We walked through the campground checking out the other campsites and took photos of some sites since there is nothing online to go by. Heather and I felt like Ridge Road Campground would be a great go-to campground if we lived close by. Maybe the lack of photos helps with competition for booking the best sites. Locals near Appling are lucky to have this campground option.