McKinney Campground – 56 & 55

10.13.23-10.15.23

After sixteen camping trips to McKinney Campground COE we finally spent a weekend in a campsite we would NOT want to book again.

McKinney Campground is located in Acworth, Ga on Lake Allatoona. A Bartow County park, it has 150 RV campsites, two beaches, one playground, and a boat ramp. We have camped at McKinney fifteen 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.

The campground was completely booked when we decided we wanted to venture out (close to home) for our first camping trip with a newborn and toddler. We used Wanderinglabs.com to pick up a campsite and maybe sharing the website was a mistake because every time I received an email — someone was faster than us to pick up the cancellation. We stayed positive and managed to grab something a couple days before we left.

Our plan has always been to share all the best tips and tricks when it comes to camping. Our goal has always been to help and encourage others to check out the campgrounds we have enjoyed. Even if that means we miss out on a weekend or the best campsite.

Campsite 56 is a 30ft back-in site at the end of our favorite cove in the campground. We have stayed in campsite 55 previously (details below) and there are plenty of trees between those two sites, providing privacy that we enjoy. Campsite 56 sits off the main road in its own loop with campsite 57.

The problem with site 56 is that the driveway has a steep grade. If you look closely in the photos you’ll see all of the scratches (some deep) on the pavement where people have dragged the bottom of their camper. When our SnapPads started to touch the pavement I immediately had Heather pull forward to reconfigure.

Next to the driveway in site 56 there is gravel laid out that we used to take the camper down the incline. Going down at a different angle and utilizing the gravel allowed us to back down (and out on Sunday) without scraping.

Once we had the camper safely down in campsite 56 we had to back all the way up to where our stairs opened up right before the end of the campsite. This created a slight problem when lowering the back jacks because they were way past the pavement, on the sloped ground. We had a couple of pieces of wood that we used to use before installing the SnapPads. This made for a more rocky stay in the camper, but it was doable.

Off the back of the campsite there are stairs down to a path leading to the end of the cove. The campsite has a great view of the water, but it is so far back in the cove we wouldn’t want to swim here in summer. Algae occurs naturally in all types of water, but certain algae produces toxins that can cause death in dogs. There have been reports of dog deaths at other parts of Lake Allatoona in the past. Our daughter was throwing rocks into the water at the end of the cove and we had to wash her hands multiple times afterward  because of the stench from the rocks. 

This was our first camping trip with the new baby (8 weeks old) but sleeping arrangements were the only thing that we needed to figure out. With our daughter we camped quite a bit during her infant months, so we were used to washing bottles in the camper, baths, and diaper changes.

Our Grand Design Imagine 2150RB has a bedroom with a queen and a living room with a three-seater couch, including a chaise lounge. Our daughter sleeps on the chaise lounge and we had our son in the pack and play. The pack and play at night is up against the oven (until he can stand—then we will have to move it next to the couch.)

Our son napped in the summer infant SwaddleMe By Your Side Comfort Sleeper on our bed for the morning and evening nap. The middle nap of the day we had him in the Comfort Sleeper on the couch while our daughter napped in our bed. This sleeping setup worked great, however when our son is rolling over and not using a swaddle anymore we will not be able to use the sleeper anymore. He will strictly be in the pack and play for naps and bedtime.

Campsite 55 (from August 2018)

We finally reserved the in-laws’ favorite site: number 55 at McKinney Campground. You know when someone has been camping for thirty years and they have a favorite site they ALWAYS book, it has to be good.

The draw to site McKinney Campground 55 is the fact that it is a pull-thru site with a large living space. It would be great for anyone with children or dogs. The site is mostly shaded, making for those hot summer days to not be so miserable. We aren’t usually a fan of the sites that have concrete picnic tables, however the one at this site was in a great spot.To the left of the site there are stairs that take you down to the path leading to the cove. The other big draw is that you can pull your boat right up in front of the site. The majority of the sites around 55 would be great for pulling up a boat. I also liked the site next to us, 54. It had a yard space on the way down to the water that would be great for kids to throw a ball back and forth.

One aspect of site 55 that I did not care for, but is not a make or break it– the site sits deep in the cove. The water does have a lot of movement from the busy part of the lake. Recently there have been incidents of blue-green algae making dogs sick, therefore we did not let ours swim this weekend. The locations of the dogs getting sick are in stagnant water, which we did not have in this cove. I think they would have been fine. We had also just spent a lot of time and effort bathing them, another reason they just stayed in the camper.

Reserving a McKinney Campground Campsite

McKinney has been run be the Corps of Engineers during all of our stays from 2017-2023. In 2024 they have handed over control to Bartow County. You can make a reservation for McKinney Campground here.