Franklin D. Roosevelt State Park

It’s been a while since our last post which means we have not been camping and that is so sad. Heather had a career change and now starting to get in the new groove of things. So to show ourselves that life is still good, the last week of April, we decided to go camping at Franklin D. Roosevelt State Park, in Pine Mountain Georgia. In Georgia when we think of the mountains we instinctively think north, such as the Blue Ridge Mountains that ranging to 4784 feet above sea level or Black Rock Mountain which is 3640 feet, but not central Georgia.  The highest elevation in this park is Dowdell’s Knob and it is only 1395 feet. However, the scenic vistas are breath taking and I see why President Roosevelt liked to have his family picnics there.

Dowdell's Knob Overlook

 This park was built by the CCC boy’s and they did an outstanding job. The rock cabins and ranger station are beautiful. This is the largest state park in the state and has over 40 miles of hiking trails. Unfortunately none of the trails are handicap accessible.

The Delanor Lake is located in the park and we camped next to it.  They just stocked the pond the week before we arrived and people where catching catfish like crazy. That is to say everyone except us. We fished in the cove at our campsite and we dubbed this cove “Turtle Cove” because the moment your bait hit you caught a turtle. In the camping area there were a couple of covered pavilions.  This worked out great for the one set of tent campers. It rained one night so hard that you could not hear yourself think and our camper was in standing water, so those tent campers moved their dome tent underneath a pavilion and stuck it out like campers do.

Weather Conditions:  Mid 70’s

Light/Noise: Stars are bright and was pleasant listing to the crickets and the owls. The frogs are not so pleasant especially at 3 am and if you are near the water you have frogs.

Phone/TV/Radio: Good

Elevation/Landscape/ Terrain: Elevations up to 1395 feet, lots of hills throughout the park; camping area had a few small hills

Comfort Stations: Very clean, not only did they have soap but also had paper towels

Accessibility: Yes

Dog Friendly: Yes, everything except the buildings

Wild Life:  This is a new category for us. We added it because the wild life was so evident. We saw several wild turkeys. The squirrels are just plumb crazy they will steal your food while you are looking and I promise they are strategizing on how to over throw you while you are eating. Tons of turtles and snakes (We have never seen so many snakes while camping). There where geese and ducks that had a daily flight schedule and they would land right in front of our camper. We even saw a couple of Fox Squirrels (aka Sherman/ Raccoon Squirrels).

Comments: The Park Rangers were very helpful and kind. They were knowledgeable about the area and were able to direct us to a handicapped accessible trail in Hamilton, called the Carol Silver Memorial Trail. The first part of the trail was two miles and it was not a loop trail. The second part we were told is a five mile trail. We also stopped one of the rangers to ask about the snakes we had seen.  He identified all of them. He did not even need to see the pictures to tell us what they were, Eastern Garter and a Red Belly Water Snake.

Hiking/Walking: Even though none of the hiking trails were handicap accessible, there is plenty of walking around the camp area and the lake.

Our Opinion: This is a great park to experience and if you are able to and like hiking, this is a must see park. This was our first time to this park and we defiantly will visit again.

Site Description: Flat and spacious site that is located in a cove

Favorite Site: 205 The park only had a couple of site that we would stay away from in area #1, #2, #3 #5. In area #1 we would leave the site in the center alone. Area #4 is closed and looks like it has been and will be for a long time. Area #6 is mostly for tents and needs a little TLC.

"Cass" There she is.