Our first trip with the kids was to Red Top Mountain which is about an hour west of where we live. We thought it would be a good idea to stay close to home just in case all hell broke loose. I should mention that this was a technology-free weekend so the kids were not allowed to bring Ipads. Luckily, we all survived and it was a great trip and everyone had a good time.

The Red Top campsite is located right on Lake Allatoona which is a pretty good sized lake near Acworth, GA. Check-in is at the Visitor’s Center. There is no RV or camper parking at the Visitor’s Center so you might have to park at the street. We got there after hours, so our reservation was located in a letter holder up at the front of the Visitor’s Center. The campsite takes reservations but the actual campsite you get is first come first serve. The 20′ lots were indicated with a white post. So, off we went looking for a campsite with a white post. The campground was very crowded (it was a Friday night at about 6 pm) and I honestly think there were probably only 3 spots left. However, we scored a pretty good spot on a dead end street that only had 3 other tent campsites (blue posts). Our camper was perched on a little hill and we had a great view the other campsites and the lake. The tree canopy above was just enough to make the campsite shady throughout the day.

It should be noted that we pull the Mattie Wagon with 5 people and 2 dogs in our 2014 2WD Nissan Pathfinder. It wasn’t as steady towing as the Tacoma but it did the job.

The Campsite

We got spot number 62. The lot has 30/50 amp electrical, water, a 110 outlet, and cable hookup (although the cable wasn’t very good). Each lot has a cement picnic table and fire ring with a grill top. There is no freestanding grill. This site has plenty of trees surrounding making it perfect for hanging hammocks. The size of the lot was large. There was plenty of room for our 16′ camper and a 4 person tent for the kiddos.

The bathroom facilities are about a 1/4 a mile down the road and were old. I wouldn’t call them nice by any means but they did seem to get cleaned regularly. Each bathroom also has 1 single shower. The campground is huge (90+ campsites) and there is another camping section near the dump station that had brand new facilities with a laundry, so depending on where you are located there might be different types of facilities.

There is a small playground and covered picnic area near the bathroom facilities.

The campground had a bit of a ‘tailgating’ vibe to it. There were a lot of cars! The tent campers next to use must have had at least 6 cars parked in the road. When we first got there someone was blaring loud music down near the lake but about 15 minutes later it was gone and we never heard it again. Overall the campground was quiet and the people were very friendly. Lot’s of dogs! You could hear barking in the distance and folks walked around the campground with their pups quite a bit.

Firewood can be bought at the Visitor’s Center during regular business hours for $5 a bundle. We bought 2 bundles and used all of one and 1 log from the other bundle in a single night.

Things We Learned

• The Pathfinder doesn’t have as much power as the Tacoma. Backing Matilda in the spot and over a railroad tie was a challenge. She just didn’t get enough UMPH to but eventually, the camper was in the right place.
• We need a better dog run solution. The campsite was covered in pine tree pods and our dog’s leashes got so sticky and gunked up. The dog run itself works great! We tie a thin rope between two trees and carabiner the dog’s leashes to it so they can free roam a bit. I’ll be looking for a better tie out in the meantime.

Activities

Hammocking

We bought 3 inexpensive hammocks for the kids and this was by far the thing they enjoyed the most. With so many trees on our lot, everyone got to hang their hammocks!

Board Games

We packed a few games, Jenga and Cracker Barrel giant checkers. The kids seemed to enjoy the non-tech entertainment.

Hiking

We did a 5-ish mile hike on Iron Hill Trail. The trail is very well marked, graveled and maintained. There were people jogging and riding bikes on it and it was fairly wide. I would consider this an “easy” hike with almost no hills or climbing. It had beautiful views of the lake almost the entire way. The kids hated it! As a part of camping with told them that it was a requirement to go hiking because it’s something the Scott and I enjoy so much. They were good for maybe the first mile and then the complaining started. We walked so slow that we saw the same people jog or bike past us multiple times! Scott found a “shortcut” that required us to cut across some woods but the kids were thankful and we cut our trip down by about a mile. Admittedly 5 miles might have been ambitious especially for our 6 years old. He was very tired. However, when we asked the kids if they wanted to go camping again they said yes (one said yes if we didn’t have to hike). I’ll just consider it a success…but we’re still going to make them hike!

Water Activities

There is a lake here so activities include swimming, fishing, kayaking, and canoeing. There are boat ramps and docks.