Bandy Creek CG/Big South Fork Nat. River TN

[slowpez]

 
We spent 5 nights at this campground on the Tennessee side of the Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area.  There are four loops, all back in as far as we could tell.  They have a pool and playground with an area for volley ball.  The cost was $20/night for a site with water and electricity.  The bathrooms were clean, the showers hot.  There were double sinks outside each bathroom with a spray attachment for washing dishes.  Most sites were private and well-shaded.  Everything was kept spotless.  The hosts were friendly.  Our only problem was the distance to the bathroom.  It was quite a hike from D-19 and, even though most of the sites were unoccupied, there was no way to take a shortcut through to the bathroom.  This was a minor irritation though.
 Lots of hiking, biking and horse trails in the area.  The nearest grocery/Walmart was in Onieda, TN along with a few restaurants and fast food places.  Nothing fancy.  We were close enough to spend some time at Cumberland Falls, KY.  
 Be aware that the park is huge and part of it is in KY.  The KY side is undeveloped however and the campsites there have no hookups.  No alcohol is allowed on the KY side but is permitted on the TN side.  This whole area is dry by county so purchasing beer, etc. can be a problem.

[brainpause]

 slowpez
We stayed at Bandy Creek with the tpuc.com group in September. Let me just add that this is a wonderful cg. It has one of the cleanest (if not THE cleanest) bathrooms of any public cg we have seen. It approaches most private cg s we have camped at.
 
 The sites are level, large, and grass is well-seated around the sites. But keep your tires on the pavement! They will ask you to move your vehicle, although I don t think anyone minds moving. We saw them ask people to move a vehicle with only one tire on the grass. But they were nice about it.
 
 We hiked the 2.0 mile Angel Falls Trail, which is easy and worth it. This is different from the 2.8 mile Angel Falls Overlook Trail, which is moderate to strenuous. I intend to go back to it though.
 
 Here is an interesting page about the area in .pdf form:
 
 http://www.nps.gov/biso/webgeo.pdf
 
 Enjoy!
 
 Larry

[slowpez]

 slowpez
Brainpause, the hike to Angel Falls Overlook is well worth the effort.  The view is unbelievable.  We also took a trail to Yahoo Falls.  Well, we tried to take it, got off onto a side trail and had the most interesting trip through water, over boulders, etc.  The falls were really pretty but the trip getting there was a hoot.