LAURA S. WALKER STATE PARK CAMPGROUND Review from the Perspective of a Snowbird

by #Potteronwheels

Rig:  2018 Vista 31BHE Class A Motorhome, No Additional Vehicle

Site: 21 (W/E) - Utilities Placement & Location:  Good / Power: Clean

Check-in: 1PM / Check-out: 12PM

Cell Service on Verizon fluctuated between one and two bars; we were able to boost our signal to excellent using our T-Mobile Home Internet device with our WeBoost antenna system

Nightly Rate (March, 2025):  $29.11/night (includes Senior Discount, taxes and fees)

Laura S. Walker State Park, like so many GA state parks, is beautiful! A campground, a nature trail, rental cottages, well-appointed day use facilities, and a golf course encircle a beautiful lake offering a small swimming area, boating, fishing, and - of course - sunsets.

Staff and volunteers were all super friendly and helpful. The campground office/store sells firewood and some souvenir type items. We enjoyed 8 nights at Laura S. Walker State Park Campground in mid-March, 2025, when the weather was very pleasant. We had comfortably cool evenings and daytime temps reaching up into the 70’s on occasion.  We look forward to returning in the future!

Getting Around:  The campground itself is small. The circumference of the lake is walkable via a combination of road and trail. There are also beautiful walking paths amid the tall pines and saw palmetto located directly across from the campground entrance.

Recreation:  In addition to hiking and bike rentals, the park offers kayak rentals (at the campground gatehouse/office). There is a volleyball net, an outdoor “gym,” a golf course, and I believe a restaurant located at the golf course (although we did not visit). For your pups, there are large pet enclosures for small dogs and for large dogs, where you’ll find tennis balls, tug toys and more. One of the rangers hosted a weekly group campfire in the middle of the campground on Friday nights, complete with s’mores.

The Campground:  The 43-site campsite is situated under beautiful tall pines with an interior and exterior loop. Outer loop sites seemed larger, and the lakefront sites bordered on spacious. Two bath/shower houses are located on the inner loop. One bathroom facility is relatively new, with standard bathroom / shower facilities for men and women. There are no unisex bathroom facilities at this campground. A dump is available at the exit with a turnaround if needed, and the dumpster is conveniently located at the top of the campground area by the dog park. WiFi is offered at the park, but we did not have a need to use it because we use a T-Mobile Hotspot.

Campsites 5, 6 and 8 offer a lovely lakefront view and these sites bordered on spacious; overall, most sites were not as large as other GA state parks we’ve visited. Our campsite was on the outer perimeter, which meant we needed to walk through the accessible campsite to get to the bathroom, or walk to the top of the camping loop and circle back.

Our campsite was a back-in site on an elevated platform filled with sand. While it did get waterlogged with heavy rain, it drained quickly. Water and electric were well placed and the power was clean. Our neighbors were relatively close, but there was some vegetation separating us on the passenger side of our rig, and the sites are staggered on an angle so your neighbor on the driver’s side is situated back further, giving the illusion of more privacy. Our elevated platform was rather small, but we were still able to fit six chairs at the campfire because the table was situated at the outer edge of the platform. We had a “back door” directly to the day use pavilion area, which is also situated under tall pines and was a great place to walk the dogs or stroll down to the lake at sunset.

Laundry is located at each bath house (1 washer/1 dryer each, $3.50 per machine if memory serves. Pay using quarters or online payments via an app ).

Pros:

• The campground offers easy access from Waycross, GA, where you’ll find plenty of shops and restaurants. Kiln-dried campfire wood can be purchased at Rural King for a reasonable price (as opposed to purchasing the pine wood offered at the campground at a higher price).

• Both host couples were very friendly. They obviously took pride in their little slice of heaven, and kept the bathrooms in tip-top shape, raked sites between campers, and were happy to chat and answer questions about the campground and the local area.

• There are limited (but beautiful) walking paths around the lake and across from the park under the tall pines.

Cons:

• The occasional “city” noise from Waycross, including train whistles and sirens, permeates the serenity of the park. For the most part, I noticed these intrusions at night and early in the morning. We heard gunfire from an adjacent property one night as well.

• The bath house toilets are relatively low to the ground (probably to accommodate families with children), so tighten those core muscles before visiting or use the accessible toilet, which is higher.

• The showers are configured strangely, especially the one for persons with disabilities. There was ample room to maneuver, but I’m not sure how you’d keep your dry things from getting wet in the accessible shower. Water pressure for the showers was marginally low, and the water didn’t get as hot as I’d have liked. We were not able to adjust the uncomfortable spray patterns on the nozzles in the non-accessible showers.

OUR RATING & SUMMARY:

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️  + 1/4 ⭐️

We have loved every Georgia State Park we’ve visited thus far, and Laura S. Walker was no exception. Campers, staff and volunteers at the park were super friendly. Sites were adequately spaced, although they felt a bit close compared to other GA State Parks we’ve visited. The bath house facilities were well maintained and clean. The park offers one of the largest off-leash dog areas we’ve seen, separated into a larger space for larger dogs and a smaller space for smaller dogs. We give Laura S. Walker Campground 4 and 1/4 stars; we deducted points for the less than stellar shower experiences, the low toilets and the merely adequate site spacing. We evaluate campgrounds from our unique perspective as active snowbirds who travel with dogs that require exercise but don’t always get along with other dogs (or each other…sigh), so trails are a must,  and deeper sites with a bit more separation from neighbors are ideal. The trails at Laura S. Walker - while somewhat limited for our needs - were beautiful and our dogs didn’t seem to mind returning to previously visited smelling grounds. We made some new friends and great memories at Laura S. Walker, and look forward to camping here again in the future! For us, this is a park that would make a lovely 3 to 5-day stopover between longer stays at parks offering more trails and larger sites.