New to Knoxville

Hey y'all! My husband & I enjoy camping in a pop-up camper with our 2 dogs. We are new campers in the Knoxville area and looking for a few good local campgrounds. I grew up camping in the Chattanooga area. We are thinking of going to the Melton Hill Dam for a long weekend in July. I noticed online they do not take reservations does anyone know how hard it is to get a nice spot near the water? Just curious how early I need to get there to grab a spot for a Friday-Sunday. Thanks in advance!

Welcome to the area and glad you joined us.

I don't know anything about that camping area, but you might want to just give them a call. I am sure they can tell you how hard it is or when you need to get there to get a water front site.

Be sure and take a few pics and post when you get home - let us all know how it was.

If you are available, we are having a fall group camping trip to Panther Creek SP - just above the I-40/I-81 interchange, heading north. Should be about an hour from the Knoxville area. We usually have a blast. There are 9 or 10 already signed up to go, so we should have about 30 people there, including kids.

There is a thread on here about the trip.

Hi! and Welcome!! I have camped a couple times at melton hill and both during summer. Ive had to grab a spot thursday or early friday to get one. Its a very popular camp ground. If I recall correctly there really arent any sites along the water, but lots with views of the lake. Here is a review and discussion on the campground with pictures.

https://volunteercampers.forumotion.net/t510-melton-hill-dam-campground

Again Welcome and hope you can make some of our group campouts, would love to meet you.

Kim

Thanks everyone! We are planning on trying out Hornsby holler next weekend. I read an old thread on here & it looks like most people approved. The pictures on the website look nice. Does anyone know the success rate of calling on a Friday morning to hold spots?