Hornsby Hollow Campground

Well, we finally made the first trip of the year! Not much to say about the facilities tho.

Good points:
Nice places to camp and most are level.
Area is well groomed and taken care of.
All open sites are on the water and the seasonal sites are on the inside perimiter.
Lots of places to ride bikes and they just opened a new trail.
Will work with you on arranging your site and see that you have everything you need.
Nice play area for the kids.

Bad Points:
They have 99 sites and 50 are seasonal
They only have water and elec. hook ups thruout the park.
The bath houses only have one toilet and one shower each.
The bike trail is new so it will be a few days before he can get gravel on it so its muddy.

The only real problem we had the whole week was with the bath houses. They are clean but extremely small. The shower area is large and the toilet stall is large and both are handicap acessible. We did see a few folks using their hoses to drain grey water out onto the ground.
They have a dump station but apparently some folks still prefer to break the law. I know there is nothing bad in the grey water, but I still don't like the idea of moving into a site and around the corner, it is sopping wet from someone elses water drain out. I guess thats just me.
We will probably go back for some short trips as the campground in general is nice and the folks who run it are nice. I asked the owners about the grey water issues and they were not aware of this. They did ask the campers to not do this as it is against the law, and when one guy failed to stop, they asked him to leave. I thought that was pretty good.

thanks for the report.. I really want to drive down and look at HORNSBY HOLLOW. The bath house issues don't bother me.. I dont use them.. However.. not excited about half the sites being seasonal.

Thanks I would like to camp here, I now have a shower so we should be fine.

hey fisherpal.. can you elaborate a little on the seasonal campers.. and why that is a con. Maybe I am misunderstanding.. Thanks.

Chuck, its nothing bad toward the seasonal campers at all. They have nice places fixed up and they keep it that way. I just like it that when someone who works full time wants to camp they will have a place to go. I talked to the guy that runs the place and he said they were thinking of adding some of the other sites to the seasonal list. If they do this it will take away from the weekenders and folks like me who only get off a weekend a month.
I personally like this campground as the folks are really helpful and friendly and they do their best to accomodate anything you could ask for. I just have a thing for ALL campgrounds that are seasonal... Mainly cause they stay full and leave no room for folks like me to camp...(insert whining icon)

This campground does not take reservations.. BUT they will do this.
If you call the day you plan to arrive, they will tell you what is open and if it is a site that you would like, they will rope the site off for that day. You must pay for that day when you arrive and the site is yours. If you do not arrive by 10 pm then they will let someone else have the site, but the campground gate closes at 10 ..
If something was to come up and you call and cancel the site where they can rent it out, they will be happy to oblige and will help in anyway they can to get you another site if needed.

Like I said, they are really nice folks and I would reccomend the campground to anyone. I would reccomend to go to the campground and do like we did and park and walk thru or drive thru the areas and write down the sites that you can use. That way if you call and they tell you what is available you can agree upon a site and know what you are getting.

We drove up to HORNSBY HOLLOW today and site 29 is a great site. I did not know your friend or we would have stopped and say Hello. But we walked around the campground and marked sites to camp at. We will be going to camp here for sure. The lake was down but the dam will release water through out the year.

We found several sites that we liked so when we call to let them know we are coming, we have sites to request.

I am glad we now have our own shower I will be using it more during this trip.
I will post photos of some sites.

Site 29 is a great site! Like I said they have most of the open sites on the water. Hey Darcamper what did you think of the place over all?

The lake will be down for another week or so. They try to have the lakes full around the first of may.

fisherpal2k wrote:Site 29 is a great site! Like I said they have most of the open sites on the water. Hey Darcamper what did you think of the place over all?

The lake will be down for another week or so. They try to have the lakes full around the first of may.

We really like it, let me say that while we were walking around, I told Dave lets go back to the camper damn we are not camping here. Well it felt like we were already camping now that is what I call a good campground. I can see several of us camping in a roll here, it would be fun. Each site looked great and the little beach and swimming hole, and they keep things looking good and CLEAN...It has a playground with these cool benches. Yes I really like this campground..

What are some of the sites you guys liked best? (site numbers). I think I am gonna drive down one day next week and take a look.

chuck wrote:What are some of the sites you guys liked best? (site numbers). I think I am gonna drive down one day next week and take a look.

We love 29, 46, and 67 prefect.

Sites 15, 18, 19, 21, 26, 28, 29, 31, 46, 48 these are the first loop.
Sites 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 77, 78, 79, 87, 88, 89, 90 are in the second loop. Sites 72, 73, 74, 75, 78, 79 are sloped site going down hill, but there nice sites. These are all by the lake.

The 50 amp sites are 15, 18, 19, 21, 46, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 79

I will agree on the sites she picked! The only thing about some of the sites in the 2nd loop are sloped and if you have a short style camper it would be ok. But if you have a camper over 26ft it would be hard to level it with the slope.

They have 2 swimming areas, one for each side, and it is really nice up there.

The playground is good and has a great view of the lake and also the 2nd loop swin area is sheltered from the wind most of the time.

I went to HORNSBY HOLLOW today..  I really like the CG.. looking forward to camping there soon.

I have a few site pictures posted here: http://www.hometownsitedesign.com/cghornsyhollow.html

Most all of the waterfront sites are nice.. very nice.  Some are better than others.  I would camp in any of the ones I have pictured.. and a few more I didn't photograph.... because people were camping in them..

chuck wrote:HORNSBY HOLLOW.. a nice campground. (back on track)

I agree with you, Chuck nice looking cg. Just where is Ten Mile at?

coolbreeze1 wrote:

chuck wrote:HORNSBY HOLLOW.. a nice campground. (back on track)

I agree with you, Chuck nice looking cg. Just where is Ten Mile at?

Take I-40.. West of Knoxville.. Exit Hiway 58 at Kingston.. then South about 20 miles to Ten Mile. The Campground is right off Hiway 304.. so you have to cut across somewhere between Kingston and Ten Mile. You can take 304 all the way from Kingston.. but it's a winding, slower road.

I prefer to take 58 from Kingston (about 20 miles)
turn tight on Euchee Boat Dock Rd.. go about 3 or 4 miles
turn right on 304
Then Hornsby Hollow is about a half mile on the left.

One other note on HORNSBY HOLLOW.. I noticed a sign.. at the front gate saying that alcoholic beverages are prohibited. I didn't ask the hosts how strict that rule is enforced. Sometimes it's posted so intoxicated persons do not become a problem. I have had rangers at the state parks tell me if your beverage is not out in the open.. and you mind your own business.. they really don't care. However.. the rule is in place, if they need it.

I must admit, the drive down 304 from Kingston is a stunningly beautiful trip, but there are easier ways to get to Hornsby's. Still, it's much easier than the road that leads to Big South Fork NRRA by far.

KralCamper wrote:I must admit, the drive down 304 from Kingston is a stunningly beautiful trip, but there are easier ways to get to Hornsby's. Still, it's much easier than the road that leads to Big South Fork NRRA by far.

I always thought the drive to Big South Fork was very easy

In the last 5 or 6 miles, the drive from I-75 to BSF has several tight switchback turns on some pretty steep hills (mountainsides). I had to drop into 1st gear a few times in the truck to keep things nice and easy both coming from and going to the park and our camper is only 21'. Crawford and Ron took another way out that leads to I-40 through Harriman on 27. The trip that way for us would have taken approx an extra 1/2 hour to 45 min. because of our location in North Knoxville, but this way is a much easier drive and a lot less hilly.

KralCamper wrote:In the last 5 or 6 miles, the drive from I-75 to BSF has several tight switchback turns on some pretty steep hills (mountainsides). I had to drop into 1st gear a few times in the truck to keep things nice and easy both coming from and going to the park and our camper is only 21'. Crawford and Ron took another way out that leads to I-40 through Harriman on 27. The trip that way for us would have taken approx an extra 1/2 hour to 45 min. because of our location in North Knoxville, but this way is a much easier drive and a lot less hilly.

Not sure if I understand where the tough part of the drive was. From I-75 to Onidea is a piece of cake. I don't think I would have taken 27 to Harriman, that's a long and curvy trip

coolbreeze1 wrote:Not sure if I understand where the tough part of the drive was. From I-75 to Onidea is a piece of cake. I don't think I would have taken 27 to Harriman, that's a long and curvy trip

Cool.. A lot of people won't take that route because of the HILL.. I don't have any problems.. because my camper is pretty light and small.. but folks who have bigger, heavier units sometimes are afraid of the 13% grade and switchback curves. I have seen horse trailers (with horses) go up and down.. as well as 35 ft travel trailers..etc. and it isn't a problem. I don't think I would ever go the long way around.. even pulling a bigger camper.

I will admit.. looking in the rear view mirror at your camper is kinda freaky on that hill. In the sharp, steep curves it looks like your camper is being twisted off your hitch. I am sure the hitch and ball get into some positions they wouldn't be in under flat terrain towing.. but it probably looks worse than it really is.

In reality.. going down into the gorge probably requires more driving skill than going up. If you brake properly and use slow and wide turns (if possible).. you should be ok.

By the way.. as Dave mentioned.. the hill and curves are in the last few miles before the campground on Leatherwood Rd.

I would like to go here in June for a few days....Maybe the weekend of June 10th -June 12th

So the roads to hornsby hollow are not hilly and curvy with steep grades? Just want to know because I intend on trying that campground soon . I had heard that BSF is a toughie like straight up so I wont be going there, not in my little nissan 4 banger.

No problem getting to Hornsby Hollow.. pretty much flat ground.. no steep grades.

"quote
So the roads to hornsby hollow are not hilly and curvy with steep grades? Just want to know because I intend on trying that campground soon . I had heard that BSF is a toughie like straight up so I wont be going there, not in my little nissan 4 banger."


If you go to Hornsby Hollow from I-75 at the Sweetwater exit, it is pretty much a flat trip. If you go from I-40 at the Kingston exit you will hit some grades. it will take pretty much the same amount of time either way.