Haypress Campground

I love Haypress Campground. We walked from the Tennessee Valley parking lot to our campsite on a late Thursday after work, pitched our tents, enjoyed dinner, and settled in for the night. The next morning after coffee and breakfast (my favorite time at camp) we packed up and hiked out. The sites are protected from the wind and well-spaced from one another. We each brought about 3 liters of water on a cool (~68 deg F) day and that was sufficient. I would have brought more on a warmer day and/or if we did an extended hike. I highly recommend camping at Haypress!

Love this campsite- so easy and great experience for youngsters hiking to camping out.

very easy walk in, good for families with kids

Lovely! What a beautiful area, and the campground was well maintained.

Nice place to use as a base camp for multi-day day hikes in the area. There is no water supply, so you'll need to bring all that you'll need to the campsite. But, the trailhead parking lot is pretty close...only 0.8 miles away. So, it's relatively easy to go to the car to get more water (or anything else), if you run out.

Cute spot but I wanted to hang a hammock and the trees are in a ditch filled with brambles and poison oak..so I couldn't stay...NOT hammock friendly, at least at this time.

Short hike to get to camp. Each campground has a decent amount of space although there are no trees between them. Bear locker is well placed as is out house toilets.

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The best part of backpacking is that the effort you put into hauling everything on your back and hiking into the forest is rewarded with solitude...but not at Haypress! You will carry everything in to the camp site and arrive in a small field where you can see all of the other campers. What a strange design! All of the annoyances of car camping are present: neighbors slamming the metal food locker doors, bathroom door slamming, and the aforementioned lack of any privacy from other sites. We had a child on a bike with a cowbell roll through, so we had to endure a damn cow bell in the early morning....while "backpacking"!?!? The good thing is that the hike is short, about a mile and it's a flat fire road. So this is a good spot if you're trying to test your gear or your own strength/endurance. Luckily, no one had reserved the group site, because I just can't imagine the noise level if there was an additional party in the camp. Overall, well maintained and the proximity to everything is amazing. Just expect car camping quality. There are far too many people hiking to the small beach nearby, and unfortunately so many people ignore the "no dogs" rule. I watched many off leash dogs poop while the owners were gabbing away, not paying attention. The rangers were giving out tickets, so beware. This is a natural, protected area where wildlife (coyotes!) need habitat, so it makes sense that pets are not allowed. Another dumb person had a drone, which is also not allowed. Basically, this is a beautiful spot that has become overrun by too many inconsiderate humans. But it's definitely pretty, so worth visiting if for nothing else a day hike with views.

great spot with access to tons of hiking trails. Keep your food in the bear box and in some sort of hard case or container because there are lots of raccoons.