Vogel State Park — Attraction in Dahlonega

Absolutely beautiful campground and it looks like they're only doing more to improve it. Lots of family friendly activities both on-site and nearby - making this the theoretical ideal place for a family with kiddos to visit the Chattahoochee. That said...this campground, like many campgrounds these days, is a boomers paradise... and with that, we all know what boomers love to do - complain about things that literally don't affect them in any way shape or form. And thats what they did - complain about our dog (who stayed on our tent site at all times) and complain about our OHV that is fully street legal and was only used a small handfull of times to run up to the visitor center for supplies. We are a family that chooses the outdoors and adventure over cruises and Disney and screens, etc. We have five very well-behaved kids - six if you count our loyal and insanely well-behaved retriever. While most of the staff here were friendly, every. single. elderly person glared at our family as we passed by. We weren't loud. we couldn't stay up late even if we wanted to (all the lighter fluid in the world wouldn't keep a fire going with the wet wood they sell you), and we kept our camp site neat and tidy at all times. A lot of our activities were limited by the campgrounds (or state's) "big brother" rules. Our twin 8-year olds have been swimming since they were 2 and yet we weren't allowed to decide as their parents if they were safe enough to paddleboard on the tiny little lake they had WITH LIFE JACKETS ON while we were watching from the dock. NOPE! we were required to be on the water right next to them at all times...stuff like that is just insane guys. Then there were the complaints about the dog- the dog who stayed on our campsite, the dog who was on-leash any time we left our campsite, the dog who couldn't care less about you or your yappy dog because she just wants to hang out with her humans. Yeah...ok.

Positives: beautiful, well-maintained campground. convenient and clean bathroom facilities. Close proximity to Blood Mountain Trailhead where we went hiking. Close proximity to Beasley Knob OHV trails. Cute, family owned grocery nearby and more stores within reasonable distance.

Negatives: over-bearing rules just to CYA (honestly just let people sign release waivers and let them own the risk that they accept), rude/cranky/bored/hateful old people in their RV's with nothing better to do than stare our their RV window and complain about the family trying to enjoy a family vacation with their kids. unable to use puttputt or use lake after 1730 (sun sets at 1900..)

We haven't decided yet if we will be back. We are just a family who loves the outdoors, adventures, and meeting new people. We make friends almost everywhere we go - but the treatment we received while staying her made us and our kids feel very unwelcome. You cant grow in strength, ability, or intellectually if you are constantly being controlled/big brothered, told you're too little, not strong enough, not smart enough.

Sitting outside of your electrically powered, air conditioned RV with utilities and a bed, is not "camping." It is sad that as the people who camp to the campground to use it as it was intended, we were made to feel like a nuisance.

Boomers! This is the heavenly vacation spot for you. Just make sure you don't like...you know.. hike the trails and explore the land while you're here. Might...

This state park has a lot to offer & our family loves the walk ability of this place. I’m going to break it down into the good & negatives we’ve encountered on our 3 night, 4 day camping trip!

Positives: The walkability of this park is phenomenal. We stayed at campsite 10 & it was perfect to walk to putt, the lake or the shop for ice cream. We drove a couple times even to make the walk less for our young kids but you could definitely bring a stroller, bikes ect and have a great time. The view from the lake that you can hike around is just gorgeous. It is so scenic with the new building they just finished and we soaked up the view our whole stay. Picnic table at the campsite was fairly new but filthy. We cleaned it up and it was very nice it was poly and not wood. The rocks were super even for our tent. We enjoyed that very much! We had a little creek next to the park by our campsite and our kids prob played in it 6 hours a day. We had to convince them to go hiking bc they were just in love with it! We put chairs next to it & sat with them for hours while they played. It was such a great time. Putt putt is maintained well. The park rangers we spoke to are very nice & we had an issue with kids where one had to come out. When I called this guy was literally on site within 3 minutes. Was very nice and we appreciated him. Definitely come here during the week bc it’s a lot less busy & laid back. A Kids had a lot of fun at the “beach” & we had to come back a second time. Water seemed clean & sand was in good condition. There’s nice little rocking chairs and benches everywhere. Very well maintained. Just an overall gorgeous park!

Nevatives: The bathroom at our campsite was absolutely moldy/filthy/horrendous. We had to take turns with each of our 3 kids bc we had to have a system down so we could be in there as little as possible. Water pressure is like a drip. It’s the worst bathroom we’ve encountered at a Georgia state park. The drive up the mountain was pretty crazy & if you get motion sickness you better take some serious Dramamine. Our daughter was sick so we had to drive 35 ish the whole way & we got honked & flipped off twice on the way up by locals. We love dogs & have two but we encountered a guy beating his dog with the leash & then I actually got nipped by one when the dog & owner approached us to say hello. We steered clear of any dogs the rest of the trip. The new gift shop opened up our weekend here and we were so disappointed with the merch. We get a fridge magnet at every place we go & they didn’t have one or barely anything. It was bare bone the entire stay. The people checking you out are not very nice either. While on that note they are EXTREMELY strict about kids ages on the water crafts even if you have a lift jacket. You have to be 3+ to even ride on it & pick an allotted

I only docked a star bc of the bathrooms at the campsites area. They were just filthy. But we will still come back bc the rest of the park...

Beautiful Park, nice park staff, helpful park manager but we had to leave 3 days early because of an overly aggressive GA park ranger hassling us for two nights (She showed up promptly after the manager had given us approval for our rig and left for the night at 5:00 PM so we couldn't get help from the office or defend ourselves). We were from out of state visiting friends in the area. The ranger scared us. Believe me when I say this was a bad situation for us driving in mountains hundreds of miles from home having to find another campground in the area with the sun going down.

We came in with an 18 foot Class B and an 8 foot converted Cargo box trailer. We had walked our dogs all over Vogel for 4 days and saw every kind of set up for camping from dual tents to tarps to 40 foot motor homes. We loved the park, the gift shop, the lake. We saw people camping in SUV's and two trucks with pop up tents and a tent on the ground on on the same site. We saw hammocks, cargo conversions - everything. For some unknown reason, the park ranger started bothering us over our cargo trailer.

We are senior campers. Our dogs sleep in the cargo trailer at night when we travel on long trips with it. It's been converted with an AC unit because a B van is cramped. We carry our camping gear, clothing and folding chairs in the 8 foot trailer on trips longer than 2 days because it is very uncomfortable to camp for longer than a couple days in a 17 foot van.

Someone needs to explain to me why our set up was different than any other motor home. A 40 foot motorhome in the summer runs two 5 to 12 thousand BTU air conditioners off a 50 amp connection. We are paying the same nightly rate as that motorhome running 2 air conditioners. The converted cargo trailer policy is unfair, we were not using any more power on our site than a motor home.

Why the ranger picked us to hassle is beyond me but it soured me permanently on GA State Parks. I had just bought a Friends of GA SP membership. It had been our intent to spend a lot more time in Georgia but not anymore. We were also not alone in the problem. The private campground we found in the area had heard others tell stories of trouble over at Vogel.

No one needs to be treated like that. Hundreds of thousands of people across the U.S. are converting cargo trailers because of the extremely high cost of RV's right now. We have camped all over the United States. Vogel is the only park we have ever had this problem.

Please Georgia, for sake of sensibility - fix this...