Bledsoe Creek State Park — Attraction in Gallatin

Our group had two primitive sites which gave us plenty of space for 3 tents. Hosts were friendly and greeted us personally shortly after we arrived. Bathrooms were super clean and easy to access.

Unfortunately, we had to cut our stay short because another group in the site next to us was incredibly inconsiderate and outright hostile at times. They arrived at 1:30am, waking us up, and sat outside their tent talking loudly until 3:30am. The next morning, they were up by 8am and immediately started drinking and playing music at an inconsiderate volume. Several times they turned the music down when asked but as the day went on, the music went up (and they played it all day long). It was clear they were there to party but they were unable to do so while still respecting the shared space.

Everyone in our group was miserable. We were going to try to grin and bear it but when our partying neighbors took out and planted their confederate flag and started talking very loudly about the guns they brought with them, it was clear they were trying to antagonize us and they were not going to be reasonable. We decided to cut our trip short and started breaking up the site.

As were we preparing to leave, our hosts came by and we explained we were leaving and why. They responded immediately by talking to the other group, who became hostile and disrespectful to the hosts as well. The hosts called in the park ranger, who is armed, to help address the situation. Both the hosts and the ranger apologized to us for what was happening. As we were leaving, they were in the process of calling the sheriff to deal with our drunk neighbors.

Even though our experience was far from ideal, I appreciated the way our hosts and the ranger handled the situation. I really wish the park had a policy against allowing campers to show up without a reservation at 1am and allow them to stay anyway. And I wish there was more clear and prominent notice of camp quiet hours.

We’ll be back, ultimately, and I would recommend the primitive sites overall. However, if you encounter the same kind of inconsiderate or aggressive campers like we did, notify the hosts right away. Based on our experience they will...

The lake the wildlife was extraordinary but the staff could be more accommodating I've stayed at many state parks the staff here was the least helpful, if you've read my review up to this point then I'll shock you with my final thoughts, we travel as I sd the entire country in a RV we try to stay in state parks to keep the money in our countries nature and natural beauty, but this is one of the most beautiful well kept parks we've stayed in I found other than Paul the staff is not caring or friendly they are cold , we understand that the parks are for all to share but I'm ashamed that of the many many states we've stayed in the state parks in that our home state is the one where we were treated like dollar signs at 997.00 more or less for 28 days without sewer, then you must leave after 3 days we returned but the season has opened and the limit is 14 days but on the last day an hour before check out we were taking first load to new camp and were stopped to make sure we knew we had to leave, we were so well taking care of in Pine Mt. GA. that I may have to learn they are angels, but the hurt that our home state is the first state park we've ran into where the staff in the office could not care any less for the ppl staying there the hosts were nice but as beautiful as the park was the deer all the wild life all it had to offer we will never stay there again , you are just a blank face to them, was there 28 days then bk for 14 and other than the very nice ranger Paul they acted like if I had a question or a comment that they'd like me to go away, we are on the other side of the lake now since they had not one thing they could do to help us while here repairing the fire hydrants in their city, nothing just nope you gotta go, well we are at Shady Cove and I wish we'd been here for past 6 weeks , caring beautiful and friendly folk, not a state park where we prefer to spend all that money butt they say nope gotta go then show up hr early to make sure we are going so I'm done just ashamed that this park offs being ran by ppl that don't love their jobs and ppl aren't more than $$$$$ , and after the season opens they are sure they can keep the places full...

We really enjoyed our 4 day stay here. We lived in this area for approx 10+ years and had hiked the Bledsoe Creek trail several times, but never actually stayed in the campground. We booked site #14 and it was HUGE! We struggle with pull thru's that are parallel to roads sometimes because we are so large and will tail swing in to other sites quite easily if we aren't careful. We had zero issues pulling in and out of site #14 with our 46' rig. Dump station was even able to accommodate us, although, with a power pull right in an awkward position at the pull in, we decided to drive passed the dump station and back in. The trail was easily accessible right from our campsite and there were plenty of water view sites available. This campground can accommodate just about any size rig!

Pro's:

1. Easy access to and from the campground. Roads outside and within the park were easy to handle.
2. Large, dual dump station on site.
3. Main trail easily accessible from just about every campground site.
4. Great fishing off the banks or boats
5. Easy access whether you have a kayak or boat. You can drop in with a kayak or paddle board several places and there is a boat ramp right close to the campground itself.
6. More modern, paved sites, along with more primitive/wooded sites. We saw both RV's, large and small, along with plenty of tent campers.
7. A ton of space between sites!
8. Easy access to the city of Gallatin which has plenty of food options, grocery stores, and shopping. A solid 1 hour or so from Nashville, but doable if you need to get downtown for one reason or another.
9. Ton's of wildlife. From lots of different types of birds, to plenty of deer throughout the campground and park.

Con's:

1. No FHU, which is a bit of bummer for longer stays. Get ready for a honey wagon workout if you stay any longer than just a couple days.
2. Mosquito's can be a bit rough depending on the time of year.
3. Trail and parts of the campground can get quite muddy during and after a rainstorm.
4. A bit on the expensive side for just Electric/Water compared to some other state parks and COE Campgrounds.

Overall, we really enjoyed...