Harris Shoals Park — Attraction in Watkinsville

I'm on the fence with this one. Our experiences here have been a combo of great and terrible. This place can be very fun but also dangerous if you have young kids. Amenities and features are two restrooms both with men's and women's sides (the one up the steep hill is air conditioned!), water fountain, large covered picnic shelter, large wooden playground structure for bigger kids and several smaller play structures for smaller kids, asphalt basketball court with 2 hoops, open grassy space by the shelter, bridge, trail, and creek. Lots of FREE parking and the terrain is not excellent but is navigable by wheel chair/stroller.

There's an area where you can get in the water, just be careful because the rocks can be slippery. There is a high drop off all along the edge of the creek by the shelter with no railing. The largest play structure is very fun but poorly constructed, there are a multitude of places where a kid could fall off, no matter their age, and even more places where smaller kids could fall right through the railing, so keep kids under 5 on the smaller structures. It is wooded, so look out for poison ivy--we did not see any on our most recent visit. Kids and adults can lose footing on the steep playground hill that has no handrails at the stairs, so go slowly! The road runs right between the shelter area and the playground, so unchaperoned kids will be running in the road, and it is hard to see them running out from the parked cars. There are handicap accessible swings, including one for a wheelchair, but they are on such a steep incline, I can't tell you whether or not you could actually safely get a wheelchair on it.

The first time we went, my family got eaten alive by mosquitos on the playground, but had a blast in the water. The second time, which was for a large July 4th picnic, there were almost no mosquitos but the lower women's restroom was spouting sewage from the floor drain whenever the toilet was flushed and the toilet was leaking! Thankfully the upper restrooms were in order, but they are up a VERY steep hill and you'd need to pack up and get in your vehicle to ride up there if you can't walk and don't have a rocket-powered wheel chair/stroller. Overall, this can be a very fun place to go, but bring your insect repellant and water shoes, and watch your kids like a hawk. If you found this review helpful, please give it a...

The old wooden playground has been taken down. We loved that one and were so glad it was in the shade. The new one is awesome but straight in the sun and there is limited shaded pavilion seating (or none if being used for an event) right outside fence. I wish there were some shades seating inside playground fence. Besides that it's a very nice new handicap accessible playground. Our kids got so hot they couldn't take it more than about 30 minutes on a humid sunny 80 degree day around 11:30am before they were miserable and asked to leave. I'd recommend going early or later to avoid heat and not weekends if you want to avoid parties taking the only shaded seats. There is a neat little astroturf ( playground has padded turf too) amphitheater that had a soccer goal and soccer ball that was done to kick around with the kids. Bathrooms are inside and air conditioned. There a few tables and chairs on the patio and picnic tables under the pavilion. There is a grill but I don't know if you need permission to...

Definitely a great place to run around, I know for a fact that a lot of kids love playing in the shoals. I recommend bringing a towel as well. However, there is also a baseball field and a pavilion (I recommend using the pavilion for birthday parties). In addition, there are some great running/biking trails. There is also a large wooden playground on site, but it has unfortunately been shut down, I believe permanently (an alternative to this is the ESP playground right above it). Overall, I think this is a great place to have just a day of fun, or a day of relaxation. I hope this review has been helpful to you, and have a great rest...