This weekend we visited a small state park campground and found big bugs and flooded trails. Despite that, we had a great time.
Where We Stayed
Jones Lake State Park is about 30 miles southeast of Fayetteville, NC and one of North Carolina’s oldest state parks. Jones Lake is what is called a Carolina bay. I’m copying the next paragraph from North Carolina State Parks because they explain it best.
“Concentrated in the coastal plain of the southeastern United States is a series of 50,000 elliptical depressions. These depressions are called bays, so named for the sweet bay, loblolly bay and red bay trees found growing around them. Few bays are more than 500 feet in length, but the Jones Lake bay is approximately 8,000 feet long. In the past, nearly all bays contained open water. Today, most bays are filled with we, organic soils and overgrown with swamp-type vegetation. Only a few relict lakes remain.”
There are plenty of recreational opportunities at Jones Lake State Park. There are grills, picnic tables, and picnic shelters. There’s a volleyball net, a sandy beach with a designated swimming area, and hiking and fishing opportunities.
At only 20 campsites, this is the smallest campground we’ve ever camped at. Of those, six sites have water, electric, and sewer hookups. There’s a bathhouse in the middle of the campground loop.
Campground Name | Jones Lake State Park Campground |
Location | Elizabethtown, NC |
Dates | September 27-29, 2024 |
Site Number | Site 6 |
Site Surface | Gravel, almost level |
Hook-ups | Full hookups + 50-amp electric |
Cost | $33 per night |
Water Pressure | 60 psi |
Voltage | 120-125 V |
Verizon Speed Test | Mbps down; Mbps up |
T-Mobile Speed Test | Mbps down; Mbps up |
Campground WiFi | None |
Between the RV and some trees, our site had reasonable afternoon shade. We were a reasonable distance from neighbors.
Jones Lake Campground Travel Tip
When driving to Jones Lake State Park Campground, tell Google Maps to take you to the state park, not the campground.
Technically, there are two entrances to the park. However, one is an after-hours exit for the campground and, as far as we can tell, is closed during the day. We had it set to the campground, and it told us to turn at the second entrance, whose gates happened to be closed at the time. We passed it, found a place to turn around, and finally turned in the main park entrance.
The star on the map below indicates the park entrance. The triangle indicates the after-hours campground entrance.
Some state parks have a booth near the entrance where you check in. Others have a ranger stop by your site shortly after your arrival. Jones Lake showed us there’s a third option. When we arrived, we found a plastic baggie sticking up from the top of the picnic table. Inside, we found a sheet of paper with the campground rules. That was a new one for us!
Hurricane Helene brought a good bit of rain to the area and part of the park and campground were still flooded.
Bugs!
The thing that stood out to us was the bugs here. If you were moving, you were probably ok, but once you stopped, the bugs would practically swarm around you. Any time we had the RV door open to come in or out, bugs got it. Any time you stopped moving, the bugs were there. They were in the dogs’ water bowl in the morning.
We don’t know if the bugs are always like this at this campground or if they were worse because of the storm and the recent rain.
They were all over the side of the RV.
Corona tried to catch them.
Most looked like mosquitoes to me, but we got a good look at a few that made it into the RV and those were much bigger than the mosquitoes I’m used to. (Fork included for scale.)
While walking around the campground, whenever one of the dogs would stop to smell, you could see them all around their face and legs. They don’t show up as well in video as they do in person, but I think you can see them here.
Visitor Center
I enjoy checking out the visitor center at each state park. They’re always different. We also stop by to get a park stamp for our NC State Parks passport. (If you don’t know about the state parks passport, we explain it in this blog post.)
This visitor center has a small exhibit area that provides information about Carolina bays.
Stargazing
Unlike some campgrounds, this one is dark at night. While that makes it tricky taking the dogs out for their list bathroom break before bed, it makes for excellent stargazing. If you enjoy taking pictures of stars, you’re going to want to try that here. I have no skills in that area, but this is what I managed with my phone in night mode.
What We Did
Turnbull Creek Educational State Forest
Turnbull Creek Educational State Forest is just a minute from the park. Quite literally. It’s only 0.7 miles from entrance to entrance. I suppose you could walk it, but not knowing what we’d find when we got there, we opted to drive.
After turning off Sweet Home Church Road, you’ll find the State Forest Office and a parking area.
There is a trail near the building, but it appeared to be flooded, so we kept driving. I recommend looking online at the trail map. We just went driving around the sandy roads to see what we could find.
We stumbled upon the fire control area and explored the various machines. You’re actually allowed to go into the back of the helicopter, so this might be a good place to bring the kids.
My only issue with Turnbull Creek ESF is the hours of operation. From March through the end of October, they don’t open until 11:00 a.m. on weekends. By 11:00, it was already getting warm outside, and this was in late September. Many of the trails (roads?) were open and not very shady. I cannot imagine trying to come here on a weekend in the summer.
If you’re thinking you’ll just visit in November when it’s not as hot outside, think again. From November through the end of February, they’re not open at all on weekends.
Because of this issue with the hours vs. temperature, we didn’t actually hike any of the trails. We drove around the sandy roads a bit and went back to the campground in search of shade.
Jones Lake Trails
There are several trails around the campground. We spent most of our hiking time exploring these.
Unfortunately, there was still a good bit of flooding left from Hurricane Helene. We didn’t want to get our hiking shoes completely soaked, so we skipped the more flooded trails.
There’s a fishing pier, but part of that trail was still flooded too, so we didn’t make it to the actual pier.
A Whole Lot of Nothing
One of the things I like about state park weekends is that they’re usually more relaxing than other trips. Whereas we might dash off to a theme park or zoo after a long walk with the dogs, on state park weekends we usually do a morning hike and then hang out at the campsite.
This weekend, we broke out the Thermacells, unrolled the awning, and relaxed in our camp chairs. It wasn’t too hot in the shade. Aiken is slowly learning to relax when he’s outside at a campsite, and he got more practice this weekend. We are still working on him keeping his cool when a dog passes our site, but he’s pretty good when people or cars go by.
Where We Ate
Christopher’s Steakhouse and Seafood
Christopher’s Steakhouse and Seafood is only a 10-minute drive from the campground. The burgers were delicious. The fries were tasty. Had they been cooked a little longer, they would have been terrific. The food came out quickly and the service was great. We would come back if we’re ever in the area again.
Wildlife
In addition to the crazy mosquitoes, we saw a lot of birds.
In theory, there are fox squirrels in the area, but the only squirrel we saw was a normal eastern gray squirrel. He was very far away,
The most notable wildlife sighting happened on Friday afternoon before we’d even made it to the state park. A pair of wild turkeys ran across the road ahead of us! There were also maybe 10 more on the other side that I couldn’t get a photo of. It’s the most wild turkeys I’m ever seen together.
Happy travels!