Jones Lake State Park

Great destination! Enjoyed the open trail and peaceful outdoor atmosphere.

Very nice clean Campground with a pretty lake and some hiking trails close to Bladen State Forest.

Great destination! Enjoyed the open trail and peaceful outdoor atmosphere.

This a very nice state park here in southeastern North Carolina near the town of Elizabethtown. We stayed in site #4 which was an electric/water/sewer site. It was long and level and we were able to park both the RV and toad with plenty of room to spare. Hookups are logically placed and well maintained. There is a picnic table, fire ring and lantern pole. It was an easy backin off the road and the 1/2-mile loop is interspersed with the 20 campsites. On the right side of the loop there are several pull throughs; the pads are gravely and ours was almost perfectly level, there are two ADA fully-paved sites right next to the bath/shower house, more about that in a minute. There are a few grassy tent sites on the southside of the loop. It was dry here when we were here, but I doubt there would be any trouble with flooding or impassable road. The entrance is a very well marked turn off from the two-lane SR-242. The entire park is a mixture of Scrub Oaks and Southern Yellow Pine, I think it would be open enough for both solar and satellite feeds and data. Everything is clean and in its place. There are trash can dispersed throughout the loop as well as water spigots. The checkin station is a combo building of auditorium, classroom, display area, office, the building is right inside the gate and all 63ft of us made it around with ease. There is a huge amount of day-use parking. Staff was friendly. In back of the building is the swimming area and boat dock/launch, which we did not utilize. There are tones of picnic tables and plenty of open space for your travel critters. (they just have to be leashed.) The Power: It was right at 121.1vac and a perfect 60hz ours had 50/30/20amp receptacles The Water: had great pressure and is both clear and pleasant to drink (after going through filter) There was plenty of pressure and volume. The Sewer: Standard opening but is a little raised but nothing too dramatic. The Bathhouse: Let me say my wife was impressed and that comes pretty hard to obtain. The men's side was very clean as well and there are plenty of commodes and showers to handle summer time campers. The water and heating are gas fired and one gal told my wife that, "the water takes a short time to get hot." The campground was quiet this second week in December and we shared it with only four other campers. The sky's at night are dark with very little light pollution. The rangers make frequent rounds and everything feels safe and secure. We stayed in a 35' Class-A and would come back again, but bet spots are very hard to get in the peak season.

This is the first park I've been to that I wasn't really happy with. I imagine if I was local to the area and wanted to take out a boat or go for a swim, not so bad. If you want a good hike, go elsewhere. When it’s hot/warm, the bugs are terrible. My family and I literally got chased out of the park when we went in August by bugs. When we went on Thanksgiving morning, the trail between the lakes was well marked and flat, but very little actual lake on the hike. It was boring. This seems like a good place for a big family barbecue or a decent little lake if you live close by, but I wouldn't go out of my way to visit. There's not much to see here.