Barrow County has Fort Yargo State Park - a wonderful place to hike, bike, relax, kayak and much more - plus you can get a free park pass by going to any PINES library with your library card & check out the pass for free.
Driving to Atlanta from the Outer Banks, NC, we stopped at Fort Yargo State Park to camp for a night. Fort Yargo State Park features a 1792 log fort built by settlers for protection against Creek and Cherokee Indians. The park has great hiking trails, a great campground, a 260-acre lake with a swimming beach, fishing and boat ramps and 18 miles of mountain biking trails. We enjoyed the park's discus golf course -- frisbee time! For a more detailed review of the campground, please see my post on Trailer Traveler: http://trailertraveler.net/listing/fort-yargo-state-park-winder-ga/
Check out the log stockade from late 1700's. The staff is very friendly and will give you a well presented history of the place. Beach is really nice, as is much of the picnic areas. Campgrounds looked to be a little overgrown and overused.
This park is located right in Winder GA. However, once in the park, you'd think you were miles away from any towns. My dogs and I like to walk the trails along the lake enjoying the scenery. There's great picnic grounds, more than one kids' playground, putt putt golf, rental boats, biking and hiking trails (no steep hills) and a historic fort. The campgrounds for RVs is very nice and separated from the day use areas. There are some cabins and the park is adding more. Plus some very nice yurts. Yet, you're not more than 3 miles from a grocery store, fast food and/or a movie theater.
My husband and I took our 2 dogs to this park a few times to walk the trails. This park is very well maintained. My husband has gone mountain biking a few times here and he loves it. We took my dad to this park to play the disc golf course and he loved it so much they went again the next day and did 2 rounds! This place does not seem to get crowded at all which is real nice. Must go to for a good day out. We will camp out at this park a few time as well.
My family of 5 decided to take a last minute trip to Fort Yargo State Park. After nothing but gloomy weather, the upcoming weekend forecast looked great, so we decided to see if there were any yurts available. Luckily, we were able to book Yurt #1 and our friends were able to book Yurt #5, which is directly across the path from Yurt #1. Driving from the metro Atlanta area was super easy. We were delighted that since the yurt had not been rented the previous night, the park allowed us to check in early. Driving through the park to get the the Yurt Village was very beautiful and the kids spied areas that they were anxious to explore. The Yurt Village sits on its own little peninsula w/ gorgeous near-panoramic lake views! We couldn't have been happier w/ Yurt #1, as it was the first yurt from the parking area and therefor also convenient to the bathhouse. There are little carts available for your use to unpack your car and bring your items into the Yurt. This was a nice touch! The yurt was truly amazing and exceeded our expectations! It was very clean with adorable ambiance! There is a fire ring right out front, as well as a porch and a picnic table. There were several trees right next to our yurt where our son hung his ENO. The interior of the yurt has a full over full bunk bed, a full futon, a chair that flattens out to be a small sleeper (perfect for our 3 year old), a coffee table, and a table and chairs. There is electricity in the yurt and lamps. The heat was PERFECT and easy to control. We were not cold at all. The back porch has two adirondack chairs w/ the best view one can imagine! Our boys had a wonderful time fishing off the back of the yurt. The nearby bathhouses were very clean and warm as well. Truly, you can't go wrong w/ any of the yurts. They are all fabulous! If you are going w/ another family, as we did, consider getting yurts across from each other rather than next to each other. The kids had a blast running back and forth from our yurt to our friends'. Our kids brought their bikes and had a great time biking around the paved loop outside of the Yurt Village. They biked to the bathhouse and to the playground. Firewood is for sale right across from the bathhouse, and the camp host nearest to the Yurt Village was INCREDIBLY nice, helpful, and welcoming. We enjoyed meeting him and bought some firewood. We also hiked along the inner loop trail, and rented put-put equipment, which was a bit hit. The historical aspect of the old Fort was enjoyable. We look a moment to check out the beach area and the location where the kayaks, etc are rented. Its lovely! We cannot wait to come back when the weather permits water activities. Speaking of, there is a canoe assigned to each yurt, and can be rented for a small additional daily fee. We would definitely take advantage if this in the summer. Everyone in our group thoroughly enjoyed themselves and cannot wait to come back!
This is a great state park everyone wAs so nice! We bought fishing license at the park lots of good plAces to fish. The new places to camo are so interesting you are on the lake but it's inside a structure deck is on the water. Modern way to camplots of trails for walking or biking.. Many places to have a picnic while the kids play on the playground. Also a beach area for sunning and swimming.
Even though we live in Winder, this is our favorite place to camp. We have a fifth wheel and we have never found a site that was not good to set up on, stay on or enjoy. The camp hosts are always friendly and helpful. The bath houses are always clean. There are many activities to choose from while in the park. It is quiet, well cared for, and close to town. You will want to have an antenna for the summer months as the tree cover is very dense.
Wonderful place to kayak or explore the trails. Awesome dirt bike trails as well. Close to Winder, Georgia.
This is my favorite park for trail running an hiking, I do the trail around the lake which is 7 miles or the 12 mile biking trail. Here is a video a the trail from the last time I was there on 02/11/15http://youtu.be/h_ldgrCjZLo