R. Shaefer Heard COE Campground - West Point, Georgia (November 2023)

One of our goals is to never arrive at home after a Rosie adventure late in the day. (Rosie is the name of our Airstream trailer.) Since we cannot store Rosie at home, we have to empty and clean Rosie before taking it back to the storage facility.

Rosie parked while we were checking in

Having said that, this is the second time we camped there because it allowed us to reach home early the next morning, which is a shame because this should be a destination type park. It has great bike trails and many waterfront sites. 

Similar to the previous campground we stayed in, the lake levels here were very low. Some fingers of the lake were mostly dry. Our site backed up to the lake, but the water was about 50 feet farther away than normal. 

Rosie parked at our camping site

The temperature dropped below freezing two nights while we were in this campground. It was good that some fellow Airstreamers shared “cold weather protocols” with us a while back while camping during November in Ohio. Rosie’s heat pumps were able to keep us warm until the outside temperature reached about 35 degrees. When the heat pumps gave up, the furnace kicked in and kept everything cozy. 

Morning "haze" on the lake seen from Rosie's window

Morning sun shining on the lake

It is always interesting how most campgrounds change over the weekend. The campground appeared to be about half full during the week. Things changed Friday afternoon as the “weekenders” started showing up. According to the camp hosts, there were only three empty sites over the weekend and they were no-shows. Suddenly, our loop was noisy and smoky as all weekenders seemed to want a fire. As quickly as they arrived, the weekenders left Sunday morning and our loop returned to being a quiet place to camp. By Sunday evening, our loop was half full with new adventure seekers. 

View from Rosie's rear window

Sunset over the lake

We were the only people riding bicycles around the park during the week. As expected, the e-bikers were riding around during the weekend. For the first time, we had to dodge e-scooters. 

We saw several deer in the park before the weekenders showed up. We also saw a bald eagle fly over Rosie one afternoon. 

Here are some specifics about this campground:

• There were multiple loops in the campground
• Our site was a back in. It had a steep access slope, but the parking pad for Rosie was level 
• Our site had shade
• Most sites had some space on both sides
• Our site was paved with asphalt and we needed to use leveling tools to correct a side-to-side lean in Rosie
• Our site had 20, 30 and 50 amp electrical service 
• Our site had a water connection
• Our site did not have a sewer connection 
• There was a dump station in this park 
• There were several trash dumpsters in this campground. The one closest to our site was a long walk away
• There were multiple heated bathhouses in the campground 
• The park did not provide WiFi service 
• AT&T provided 3 bars of 5G voice and data service over our campsite 
• We were able to watch ABC, CBS, FOX and PBS using Rosie’s TV antenna. Digital channels seen were Circle, Comet, Dabl, H&I, ION, LAFF, ME-TV and Rewind 
• There were restaurants and shopping within 10 miles of the campground 
• This was a pet friendly park 

Water was low in the lake

Rosie in the campground

Suzy waiting to go on a walk

Part of the dry lakebed

Our site was on the lake

Inside Rosie

R. Shaefer Heard COE Campground, West Point, Georgia (May 2023)

We knew that our trip home from the Blue Ridge area would be difficult because we had to pull Rosie, our Airstream trailer, through Atlanta and there is no optimum time to to travel Atlanta's roads. Both Google and Apple Maps were optimistic and suggested that traffic flowed without problems through Atlanta. We knew how quickly that could change and become a nightmare forcing us to arrive home too late in the day. We decided we needed to stop for the night after passing through Atlanta and made reservations at R. Shaefer Heard Corps of Engineers (COE) Campground.

We thanked the volunteers for their service as we checked in. Three COE campgrounds were closed for this year because there were too few volunteers to operate them. We were glad that this park was open.

Sign at the entrance to the campground

Rosie's site in the campground

Most campsites in this park were large with generous spaces between campers. That wasn't true for our site. It was in a cul de sac and our neighbors were very close to Rosie, our Airstream trailer's name. We decided that we would stay in an another loop if we return to this campground.

It was ironic that a neighbor told us how much they liked out site and they frequently camped in it. Then they told us about another nearby campground that they loved and suggested we make reservations there next time. We were not sure they were being helpful or attempting to lessen the competition for our site in the future. 

We noticed another problem with our cul de sac while unhitching Rosie from our truck. There was a large patch of Poison Ivy behind our site. We had to be very careful to avoid that area and didn't come down with a Poison Ivy rash.

On the positive side, we had a waterfront site and we quickly summed up that this was a great park for riding our bikes and for using our inflatable kayak. We intended to use our kayak earlier on this trip, but the rain and temperatures kept us from doing so. The weather was perfect here so we excitedly inflated our tandem kayak and enjoyed exploring the lake. We probably spent an hour on the lake and ended up going to the other side of the lake during our first kayak ride.

Ready to put the kayak in the lake

On the lake in our tandem inflatable kayak

When we came ashore, we let out about half of the air in the kayak so that the hot sun would not cause it to expand and create any problems. 

Partly deflated kayak to protect the seams

We decided to go for another kayak trip the next morning. I quickly pumped air into the kayak and we carried it down to the shore. As soon as we got in the kayak, we noticed a problem. We were getting wet and the amount of water inside the kayak was increasing at an alarming rate. We were sinking! 

We quickly returned to shore and found the trouble as soon as we picked up the kayak to remove it from the water. The glued-on seams around the bottom of the kayak had separated meaning the bottom of the kayak was no longer attached to the side walls. The kayak was going on 10 years old and the glue used at the factory finally stopped working. 

The seams split beyond what could be repaired

This wasn't a case of a few gaps in the kayak's seams. The entire bottom of the kayak was unglued and several other seams on the top side of the kayak were also starting to come apart. We knew immediately that our kayak was unsalvageable and we had enjoyed our last ride in it. 

We were glad that if one of our "toys" had to irreparably break at this campground, it was our kayak and not our bikes as we continued to enjoy riding our bikes around this campground. 

Ready to ride our bikes in the campground

We never knew the correct time while camping at this park. Our site was on the Eastern Time side of the lake. The other side was in the Central Time zone. Our iPhones and Apple Watches were constantly confused and kept flipping back-and-forth between the two time zones. It became a running joke because our electronic devices never agreed with each other.

The restrooms were old but well maintained. Not all of the restrooms had shower facilities and some were long walks from campsites. 

We made reservations here to help us decompress after driving through Atlanta and to position ourselves to arrive home after this camping trip to be able to clean up Rosie early in the day. We enjoyed our visit to the park and accomplished our goals while camping there.

Here are some specifics about this campground:

• There were multiple loops in the campground
• Our site was a back in
• Our site had shade
• Most sites had some space on both sides
• Our site was paved with asphalt and we needed to use leveling tools to correct a side-to-side lean in Rosie
• Our site had 20, 30 and 50 amp electrical service 
• Our site had a water connection
• Our site did not have a sewer connection 
• There was a dump station in this park
• There were several trash dumpsters located around the campground. It was a long walk to the closest dumpster near our site 
• There were multiple bathhouses in the campground 
• The park did not provide WiFi service 
• AT&T provided 2 bars of 5G voice and data service over our campsite 
• We were able to watch only ABC using Rosie’s TV antenna. Digital channel seen was Retro
• There were restaurants and shopping nearby
• This was a pet friendly park 

Along the lake

Rosie at daybreak

At the "dump" station

Leaving the campground

R. Shaefer Heard Campground, West Point Lake, Georgia

There are several Army Corp of Engineer parks around West Point Lake in Georgia and we decided that it was time for Rosie, our Airstream camper, to see if these parks measure up to what fellow campers said about them.
We had other reasons for wanting to try one of these parks. Becky wanted to invite her brother to join us for a couple of days and the West Point Lake parks were convenient for him to visit us.

R. Shaefer Heard COE Park

We decided to stay at the R. Shaefer Heard Campground because of its location. It was close to I-85 and easy to find.
Similar to many other U.S. Army Corp of Engineer facililties in that region, the main feature of this park is a large lake. Many of the campsites in this park are on the water and offer great views.

Camping at R. Shaefer Heard

What we didn't know heading into this park was the decent in the approach leading to many of the campsites. Our specific campsite had a grade that made unhitching and hitching a challenge. I will talk more about that later.
The park is well maintained and there is much appreciated space between sites. Some parks seem to cram sites right next to each other. It is always nice when there is room between your camper and the ones next to you.

The restrooms were clean and well-maintained and centrally located in the camping loops. Showers were not located in all of the restrooms and most people ended up having to drive to the showers.
It rained during the week we stayed in this park. It rained in the mornings, afternoons and evenings. I guess you can sum up the week by saying it rained. During the few breaks, we enjoyed going out in Becky's brother's boat.
Here are some specifics about this park:

• This is a campsite that you have to pay attention to the maximum rig size for each site. Some of the sites in this park would struggle to accomodate Rosie, our 25 foot long trailer.
• Sites have water and electrical connections. There is a dump station in the park. We had to haul our sewer tote to the dump site several times while staying in this park.
• The electrical connections included 20, 30 and 50 amp service.
• AT&T provided marginal 3G and 4G service. There were times during the day that we could not make cell phone calls from this park.
• Television service was spotty. I thought we would have good service from the Columbus, Georigia market. Don't forget to pack a good supply of movies to watch while staying here because over-the-air TV is unreliable.

I mentioned earlier that our site had a steep grade to it. While it probably was easy for 5th-wheels to negotiate, it presented a challenge for Rosie when we first parked. This issue came back when it was time to leave.
The angle was such that we could not connect the weight distribution bars on our hitch. We had to couple the ball then pull Rosie up to the road and finish hitching up there. That was a first for us.
It seems that we always learn something on every camping trip and our lesson on this trip was to pay attention to the grade accessing the campsite. If it is too steep, we need to change sites.