If you follow our blog you will know that we planned to spend my birthday enjoying sun, fun and friends in Flagler, Fl. That didn’t work out which left us scrambling for something to do. I should say somewhere to camp. We have been on the impulsive side this year. There were days in the past when you could camp impulsively except on big holidays like Labor Day or 4th of July. Those days my friend are over. Covid and remote work has caused a boom in the camping industry which makes planning a must.
With that being said, We have been very successful at feeding our camping habit on short notice. You just have to be willing to invest time and energy in hunting sites. Settle for a site or two in the bottom third of popularity and be willing to move a time or two.
I don’t want to get off on that tangent right now, but I think I’ll write a post about it in the near future. What I do want to write about is our trip to Fooshee Pass Campground in Ten Mile, TN. That link is to their Facebook page. Reservations can be made here. My posts are not usually as colorful as Cathy’s so if you want the colorful version check out her post. Steak Night at the Driftwood Diner.
I spent some time on Watts Bar Lake last year with friends and I’ve been wanting to camp in the area. Last time I stayed at Euchee Marina & Resort. My dear friend Dana had rented us some floating cabins and one of our party had a super nice pontoon boat. It was a great weekend that Cathy missed. This is relevant because the Euchee Grill & Brewery is located onsite and I’ve talked for almost a year about how good the food was. Let me just say that I recommend both the floating cabins and the restaurant. The restaurant is part of Monkey Town Brewing Company in Dayton, TN.
Cathy had arranged to get off early on Friday so we got on the road as soon as my day had finished and made great time getting to Fooshee Pass. It’s about a 1.25 hr trip. I had scoped our site out on Google Street View but upon arrival it was very steep drop off from front to back and I didn’t really want to deal with that so I called the camp host because there had been several sites available when I booked last minute. They were super helpful and I wish I had gotten their names to give them a shout out. So we left site 19 and moved to site 31. 31 was a great site that didn’t require a lot of leveling but it was not angled for your typical back in. It should have been an easy set up but Cathy and I had a failure to communicate as she put it.
This was the first time she said she needed a shirt about parking the camper damaging our relationship. Again her post is more colorful. I should mention that a cold front came through which made the weekend less enjoyable than it could have been. Add to the cold that she was Hangry from skipping lunch….well she was not happy that it took so long to line up the camper where it needed to be.
So once it was straight and level side to side I suggested she get in the warm truck and I took care of the rest. Euchee Grill & Brewery is only about 8 minutes from Fooshee Pass so we were more than ready for that great meal I had been promising….
Let’s just say some peoples season starts at different times then others and the restaurant has not yet opened for the season. Now by this time is was a few minutes after 8pm which is when local restaurants close in Ten Mile, TN and the surrounding areas. We were fortunate that the Driftwood Diner welcomed us in if we were willing to eat the steak, baked potatoes and green beans they had left which was two servings. I cannot say enough about the owners and the young girls who made up the serving staff. Please stop by and have a meal here if you have the chance and tip these young ladies well.
So I know what you’re saying…Scott what about the campground? I’m going to give you my honest review. Good and bad. The good starts with the camp hosts. They are helpful and attentive. They even brought us our revised passes to the site while I was attempting to setup the camper. Big shout out to the staff. I’ll continue the good with the campgrounds location. It’s not far off the main road through Ten Mile. Pretty much every site has some view of the lake and way more than half the sites are directly on the water. Most of the site are what I would call “roomy”
I would say the bathhouses are well placed, convenient and had a fresh coat of paint inside and out. They had plenty of wood for sale and the price wasn’t bad. I think is was $6 for a larger than usual package. We had our own but I think they deliver it to your site. Please check the website to confirm. They also had ice if you needed it but there was not a camp store or office. The camp hosts 5th wheel was the office. They do have a beach and recreation area on the other side of the slough but we did not explore it.
So let’s talk about the negatives. The power hookups are old and slightly rickety. The water hookups are below ground so be ready to get on your knees and clear debris to connect. The bathhouses while freshly painted were dated and to be honest is some disrepair. This wasn’t an issue for us since we have a full bathroom in the camper. The dump station has two lanes but only one hole. Say what? Makes me wonder about the engineer who designed this. Also the entry side as you exit the campground is to steep and my skid plates drug. I know there are plenty of campers with less clearance than I have.
With that being said I would most certainly camp here again. Especially on the right site. We plan to try some other campgrounds in the area but would not hesitate to stay a Fooshee Pass anytime. Watts Bar is a great lake and there are a lot of good restaurants on the water and accessible by boat. I highly recommend you explore this area but do note that it is fairly rural with a few decent sized towns like Decatur, Spring City and Dayton within about 30 minutes of the campground.
We enjoyed a couple of hours by the campfire on Saturday but it was cold. I did add a new beer to my list. Tiramisu Stout from Untitled Art. This is a tasty, if you like Tiramisu, stout that is slightly sweet and checks in at 8%. I should mention that Fooshee Pass has a strict no alcohol policy as it is TVA property and I believe it is prohibited by federal law.
As is par for the course it warmed up on our departure day on Sunday. We stopped at Countryside Cafe, one of our favorites for lunch on the way home and decided to just go over to Harrison Bay State Park about 8 minutes away and keep camping. Again last minute decision but we ended up with a really nice site for a few days site C-37.
I asked Cathy if she wanted to drive. She pulled our pop up but had not pulled the big camper yet. She did great and we will continue to get her more practice.
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