Migration South Day 22-24 – Blue Springs State Park Alabama

Our last stop before our Florida destination was Blue Springs State Park Mississippi. I was not so happy with this state park. The trip did not begin well. They had only one full service site left and in the process of trying to back up we nearly ended up putting the truck in a huge drainage hole. The roads into the campground were really narrow, so narrow that it was impossible to turn a corner or back in without going off the road. Both sides of the assorted roads also had many heavy duty old fashioned cement lined ditches and culverts. Everything was covered with a thick layer of leaves and pine needles so that I was unable to see that hole until I almost drove into it. it could have been a total disaster and it was only that the truck felt like it was on something strange that made me stop and pull forward while the one tire was still partly supported that saved me. Afterward, viewing this huge square hole with a two metre drop left me shook up thinking of what could have happened. I suspect this near miss coloured my view of the park.

The other thing about the campground was it was really really dark. No sun could get through a solid canopy of trees overhead. This was probably really nice in 100F weather but on a cool day, it left me feeling claustrophobic. After the near miss with the truck, we were able to find an electric/water site with some openness and sunshine. We thought it was a full service site because it had a sewer outlet. When we went to pay the lady told us in a horrified voice that was not a sewer outlet and we could not dump in it. Fortunately we had dumped just before leaving our last place and I had only opened the grey water outlet so we had done no damage. Later walking the park I could see almost all the sites had what appeared to be a sewer outlet that was not a sewer outlet. We also saw that much of the old cement plumbing was being torn out and replaced with something more modern. The over all effect was to leave us feeling this place was dark and dingy. At least the washrooms were clean and the shower water was hot.

The park has two beautiful springs for which it is named. There is a parklike area around them and they empty into two huge pools. The water is a constant 68F (20C) but it felt too cool to swim when the temperature was below that. The water was clear and lovely. The pools were full of small fish. The springs empty into a small river/large creek that meanders off to encircle the campground in a rather pretty way. This redeemed the place but I doubt we will be back.