Welcome to our (very personal) reviews of the campsites we have visited. If you arrived here from a link on our travel blog, Semi-True Tales of Our Life On the Road, you can click here to read all of our campground reviews.

If you would like to know more about me, or contact us, click on "Who are We?" (to the right). For more information about what you can expect to find in these reviews, click on "About These Reviews". Finally, a note about the photos: hover your cursor over a photo to read the caption, or click the photo to enlarge it.

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

RACCOON VALLEY RV PARK, HEISKELL (KNOXVILLE AREA), TN

Old Section of Raccoon Valley Our Opinion: Neutral.  A friendly, reasonably priced park convenient to Knoxville, in the midst of reconstruction.

Date of Stay: April 16 through 19, 2010.

Weather During Stay:  Sunny, mild spring weather until the day we left (when it rained).   Cool nights. 

Site Description:  This park will soon double in size; reconstruction of an older section of the park was underway when we visited, with a few of the newly remodeled sites open.  We spent our first three nights in site 7 of the old section (28 sites, mostly pull-throughs).  Roads and sites are gravel, with grass and mature trees.  FHU, 30 and 50 amps.

Our last night (after taking our MH out for repairs) was in site 54, one of the newly opened sites (41 new sites, mostly pull-throughs; 12 back-ins are indicated to be dry camping on the park map).  At this time, the gravel roads and sites are quite dusty, due to construction.  Again, FHU, 30 and 50 amp. 

We were sorry to see how sloped our site in the new section was… we weren’t able to level completely.  Our neighbor, a 42’ motor home, had the same problem.  I know the park was anxious to get new sites opened for business, but visitors will be disappointed if these sites aren’t re-graded (they have already been graveled and compacted).  

Two of the new pull throughs

Our neighbor’s tires were off the ground.

New pull through sites Tires off ground

Site sizes are typical of a commercial park, with most pull throughs just long enough for a 40’ motor home and towed, and wide enough for slides and awnings.  Each site in the old section has a picnic table - too bad your neighbor’s sewer hookup is in the middle of your “yard”.

Scoopy in site 7 of the old section. The office/clubhouse is being expanded; laundry and showers are available.  The pool was closed when we were there, probably due to the dust from the construction.  There is a small fenced dog run.  Dump station on-site.

Rate: Escapee members pay $16/night plus tax, which included electric.  Non-Escapees pay $23/night plus tax, including electric.  Given the park’s proximity to Knoxville, this is a very good rate, especially for Escapees.

Phone/radio/TV:  Strong signal for our Verizon phones and aircard.  No obstacles for satellite TV in our sites; we also picked up a few local stations on our antenna. Tengo Internet provides WiFi for a fee - we didn’t try it.  NPR on  91.1.

Elevation/landscape/terrain: Elevation is around 1,000 ft. in hilly terrain.  Views are of neighbors, tall trees, and green hillsides. 

Facing new Sites at Raccoon Valley Lighting/noise:  A few “streetlights”.  Quiet at night.

Favorite Sites: Not much difference here.  We would pick based on the length of the site - and try to find a level one.

Hiking/Walking: Although we didn’t see them, a reader mentioned hiking trails on the south side of the park.  We visited the numerous, long “greenways” for walking in Knoxville.

Comments:  Nothing special about this small campground except the very friendly reception and good price.  Brandy gave us each a heartfelt hug on our arrival and departure.  As usual in an Escapee park, a social hour is held daily at 4 pm.  We will return anytime we want to revisit Knoxville, and look forward to seeing the park after reconstruction is complete.

1 comment:

Hamilton Brown said...

Things like these Post Comment places confuse me. But then, I am easily confused by a lot of things. Am I writing to someone, or am I writing to a site?

My wife and I are not full timers and do our traveling in a camper van so I can go down bad roads and have to back up a mile or two without too much stress. We just came back from 10 weeks out west and are waiting for cool weather and the kids to go back to school (not our kids, everybody's kids) before we head out again.

We seldom stay in one place for more than a day or three and do our sightseeing along the way. That might keep our daily mileage down to 50, or even a minus 23, but that's how we like it. I put the travels on my vantrippin.com site after we come home since I do not want to bother with having a good internet connection on the road. We write mainly to hear our "heads roar" and not for any grand literary scheme (whatever that means).

Anyway, I enjoy your site and style and will be reading more of it in weeks to come.

Ham Brown --- vantrippin.com