Camping around Chattanooga?

Where are the best spots to camp around Chattanooga? I love climbing in the area, but staying at the crash pad is killing my budget and I haven't found any good camping spots. We've tried Chester Frost County Park but its a weird spot. We're from Louisiana so we don't usually get there until around midnight, and a lot of the state parks spots are closed by then. Any recommendations? Free spots aren't necessary, but a plus

Usually we climb at Stone Fort

T-wall camping is fine if you're not leaving anything there during the day (tent...etc.) Otherwise I'd say split a cheap hotel room if you're climbing at LRC...nothing else close by that you haven't mentioned...walmart? Rocktown has free camping if you're climbing there, Fosters has camping if you're climbing there, but neither is a reasonable drive to LRC.

I usually use the walmart parking lot on the way to T-wall, if not T-wall. besides that, it's the crash pad.

Does access to T Wall shut off at some point? We might be getting in pretty damn late?

no the T-wall campground - used loosely - is non gated non pay. Fine to camp at night. would not leave valuables in car. I've never been broken into or had stuff stolen there but it does happen.

DangerD wrote:Does access to T Wall shut off at some point? We might be getting in pretty damn late?

It doesn't shut off but if you're getting in late at night then it'll probably be full already. Your best bet would be to car bivy in the wal-mart parking lot and grab a campspot at T-wall the next day. There's also camping way back in the prentice cooper state forest but you need to get there before dark and it's a long drive (about 30 min to the bottom of signal mtn) on dirt roads of varying conditions.

Coming from LA I am not sure why you would pass up Horse Pens and Rocktown to go all the way to Stonefort. To each his own. I made the trip from New Orleans many times. Now I live less than 10min away from Stonefort and still prefer Rocktown over the two. Zahnd is even closer to I-59 with excellent bouldering. Both with free camping nearby. Keep in mind that T-Wall is 45min from Stonefort.

I've camped at Rocktown with no trouble at all. It really isn't that far.

DangerD wrote:Does access to T Wall shut off at some point? We might be getting in pretty damn late?

No it's just a lot and won't be full...I've never seen that lot full, ever, for camping.

heads up on rock town if you head that way. part of rocky lane washed out and you can't access rock town via chamberlain rd (big fines if you try to go in this way). To get to rocktown you will need to go out hogjowl rd to dogherty gap.

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