Cooper Creek Campground (GA)
We don’t think it should be. Every campground should hold some sites for whoever drives up.Tell your representative →
- Right now
- Taking bookingsSites offered on 30 of the next 30 nights read 15:27 UTC
- A night
- $7.50From, per site
- Sites
- 25All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 1 notices
In the agency’s own words
Cooper Creek Campground is located in the Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest along the banks of Cooper Creek in the North Georgia Mountains. The Campground offers many recreation activities including camping, hiking, trout fishing, and hunting. The campground is well kept and is a nice place for just a weekend getaway or an extended stay. Most of the campsites are fairly spaced apart so the privacy level is decent which makes for and enjoyable time. This Recreation area is well known for great trout fishing year-round and you can fish up and down the main creek or take the numerous trails along the bank of the creek if you’re not having any luck at the campground. Please make your way out to this beautiful campground for a pleasant and relaxing experience. Keep reading
Recreation
There are several hiking trails that start in or near the campground and all are interconnected, so forming a loop is a breeze. The Yellow Mountain Trail is the longest at 3.2 miles, so these are great little trails for taking the kids or the inexperienced hiker on. The Duncan Ridge Trail isn’t far up the road if you would like to do a more challenging hike. Yellow Mtn. Trail – 3.2 miles Connector Trail – 0.4 miles Mill Shoals Trail – 0.9 miles Shope Gap Trail – 0.6 miles Cooper Creek Trail – 1.7 miles Facilities Cooper Creek Campgound has two vault toilets. One near site 23 at the Cooper Creek Loop and site 5 at Mulky. The campground has no flush toilets, showers, hook-ups, or dumstations. Drinking water is provided only during peak season, which is from April 1st though October 31st. Fees are reduced during off-peak when the water is shutoff and winterized. (November 1st through March 31st.
Natural Features
Cooper Creek Campground is settled inside The Cooper Creek Wildlife Management Area. It spans more than 30,000 acres, and lies within the Chattahoochee National Forest. This WMA offers hunting opportunities for deer, bear, turkey and small game. The trails in this wildlife management area offer nearly eight miles of easy to moderate hiking. The trails follow old logging trails and new footpaths through a variety of hardwood, mixed pine and hardwood, and white pine and hemlock forests.
Nearby Attractions
If cooper creek is booked please check out Deep Hole Campground which is 15 minutes south. This campground has nine sites and is also a great place to catch fish along the Toccoa River. This campground can also be booked on recreation.gov or calling the reservation line. Deep Hole Recreation Area is about twenty minutes south of Blue Ridge, Georgia on GA Highway 60. If you turn down Rock Creek Road (FSR 69) you can find the Chattahoochee National Fish Hatchery, Frank Gross Recreation Area, and access to the Ed Jenkins National Recreation Area. Just a short drive down the highway are Woody Gap Recreation Area, Chestatee Overlook, or Dockery Lake Recreation Area. Nearby water falls to visit are are Helton Creek Falls, Dukes Creeks Falls, Long Creek Falls, Fall Branch Falls, and Raven Cliffs Falls. Just a short drive and located within the Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest, the Brasstown Bald Recreation Area & Visitor Center is a great place to visit. It is the highest point in Georgia, rising 4,784 feet above sea level with a 360 degree view of four states. Towns within a short drive to visit are Blairsville, Helen, Blue Ridge, and Dahlonega, GA. If you don't want to drive into town, visit the Cooper Creek Store which is about 5 miles south of the campground as they'll have all your camping supplies.
What the agency tells you
** MULKY CAMPGROUND IS RESERVABLE WITH THE COOPER CREEK CAMPGOUND...UNDER MULKY LOOP. SITES 1-11 • THERE IS NO CELLPHONE COVERAGE IN THIS RECREATION AREA • QUIET HOURS ARE FROM 10PM UNTIL 6AM. DO NOT RUN GENERATORS DURING QUIET HOURS. • ALTHOUGH TRASH RECEPTICLES ARE AVAILABLE, WE ASK THAT YOU TAKE AS MUCH TRASH WITH YOU AS YOU CHECK-OUT. • LIMIT OF TWO VEHICLES PER CAMPSITE EXCEPT FOR THE GROUP SITE. #24 • PETS MUST BE ON A LEASH AT ALL TIMES. • CAMPFIRES ARE PERMITTED IN GRILLS ONLY. • DISCHARGING OF FIREARMS AND FIREWORKS IS PROHIBITED. • DRINKING WATER IS AVAILABLE FROM 4/1 THROUGH 10/31. • DO NOT LEAVE FIRES UNATTENDED. THEY MUST BE EXTINGUISHED BEFORE CHECK-OUT. • BE BEAR AWARE! KEEP ALL FOOD IN CONTAINERS OR LOCKED INSIDE A VEHICLE AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE. THIS RULE IS STRICTLY ENFORCED! NO DAY USE ALLOWED IN THE CAMPGROUND • CHECK-IN 3:00PM / CHECK-OUT 2:00PM
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 25
- Hookups
- None
- Paved pads
- 1 of 25
- Accessible sites
- 25
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- VAULT TOILETS on 25 of 25 campsite records
- Drinking water
- Yes
- DRINKING WATER (PEAK SEASON) on 25 of 25 campsite records, ACCESSIBLE DRINKING WATER on 1 of 25 campsite records, WATER SPIGOT on 1 of 25 campsite records, WATER (SEASONAL) on 25 of 25 campsite records
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, River, Creek
- Birding
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Hunting
- Scenic drives
- Wildlife viewing
Full this Saturdayread 15:27 UTC
How full the weekend is nationally.
2 campgrounds have sites open within 30 miles, read 16:42 UTC. See them
OpenBooked
Every one of the 25 sites on offer is taken this Saturday. 16 are free on Mon, Oct 19. read 15:27 UTC Why the weekend fills and the week doesn’t
Watch for a cancellation
Watch this campground
One email when a night opens, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We read recreation.gov once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time a site in your window is free for the nights you asked for.
Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.
Tell me when the season opens
Watch for the season to open
One email when the season goes on sale, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We check once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time the agency has that season on sale.
Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.
We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.
Every line of the receipt · 14
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rate for this season, $7.50 a night, plus one $8 recreation.gov reservation fee for the booking. A weekend here means Friday and Saturday night, booked once. Optional charges (an extra vehicle, a second tent, a dump-station fee) are listed separately and aren’t in this total.
Who keeps the booking fee
The agency’s own policy text says the reservation fee and the cancellation processing fee are “retained by the reservation service contractor”, and that a campground concessionaire will decline to refund them because “they did not receive these fees”. Recreation.gov is run under contract by Booz Allen Hamilton. What share of your booking fee the contractor keeps isn’t published in any federal dataset we can read, so we print no number for it. Our reporting on the contract →
How we know this receipt · 5
Open within 30 miles this weekend · 2
Sites the agency is offering this Friday and Saturday that nobody has taken, nearest first. read 16:42 UTC
- Morganton PointChattahoochee-Oconee National Forest · 13 mi · 1 of 80 site-nights open
- Jackrabbit MountainNational Forests in North Carolina · 24 mi · 4 of 182 site-nights open
recreation.gov availability, read 15:27 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
25 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 25 mapped sitesAll 25 sites
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 25 of the 25 sites listed. A site with no reading is unknown, never far.
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 25 of the 25 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| Cooper Creek Loop | Site 12 TENT ONLY | standard nonelectric | yes | 124 ft | 177 ftMulky Creek | 365 ft | $7.50 |
| Cooper Creek Loop | Site 13 | standard nonelectric | yes | 124 ft | 249 ft | 334 ft | $7.50 |
| Cooper Creek Loop | Site 14 | standard nonelectric | yes | 160 ft | 191 ft | 414 ft | $7.50 |
| Cooper Creek Loop | Site 15 CREEK SITE | standard nonelectric | yes | 60 ft | under 10 ft | 644 ft | $7.50 |
| Cooper Creek Loop | Site 16 CREEK SITE | standard nonelectric | yes | 84 ft | 20 ft | 688 ft | $7.50 |
| Cooper Creek Loop | Site 17 | standard nonelectric | yes | 43 ft | 48 ft | 589 ft | $7.50 |
| Cooper Creek Loop | Site 18 | standard nonelectric | yes | 84 ft | 34 ft | 736 ft | $7.50 |
| Cooper Creek Loop | Site 19 | standard nonelectric | yes | 43 ft | 85 ft | 573 ft | $7.50 |
| Cooper Creek Loop | Site 20 | standard nonelectric | yes | 95 ft | 104 ft | 702 ft | $7.50 |
| Cooper Creek Loop | Site 21 | standard nonelectric | yes | 136 ft | 212 ft | 567 ft | $7.50 |
| Cooper Creek Loop | Site 22 | standard nonelectric | yes | 97 ft | 590 ft | 193 ft | $7.50 |
| Cooper Creek Loop | Site 23 | standard nonelectric | yes | 97 ft | 620 ftMulky Creek | 166 ft | $7.50 |
| Cooper Creek Loop | Site 24 GROUP SITE | standard nonelectric | yes | 102 ft | 783 ft | 329 ft | $7.50 |
| Cooper Creek Loop | Site 25 | standard nonelectric | yes | 102 ft | 732 ftMulky Creek | 283 ft | $7.50 |
| Mulky Loop | Site 1 | standard nonelectric | yes | 68 ft | 67 ft | 311 ft | $7.50 |
| Mulky Loop | Site 10 | standard nonelectric | yes | 100 ft | 100 ft | 427 ft | $7.50 |
| Mulky Loop | Site 11 | standard nonelectric | yes | 195 ft | 88 ft | 622 ft | $7.50 |
| Mulky Loop | Site 2 | standard nonelectric | yes | 68 ft | 75 ft | 243 ft | $7.50 |
| Mulky Loop | Site 3 | standard nonelectric | yes | 99 ft | 52 ft | 100 ft | $7.50 |
| Mulky Loop | Site 4 | standard nonelectric | yes | 51 ft | 81 ft | 14 ft | $7.50 |
| Mulky Loop | Site 5 | standard nonelectric | yes | 37 ft | 133 ft | 65 ft | $7.50 |
| Mulky Loop | Site 6 TENT ONLY | standard nonelectric | yes | 100 ft | 197 ft | 169 ft | $7.50 |
| Mulky Loop | Site 7 | standard nonelectric | yes | 37 ft | 129 ft | 70 ft | $7.50 |
| Mulky Loop | Site 8 | standard nonelectric | yes | 52 ft | 47 ft | 318 ft | $7.50 |
| Mulky Loop | Site 9 | standard nonelectric | yes | 52 ft | 94 ft | 328 ft | $7.50 |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Deep Hole Recreation AreaChattahoochee National Forest · 4.0 mi
Frank Gross CampgroundNoontootly National Game Refuge · 5.9 miFrank Gross Recreation AreaNoontootly National Game Refuge · 5.9 miLake Winfield Scott CampgroundChattahoochee National Forest · 6.0 mi
Dockery Lake Recreation AreaChattahoochee National Forest · 8.2 miFrom Blue Ridge, GA: take US 515 north for 4 miles to GA Hwy. 60; turn right and go 2 miles to Morganton, GA. In Morganton, turn right on GA Hwy. 60 south for 15.5 miles. Turn left on Forest Service Road 4, go 6 miles.
From Blairsville, GA: GA take US 515 south 2.5 miles to Kiutuestia Creek Road. Turn left, go 1.3 miles. Turn left on Old 76 for 100 feet and then turn right on Mulky Gap Road. Go 9 miles to Cooper Creek Campground
From Dahlonega, GA: GA take GA Hwy. 60 north for 26 miles; turn right on Forest Service Road 4, go 6 miles.
Mulky Campground(Mulky Loop) is 1/10 of a Mile south of Cooper Creek Campgound(Cooper Creek Loop)
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Blairsville, GA
Typical weather
Typical October night 43°F, day 70°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 25°F, below freezing. Bring a bag rated colder than that, and expect ice in the water bottle.
Daily high and lowDays with 0.10 in or more
A normal is the 1991-2020 average for the month, not a forecast: about half of all Julys are colder than the July line. The seven-day forecast above answers the other question.
The land, and who answers for it
what threatens it · who answers for it · a letter you can send
What threatens this place
You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.
Who answers for this land
Cooper Creek Campground (GA) is in Georgia’s 9th congressional district. Its representative, Andrew Clyde (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →
Who can change it · 3
Two offices, two different asks. The draft to the agency asks it to set aside a published share of the sites here for whoever drives up. The draft to Congress asks why that share is zero and presses for a published minimum at the campgrounds it funds.
- The member who votes the moneyAndrew S. ClydeU.S. Representative · Georgia’s 9th district
- Your senator, on the same appropriationJon OssoffU.S. Senator · Georgia
- Your senator, on the same appropriationRaphael G. WarnockU.S. Senator · Georgia
Read the draft, or change the wording
For the camper who turned up, or tried to book, and couldn’t get in. Every draft is written from this campground’s own record (its agency, its unit, its site count and its own weekend) and the buttons above copy whichever wording is selected here.
Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.
Subject Walk-up camping at Cooper Creek Campground (GA), Chattahoochee National Forest, Georgia
Dear Andrew S. Clyde, I’m a constituent in Georgia’s 9th district. I tried to camp at Cooper Creek Campground (GA), Chattahoochee National Forest, Georgia, and couldn’t. All 25 sites at Cooper Creek Campground (GA) are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 25 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked. 1,623 of the 7,647 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Cooper Creek Campground (GA) keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Cooper Creek Campground (GA). I’m asking you to put it to the U.S. Forest Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund. The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them. Sent about Cooper Creek Campground (GA) (Chattahoochee National Forest, Georgia) via campanac.com
Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.
Subject Walk-up camping at Cooper Creek Campground (GA), Chattahoochee National Forest, Georgia
Dear Jon Ossoff, I’m a constituent in Georgia. I tried to camp at Cooper Creek Campground (GA), Chattahoochee National Forest, Georgia, and couldn’t. All 25 sites at Cooper Creek Campground (GA) are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 25 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked. 1,623 of the 7,647 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Cooper Creek Campground (GA) keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Cooper Creek Campground (GA). I’m asking you to put it to the U.S. Forest Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund. The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them. Sent about Cooper Creek Campground (GA) (Chattahoochee National Forest, Georgia) via campanac.com
Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.
Subject Walk-up camping at Cooper Creek Campground (GA), Chattahoochee National Forest, Georgia
Dear Raphael G. Warnock, I’m a constituent in Georgia. I tried to camp at Cooper Creek Campground (GA), Chattahoochee National Forest, Georgia, and couldn’t. All 25 sites at Cooper Creek Campground (GA) are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 25 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked. 1,623 of the 7,647 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Cooper Creek Campground (GA) keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Cooper Creek Campground (GA). I’m asking you to put it to the U.S. Forest Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund. The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them. Sent about Cooper Creek Campground (GA) (Chattahoochee National Forest, Georgia) via campanac.com