Ridge Road
- Right now
- Closedrecreation.gov lists every site closed this weekend, read 16:03 UTC
- A night
- $22–$64When it reopens, per site
- Sites
- 69In the agency’s record
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 15 notices
In the agency’s own words
Ridge Road Campground is located on a scenic peninsula surrounded by the J. Strom Thurmond Lake, only 15 miles away from the Lake Thurmond Visitor Center and Dam and one of the area's first campgrounds. Camping at Ridge Road is ripe with many different opportunities for relaxation, skill-building, family bonding, and nature appreciation. The 70,000 acre lake and 1,000+ miles of shoreline are prime for activities that facilitate such opportunities such as boating, water skiing, swimming, fishing, kayaking, hiking, biking, and bird watching, and so much more of course! Keep reading
Recreation
Thurmond Lake provides some of the best fishing, hunting, and water sports in the southeastern United States. Anglers fish for largemouth bass, bream, crappie, catfish and striped bass. The large lake offers great conditions for exciting activities such as boating, water skiing, jet skiing, canoeing and swimming. Many miles of hiking trails are available a few miles from the campground. Hikers enjoy the 1.8-mile Lake Springs Loop and the 27-mile Bartram Trail, which meanders along the scenic shoreline and through Wildwood Park. Shorter sections can be hiked from several intersecting trailheads, the closest is Keg Creek. When recreating at Thurmond Lake, we hope to give our visitors opportunities to bond, appreciate nature, relive stress, improve skills, and improve physical fitness.
Facilities
Ridge Road Campground has many facilities that every camper can enjoy with 63 sites with water and electric hook up, while providing a space for campers that prefer a more primitive experience with the convenience of modern amenities! The gatehouse has friendly camp hosts, information about the campground, and local area. There are two bathhouses that have flush toilets and showers. There are vault toilets spread throughout the campground at the boat ramp, primitive island, and playground for convenience. For the young campers, there is a playground near the designated swimming beach. For camper convenience, there are two dump stations and dumpsters located in the campground.
Natural Features
Water/ Land: Ridge Road Campground is on the shoreline of the J Strom Thurmond lake that is over 70,000 acres, and surrounded with a mix of pine and hardwood trees which offer shade and visual interest. Wildlife: Wildlife is abundant around the lake. Visitors regularly see southern bald eagles, migratory waterfowl, neo-tropical birds, wild turkeys and whitetail deer. Weather/ Climate: Average temperatures during the camping season starts out at 76 degrees Fahrenheit and peaks in July at 90 degrees Fahrenheit. May receives the least amount of rainfall on average, but increased rainfall for June, July, and August.
Nearby Attractions
Numerous parks and recreation areas lie around Thurmond Lake, providing additional settings for outdoor activities such as, boating, swimming, hunting, and hiking. There are many USACE managed day-use areas within six miles where registered campers may enter for free by displaying their campground hangtag pass. Within 15 miles, campers may visit the dam, Visitor Center, and various USACE trails. Nearby cities house museums, art galleries, zoos, restaurants, and shopping areas. The Bartram Trail, a designated National Recreation Trail, has a trailhead only 7 miles away by the Keg Creek Boat ramp. This trail is loved by hikers and mountain bikers. There are many trailheads that offer different lengths of trail and challenge levels along the 27 mile trail. The Augusta National Golf Club hosts the Masters Golf Tournament annually the first week of April.
What the agency tells you
Gates open at 7:00am and close at 10:00pm. Combination lock codes will be issued to registered campers at check-in. If you need to leave due to an emergency and have trouble opening the gate, please notify the on-duty camp host.
Check-out time is 2 p.m. Starting January 1, 2025 check-out time will be 1 p.m. Check-in time is 3 p.m. Please call ahead to confirm early check-in.
No more than 12 campers allowed per site, and 4 vehicles per site if space allows. If vehicles do not fit, vehicles must be parked at the overflow lot.
Everything else this campground posts · 12
One wheeled camping unit (RV, Camper, Camper van/truck, etc) per single site and must be parked on impact pad. Tents are restricted to impact pad.
Scooters, UTVs, and ATVs are prohibited; however, golf carts are allowed per campground rules. See Park Attendant at the campground gatehouse for more information.
Maximum stay is 14-days within 30 day period. Changing names on a reservation, changing campsites, or making multiple reservations in order to stay over 14-days is prohibited and applicable across USACE campgrounds. Violaters may have reservations cancelled.
Alcohol is prohibited
Keep your campsite and campground clean. Keep your trash contained and frequently remove trash from campsite (dumpsters located within campground). Do not leave litter in fire ring or on campsite upon check out.
Gray water (any wastewater from sinks, dishwashing, bathing, etc) or other waste water such as black water must be disposed of properly at campground dump station.
All pets must be penned, caged, or on a leash no longer than 6 feet; pets are prohibited on swim beaches, playgrounds, and in restrooms. You MUST clean up after your pet!
Fireworks and firearms are prohibited.
All shorelines adjacent to campsites are public property.
For current lake conditions, call 1-800-533-3478 ext. 1147
Don't Move Firewood: Protect your forests from tree-killing pests by buying your firewood locally and burning it on-site. Visit Dontmovefirewood.org for further information.
For a complete set of rules and regulations concerning, please refer to Title 36, Chapter III, Part 327 - Rules and Regulations Governing Public Use of Corps of Engineers Water Resources Development Projects.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 69
- Hookups
- 60 electric, 63 water
- Longest rig
- 50 ft
- Accessible sites
- 2
- Pets
- Allowed
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Flush Toilets · Vault Toilets
- “…area. There are two bathhouses that have flush toilets and showers. There are vault toilets spread…”
- Showers
- Yes, the record doesn’t say what kind
- “There are two bathhouses that have flush toilets and showers.”
- Dump station
- Yes
- recreation.gov lists “Dump Station”
- Boat ramp
- Yes
- Playground
- Yes
- Stay limit
- 14 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, Creek, Beach
- Biking
- Birding
- Boating
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Kayaking
- Swimming
- Water access
- Wildlife viewing
- Night sky · 68th darkest of 96 in GA
- Bortle 4
Nothing to book until it reopensread 16:03 UTC
recreation.gov lists every site closed this weekend
Every one of the next thirty nights is in recreation.gov’s record and not one site is being offered on any of them. That’s a campground closed or not yet released for booking, not a sold-out one.
Tell me when it reopens
Watch for it to come back
One email when the agency reopens it, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We check the agency’s own record once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time it stops saying closed.
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.
Every line of the receipt · 14
What you actually pay
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 · 4
Why this page can’t say why
recreation.gov lists every site at Ridge Road closed this Friday and Saturday night. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has published no closure notice we hold, so this page can’t say why, and it won’t fill the gap with a guess. A closed night isn’t a sold-out one: the reservations its record still carries were taken before the sites were closed.
There’s no notice to quote and no reason to argue with, so this page offers you the watch and the list below, and no letter.
Open within 60 miles · 1
The agency’s own word that these are open, not our reading of a season.
- Lick Fork Lake Recreation AreaSumter National Forest · 13 mi
recreation.gov availability, read 16:03 UTC · rules read Oct 1, 2026 · rates Oct 1, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
69 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 66 mapped sitesAll 69 sites
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 66 of the 69 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| RROA | 001 | type not stated | 50 ft | 50 amp | 85 ft | |||
| RROA | 002 | type not stated | 35 ft | 50 amp | 138 ft | |||
| RROA | 003 | standard electric | 50 ft | 50 amp | 179 ft | 127 ft | $28–$64 | |
| RROA | 004 | standard electric | 40 ft | 50 amp | 138 ft | 101 ft | $28–$64 | |
| RROA | 005 | standard electric | 50 ft | 50 amp | 128 ft | 99 ft | $28–$64 | |
| RROA | 006 | standard electric | 50 ft | 50 amp | 128 ft | 104 ft | $28–$64 | |
| RROA | 007 | standard electric | 40 ft | 50 amp | 118 ft | 139 ft | $28–$64 | |
| RROA | 008 | standard electric | 25 ft | 50 amp | 118 ft | 147 ft | $28–$64 | |
| RROA | 009 | standard electric | 35 ft | 50 amp | 119 ft | 160 ft | $28–$64 | |
| RROA | 010 | standard electric | 35 ft | 50 amp | 119 ft | 205 ft | $28–$64 | |
| RROA | 011 | standard electric | 45 ft | 50 amp | 120 ft | 212 ft | $28–$64 | |
| RROA | 012 | standard electric | 30 ft | 50 amp | 114 ft | 226 ft | $28–$64 | |
| RROA | 013 | standard electric | 40 ft | 50 amp | 114 ft | 255 ft | $28–$64 | |
| RROA | 014 | standard electric | 45 ft | 50 amp | 126 ft | 181 ft | $28–$64 | |
| RROA | 015 | standard electric | 45 ft | 50 amp | 115 ft | 104 ft | $28–$64 | |
| RROA | 016 | standard electric | 35 ft | 50 amp | 129 ft | 223 ft | $28–$64 | |
| RROA | 017 | standard electric | 30 ft | 50 amp | 115 ft | 71 ft | $28–$64 | |
| RROA | 018 | standard electric | 35 ft | 50 amp | 132 ft | 96 ft | $28–$64 | |
| RROA | 019 | standard electric | 45 ft | 50 amp | 129 ft | 215 ft | $28–$64 | |
| RROA | 020 | standard electric | 30 ft | 50 amp | 119 ft | 132 ft | $28–$64 | |
| RROA | 021 | standard electric | 35 ft | 50 amp | 144 ft | 399 ft | $28–$64 | |
| RROA | 022 | standard electric | 30 ft | 50 amp | 138 ft | 347 ft | $28–$64 | |
| RROA | 023 | type not stated | 35 ft | 50 amp | 296 ft | |||
| RROA | 024 | standard electric | 50 ft | 50 amp | 119 ft | 114 ft | $28–$64 | |
| RROA | 025 | standard electric | 38 ft | 50 amp | 136 ft | 52 ft | $28–$64 | |
| RROA | 026 | standard electric | 30 ft | 50 amp | 149 ft | 17 ft | $28–$64 | |
| RROA | 027 | standard electric | 32 ft | 50 amp | yes | 124 ft | under 10 ft | $28–$64 |
| RROA | 028 | standard electric | 32 ft | 50 amp | 121 ft | 11 ft | $28–$64 | |
| RROA | 029 | standard electric | 30 ft | 50 amp | 121 ft | 10 ft | $28–$64 | |
| RROA | 030 | standard electric | 35 ft | 50 amp | 134 ft | 13 ft | $28–$64 | |
| RROA | 031 | standard electric | 28 ft | 50 amp | 136 ft | 73 ft | $28–$64 | |
| RROA | 032 | standard electric | 40 ft | 50 amp | 127 ft | 183 ft | $28–$64 | |
| RROA | 033 | standard electric | 35 ft | 50 amp | 127 ft | 114 ft | $28–$64 | |
| RROA | 034 | standard electric | 35 ft | 50 amp | 142 ft | 175 ft | $28–$64 | |
| RROA | 035 | standard electric | 50 ft | 50 amp | 87 ft | 119 ft | $28–$64 | |
| RROA | 036 | standard electric | 35 ft | 50 amp | 111 ft | 255 ft | $28–$64 | |
| RROA | 037 | standard electric | 40 ft | 50 amp | 84 ft | 182 ft | $28–$64 | |
| RROA | 038 | standard electric | 40 ft | 50 amp | 84 ft | 161 ft | $28–$64 | |
| RROA | 039 | standard electric | 32 ft | 50 amp | 84 ft | 145 ft | $28–$64 | |
| RROA | 040 | standard electric | 35 ft | 50 amp | 115 ft | 163 ft | $28–$64 | |
| RROA | 041 | standard electric | 35 ft | 50 amp | 147 ft | 242 ft | $28–$64 | |
| RROA | 042 | standard electric | 35 ft | 50 amp | 136 ft | 108 ft | $28–$64 | |
| RROA | 043 | standard nonelectric | 85 ft | 13 ft | $22 | |||
| RROA | 044 | standard nonelectric | 85 ft | under 10 ft | $22 | |||
| RROA | 045 | standard nonelectric | 124 ft | 109 ft | $22 | |||
| RROA | 046 | standard nonelectric | 124 ft | under 10 ft | $22 | |||
| RROA | 047 | standard nonelectric | 67 ft | 62 ft | $22 | |||
| RROA | 048 | standard nonelectric | 67 ft | 38 ft | $22 | |||
| RROA | 049 | standard electric | 36 ft | 50 amp | yes | 136 ft | 44 ft | $28–$64 |
| RROA | 050 | standard electric | 32 ft | 50 amp | 114 ft | 122 ft | $28–$64 | |
| RROA | 051 | standard electric | 35 ft | 50 amp | 114 ft | 90 ft | $28–$64 | |
| RROA | 052 | standard electric | 35 ft | 50 amp | 138 ft | 112 ft | $28–$64 | |
| RROA | 053 | standard electric | 45 ft | 50 amp | 136 ft | 174 ft | $28–$64 | |
| RROA | 054 | standard electric | 40 ft | 50 amp | 132 ft | 252 ft | $28–$64 | |
| RROA | 055 | standard electric | 38 ft | 50 amp | 132 ft | 218 ft | $28–$64 | |
| RROA | 056 | standard electric | 35 ft | 50 amp | 169 ft | 108 ft | $28–$64 | |
| RROA | 057 | standard electric | 20 ft | 50 amp | 169 ft | under 10 ft | $28–$64 | |
| RROA | 058 | standard electric | 35 ft | 50 amp | 206 ft | 144 ft | $28–$64 | |
| RROA | 059 | standard electric | 35 ft | 50 amp | 145 ft | 154 ft | $28–$64 | |
| RROA | 060 | standard electric | 45 ft | 50 amp | 105 ft | 32 ft | $28–$64 | |
| RROA | 061 | standard electric | 32 ft | 50 amp | 105 ft | 55 ft | $28–$64 | |
| RROA | 062 | standard electric | 35 ft | 50 amp | 122 ft | under 10 ft | $28–$64 | |
| RROA | 063 | standard electric | 40 ft | 50 amp | 130 ft | 90 ft | $28–$64 | |
| RROA | 064 | standard electric | 35 ft | 50 amp | 101 ft | 123 ft | $28–$64 | |
| RROA | 065 | standard electric | 30 ft | 50 amp | 101 ft | 73 ft | $28–$64 | |
| RROA | 066 | standard electric | 40 ft | 50 amp | 102 ft | 53 ft | $28–$64 | |
| RROA | 067 | standard electric | 32 ft | 50 amp | 66 ft | 60 ft | $28–$64 | |
| RROA | 068 | standard electric | 30 ft | 50 amp | 66 ft | 33 ft | $28–$64 | |
| RROA | 069 | standard electric | 35 ft | 50 amp | 165 ft | under 10 ft | $28–$64 |
OpenStreetMap has no toilet mapped within 1 km of this campground, so no site here carries a toilet distance. That’s a gap in the map, not a finding about the campground.
25 of 69 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Petersburg1.3 mi
Lake Springs1.9 mi
Below Dam South Carolina3.2 mi
Modoc3.4 mi
West Dam3.6 mi
Clarks Hill4.1 mi5886 Ridge Rd Appling, GA 30802
From I-20 take Exit 183 (Appling). Go north on HWY 221 approximately 6 miles. At 4-way stop, go left (GA HWY 47) and drive approximately 5 miles. Campground road is on right. Follow signs.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Modoc, SC
Typical weather
Typical October night 58°F, day 78°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 40°F. Bring the bag rated for it.
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
who answers for it
Who answers for this land
Ridge Road is in Georgia’s 12th congressional district. Its representative, Rick Allen (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →