Upper Chattahoochee River Campground
- Right now
- Listed not openA database flag with no reason and no date
- A night
- $12From, per site
- Sites
- 19All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 10 notices
In the agency’s own words
The drive up through the winding misty roads of North Georgia leading to this 19-site, developed campground is almost as breath-taking as the site itself. Although the drive leaves one feeling as if civilization has been left far, far behind, the ever-popular and beloved alpine village of Helen, Georgia is less than an hour away. Camping here, visitors can enjoy the pleasure of Georgia's number one vacation spot with shopping, dining, and entertainment in the City of Helen and many recreational activities. Keep reading
Recreation
At the rear of the campground, visitors will find the short walking trail for the beautiful Horse Trough Falls. It is just a mile downstream from the headwaters of the Chattahoochee River. Recreational activities in this area include hiking, fishing, camping, and hunting. Right outside the campground, there is a Day-use picnic area for a nice break with the creek running just a few feet away. For those wanting to take the 7-mile drive along Upper Chattahoochee Road (FS 44 Road), you will find yourself outside of Helen, Georgia with many other recreational opportunities including rafting, kayaking, ziplining, and some great hiking trails.
Facilities
The campground offers 19 campsites, with picnic tables, fire rings, and lantern posts at each site. Portable potties are available for use while the process is completed to replace the current restroom structures. There are trash bins available for placing your camping trash. Please don't overflow the bins to help reduce the bear-human negative interactions.
Natural Features
Upper Chattahoochee River Campground is located in the Chattahoochee National Forest, a place of exploration and wonder. This National Forest is rich in history and is said to be a hiker's paradise with it's winding trails, scenic mountains, and rolling hills.
Nearby Attractions
You don't have to stroll far from your campsite to see the first of the nearby attractions with the Horsetrough Falls at the back end of the campground. Take a drive along the beautiful scenic Upper Chattahoochee River Road (FS 44 Road), and you can see many other waterfalls along the way while you are making your way to the many nearby attractions. Brasstown Bald is the highest peak in the State of Georgia at a height of 4784 feet above sea level is a 45-minute drive. Along the way you pass Unicoi Gap, one of the many areas of the National Scenic Appalachian Trail (A.T.) where hikers will cross Hwy 75 North coming out of Mark Trail Wilderness and heading into Tray Mountain Wilderness. Other attractions in the area include Anna Ruby Falls, Dukes Creek Falls, Ravens Cliff Wilderness, and many things of wonder in the alpine village of Helen, Georgia.
Charges & Cancellations
If I book this reservation today, what are my options to change or cancel? Please remember that reservations at these facilities prevent other visitors from using these sites. Planned changes to your stay should be made as far in advance as possible. You can make changes to your reservation ahead of your arrival date in My Reservations. Changes If your new stay dates are completely different from your original stay dates, there is a $10 change fee (per reserved site). There are no additional fees for: • Adding or removing nights to your stay. • Changing to a different campsite. Balances will adjust based on your new stay's nightly rate. Cancellations You can cancel the reservation any time before the date of your scheduled arrival. You will receive a refund for your stay, minus the following fees: • $10 cancellation fee • Any reservation fees (only if paid when booking) • Any previous change fees Late cancellation penalties may also apply: What is “Late”? For individual campsites, a late cancellation applies starting from midnight 1 calendar day before your scheduled check-in. For cabins and group sites, a late cancellation applies starting from midnight 14 calendar days or fewer before your scheduled check-in. Late Fee In addition to the fees listed above, a late cancellation will also subtract your first night's recreation use fee from any refund owed. As of the expected check-in day, cancellations or changes to your stay are not possible through My Reservations. It is at the facility's discretion to support additional Late Cancellations, No Show, or Early Departure updates – on-site personnel may not be able to assist. These changes carry penalties and may forfeit recreation use fees. For additional details, please visit here:
What the agency tells you
All Camping is by Reservation only. There is NO First Come, First Serve. Reservations can be made at www.recreation.gov website or by calling (877) 444-6777. Will require a phone, Wifi, or other internet service to make reservations before coming to the site.
Camping or maintaining a campsite in developed and dispersed areas in excess of 14 days within any 30-day time period. After the camper(s) has accumulated 14 days within any 30-day time period, the camper(s) must leave that area/campground and move from Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest land before returning for another stay. 36 CFR Section 261.58(a).
No driving, unloading, or loading of any ATVs, UTV, or Golf Carts allowed on or near all the campgrounds and the Upper Chattahoochee River Road.
Everything else this campground posts · 7
Generators may be used up to 4 hours per day between the hours of 6:00 am and 10:00 pm. Quiet hours are between the hours of 10:00 pm and 6:00 am every day. Generators are to be at a volume so as to not unreasonably disturb other campers.
Click here for more information on the Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest.
Don't Move Firewood: Help protect our forests! Prevent the spread of tree-killing pests by obtaining firewood at or near your destination and burning it on-site. Moving firewood is illegal in some states. Visit dontmovefirewood.org to learn more.
No hunting within any developed campground, developed campsite, developed trail, or other developed recreation site on the Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest.
Until new toilet building(s) are in place, portable toilets located at the front of the campground.
Check out time is 12:01 pm and check in time starts at 2:00 pm
Drinking water will not be available at this campground. The well systems that previously served this campground is being decommissioned due to the high cost of maintaining and operating aging infrastructure. – Visitors planning to camp here should bring their own potable water for drinking, cooking and other needs.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 19
- Hookups
- None
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets · Pit Toilets · Portable Toilets
- VAULT TOILETS on 1 of 19 campsite records / PIT TOILETS on 18 of 19 campsite records / PORTABLE TOILETS on 19 of 19 campsite records
- Stay limit
- 14 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Waterfall, River, Creek
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Hunting
- Picnicking
- Scenic drives
- Wilderness access
No reading yet, book on recreation.gov
Every site here is reservable, and the record lists none held back for anyone who drives up.
No availability snapshot inside the last 36 hours, so this page draws nothing rather than ageing a reading into fiction.
Watch for a cancellation
Full? Watch it.
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 · 13
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rate for this season, $12 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.
“Changes If your new stay dates are completely different from your original stay dates, there is a $10 change fee (per reserved site). You will receive a refund for your stay, minus the following fees: • $10 cancellation fee • Any reservation fees (only if paid when booking) • Any previous change fees Late cancellati…” · this campground’s own no-show terms
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 · 6
rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
19 sites
All 19 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. 19 of the 19 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| Chattahoochee River | 1 | standard nonelectric | $12 |
| Chattahoochee River | 10 | standard nonelectric | $12 |
| Chattahoochee River | 11 | standard nonelectric | $12 |
| Chattahoochee River | 12 | standard nonelectric | $12 |
| Chattahoochee River | 13 | standard nonelectric | $12 |
| Chattahoochee River | 14 | standard nonelectric | $12 |
| Chattahoochee River | 15 | standard nonelectric | $12 |
| Chattahoochee River | 16 | standard nonelectric | $12 |
| Chattahoochee River | 17 | standard nonelectric | $12 |
| Chattahoochee River | 18 | standard nonelectric | $12 |
| Chattahoochee River | 19 | standard nonelectric | $12 |
| Chattahoochee River | 2 | standard nonelectric | $12 |
| Chattahoochee River | 3 | standard nonelectric | $12 |
| Chattahoochee River | 4 | standard nonelectric | $12 |
| Chattahoochee River | 5 | standard nonelectric | $12 |
| Chattahoochee River | 6 | standard nonelectric | $12 |
| Chattahoochee River | 7 | standard nonelectric | $12 |
| Chattahoochee River | 8 | standard nonelectric | $12 |
| Chattahoochee River | 9 | standard nonelectric | $12 |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Low Gap CampgroundChattahoochee National Forest · 2.5 mi
Andrew's Cove CampgroundChattahoochee National Forest · 2.6 mi
Lake Winfield Scott Recreation AreaChattahoochee National Forest · 7.0 miBoggs Creek Recreation AreaChattahoochee National Forest · 9.2 mi
Desoto Falls Recreation AreaChattahoochee National Forest · 9.4 miWildcat Creek Campground #2 UpperChattahoochee National Forest · 9.4 miFrom Hiawassee or Clayton Georgia travel on Hwy 76 to Hwy 75. Turn south on Hwy 75 towards Helen, Georgia for approximately 13 miles. Turn right on Forest Service 44 Road, aka Upper Chattahoochee River Road just past the Unicoi Gap parking lot of the A. T. Travel approximately 5 miles on the dirt road to the entrance to the campground and day-use areas.
From Helen travel north on Hwy 75 North for approximately 7 miles and turn left on Forest Service 44 Road, aka Upper Chattahoochee River Road. Travel approximately 5 miles on the dirt road to the entrance to the campground and day-use areas. The physical address is: 48 Forest Service Road 44.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Helen, GA
Typical weather
Typical October night 46°F, day 70°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 29°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
What threatens this place
You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.
Who answers for this land
Upper Chattahoochee River Campground 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 →