Camping Georgia by Jimmy Jacobs
Camping Georgia by Jimmy Jacobs is a Falcon Guide focused on finding good tent camping spots at established campgrounds throughout Georgia.
I do a lot of camping around Georgia—backcountry, walk-in sites, established campgrounds. I’m always hunting for the best spots and inside tips about campground quality, the exact environment, how crowded sites get, that sort of thing. So a comprehensive camping guide for Georgia is exactly the kind of reference I need.
Honestly, I prefer Johnny Malloy’s camping guides for the Southeast. His writing style clicks with me, and his site descriptions have always been spot-on. However, Malloy’s guides haven’t been updated in over 10 years. Campgrounds close, new ones open, facilities get renovated or fall into disrepair. For a practical camping guide, that’s a problem.
That’s where Camping Georgia fills the gap. It has much more current information, and I appreciate the standard Falcon Guides formatting. Jimmy Jacobs does a solid job of covering the full state—from campgrounds way down at Reed Bingham State Park all the way up to Cloudland Canyon in the northwest corner.
What I Liked
The coverage is thorough. Jacobs clearly visited these sites and provides useful details about each campground. The Falcon Guides format is clean and scannable, which matters when you’re comparing multiple options.
Georgia’s state park system gets heavy coverage in the book, which is appropriate. Georgia state parks are genuinely incredible. The facilities are well-maintained, the locations are diverse, and the value is unbeatable. I’ll evangelize for Georgia state parks to anyone who’ll listen, and this book gives them the attention they deserve.
What I Didn’t Like
The book really leans on the state park system—almost too heavily. I don’t think Jacobs adequately covers Army Corps of Engineers properties, which admittedly come and go based on federal budget processes. But when they’re open and maintained, Corps campgrounds offer some excellent lakeside camping.
I also wish he’d included more Forest Service campgrounds. Some of these sites are underutilized, and I’d love to see them get more visitors so the Forest Service would have budget justification for renovations and improvements. A guide like this could help drive that traffic.
Wrap-Up
Camping Georgia is definitely worth checking out from the library, flipping through, and adding your favorites to your own camping spreadsheet. It’s the most current comprehensive guide for Georgia camping, even if it’s not quite as charming as Malloy’s older work.
If you’re planning camping trips around Georgia and want reliable, up-to-date information on established campgrounds, this guide will save you time and help you find quality sites you might have otherwise missed.
- Most current comprehensive guide for Georgia camping (Malloy's guides are 10+ years outdated)
- Clean Falcon Guides formatting makes comparing campgrounds easy
- Thorough coverage of Georgia's exceptional state park system
- Inadequate coverage of Army Corps of Engineers properties
- Missing many Forest Service campgrounds that deserve more attention
