Post 118: Gunter Hill, Al

Gunter Hill, Al

April 15th – 23rd  2018

Gunter Hill, Al was a campground we found on campendium. Everything we read about Gunter Hill was good, so we decided to give it a chance. We arrived and were met by “CHUCK NORRIS” at the gate who was super nice. Chuck signed us in. As we were waiting in line to sign in, Joy discovered we might even have 4G internet. With that in mind, Bill decided to take a chance and booked 3 nights.

Our site was #76. Bill backed the trailer up like a pro and we were quickly able to set up. We had electric and water for the cost of  $9.00 a night with our America the Beautiful card . Now how great is that?

The weather back home  sounded horrible. Making plans to extend our stay here seemed like a good idea. We had great internet and the place was absolutely beautiful. The huge city of Plattville was nearby for anything we might need. Therefore, there was really was no reason to move on at this time.

The camp ground itself

Gunter Hill is open year round with 142 sites.  One section of 1-75 of newly renovated sites with concrete pads and sewers, electric and water. The other gorgeous section from 76 – 142 offer  electric, water only. Amenities include flush toilets, showers, drinking water, a dump station and laundry facilities. A picnic shelter is provided for parties and family functions.

Gunter Hill is located on Catoma Creek on the backwaters of the Alabama River.  In a forest of hickory and pine. The region offers a mild climate for year-round camping. We understand that the fishing is excellent fishing for crappie, bass and catfish.  Boating, hunting and hiking are popular activities.

The Lowndes Wildlife Management area, located nearby, covers 12,500 acres and offers prime hunting for whitetail deer, wild turkeys and hogs, and a variety of small game and waterfowl.

The weekend from hell!

Initially we arrived at Gunter Hill on Sunday afternoon. To a quiet peaceful camp ground that was beautiful and mostly empty We had a couple of great campers beside us and had a lovely fire one night with them. We felt very lucky to have found such a perfect location. Then as the week went by a few more people arrived.

Thursday afternoon, we realized how CLOSE the Montgomery Speedway was to the Gunter Hill campground. Our site was RIGHT BESIDE the Speedway.  The cars started practicing on Thursday afternoon until dark. Then they started up again all day Friday. SATURDAY was RACE DAY! Between practice runs and then the race in the evening, it was very noisy on Saturday from the race track. Only saving grace is, they don’t race every weekend.

NOW added to the noise of the racetrack, we also had about 10 or 20 screaming kids all under the age of 10 running around Friday, Saturday and half of Sunday.

Don’t get us wrong, we love kids, we raised 3 boys of our own. But we NEVER EVER let them run around screaming at the top of their lungs disturbing other people. If our sons let out a scream, it was because they were bleeding profusely or someone had broken something.

The screaming went on from 7 am until dark all day Friday and Saturday and until noon on Sunday (these families came in on Thursday night). We have no idea why parents let their kids do this. Why they have no control over their kids or why they simply don’t care. We hid in our trailer, from both of these noises and it still was over powering.

The sad part was, we spent 20 years in racing so we were used to loud cars and we raised 3 kids. But when you are on a peaceful campsite and just want to relax, this was certainly not part of the bargain.

With this said…

So with the above being said, we would have to say, if you were near Gunter Hill campground, stay Sunday afternoon then high tail it out of here by Thursday or you will not enjoy yourself at all.