Melton Hill Dam
Melton Hill Dam Recreation Area is a Tennessee Valley Authority managed area close to home and usually has last minute sites available for the weekend. All of the campsites are on the upper side of the dam on Melton Hill Lake (the lower side is Watts Bar Lake).
Our first trip to Melton Hill was the inaugural outing in our new to us (1986 Jayco) pop up camper as we have always tent camped in the past. This was also a quick overnight, get acquainted, trip so we could start our camper experience! We also joined Good Sam after getting the camper.
This little PUP was structurally in good condition and didn’t leak when we acquired it but did need some TLC. Prior to this trip we replaced the tires which we got rather inexpensively from Wal-Mart online with FREE shipping direct to my garage! We also opted to grab Reflectix from Lowe’s to place between the canvas and windows to keep the camper cooler. I’m thoroughly convinced we would have melted in the Tennessee heat without this as we were placed in a site with a LOT of sun. The site also wasn’t set up for us to use the awning as the picnic table and fire pit were down the stairs. The plus side of this site was that it was on the hill and provided a decent view of the lake and campground.
The campground has plenty of walking trails and a “designated” swimming area that is roped off to provide some form of protection for swimmers but there is no lifeguard so swimming is at your own risk. K and J enjoyed some time in the water and made a couple camp friends in the process.
There are plenty of areas to fish from the bank within the recreation area on both sides of the dam but no pier. There is also a camp store but they did not have live bait on hand. There is, however, a really nice bait store between the dam and the interstate that has everything you could imagine and then some so I would definitely recommend paying them a visit if you plan on fishing.
A couple weeks later we decided to visit Melton Hill a second time for a full weekend stay. This time we knew which sites we didn’t want so we were able to book a more accommodating site for our needs. We also knew a “little” more about camping in a pop up camper so we were a bit more prepared. We also ordered heavy duty survival blankets prior to this trip to go over each bunk end. These helped to further reflect the sun away from the camper and help reduce the humidity inside.
This site allowed plenty of room to attach the awning to the PUP and use our canopy for shade over the picnic table as we’ve grown attached to having the shade wall for storage of things around camp. This site was also close to the water so we didn’t have far to walk to fish throughout the weekend.