Frank Jackson State Park, Alabama, is oriented on the use of Lake Frank Jackson near Opp, AL. It has a day use area, and a campground, both adjacent to the water. I found out that it was one of those minor state parks where you won’t find a gift shop, and you won’t really escape into the wilderness or anything, but you can certainly enjoy yourself for a day.
For camping purposes there are several camp sites oriented for RVs (tents okay on RV spots) and a specific section just for tent campers too. I stayed in a tent amongst the RVs because the lake front area they were placed on was closer to the main bathrooms and it faced the prettier view of the lake. The tent only sites were oriented toward more of a swampy section of lake where gator sounds could be heard. Do note that this lake has numerous gator warning signs. Meanwhile the camp sites are visited by lots of cats at night, of the small adorable variety.
The day use area consists of a little tree shaded park and picnic zone, boat ramp and bridge leading out to a small nature trail on an island on the lake. “Hiking” the island will only take 30 minutes of your time, and then you’ll need to figure out how to spend the rest of your visit making use of the lake and a few little “trails” leading around the day use area that don’t really count as hiking. If you’re here, you either came for the lake or you came to camp. This is down the road from Conecuh National Forest, so it might also be considered a place to camp while trekking into the forest for the day.
