Customer Reviews

The Best in Tent Camping: Tennessee & Kentucky: A Guide for Car Campers Who Hate RVs, Concrete Slabs, and Loud Portable Stereos

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I have known Johnny Molloy for nearly 20 years and he is one camping fool -- he has camped all over the place. And when he finally wrote a campground guidebook for his home state of Tennessee I just had to buy it.

Sure enough it's a winner.

Johnny covered all the highlights of Tennessee -- from the bluffs of the mighty Mississippi River at Fort Pillow to the wild shoreline of the Nolichucky River in East Tennessee.

I have taken him up on his recommmendation to hit Land Between The Lakes National Recreation Area, which Tennessee shares with Kentucky -- that place will surprise. Check it out. Johnny's got 4 campgrounds from LBL detailed in the book, among 60 total campgrounds.

I haven't yet explored Kentucky yet, but am planning a trip to Mammoth Cave and the Daniel Boone National Forest. Actually, I have the feeling Johnny is going to lead me to a lot of places I've never been!

The best thing I like about Molloy's book is that it tells me a lot of great new places to explore. I found Montgomery Bell State Park and it was just like he described. My family and I enjoyed the lakes, trails and especially the campground. Buy this book if you to branch out and see some new sites in Tennessee and Kentucky!

My girlfriend and I recently moved to Tennessee and were looking for the BEST places to go TENT camping. What do ya know... someone wrote a book called "The BEST in TENT Camping in TN..." One passage in particular caught my eye.. the one about Edgar Evins State Park. I believe Johnny's description stated "you literally pitch your TENT [people literally park RV's on these platforms] on a level platform notwithstanding that the ground recedes below you... The experience is akin to camping [parking] on a deck looking out on the land below. And I like it." A unique experience such as this right in our own backyard? We were off. We hate RV's, Concrete Slabs, and Loud Portable Stereos. To us the whole meaning of TENT camping is the return to nature, solitude, quiet, and good old fashioned roughing it. This particular park deferred from all of the above. The supposedly unique platforms were mereley individual parking lots spread vast inches from one another, and feet, maybe even yards away from Coke machines and showers; not to mention the electricity and running water ON EVERY PLATFORM. Oh, and the view was nonexistent as well. The lake view off the platform front was blocked by trees-what happened to looking out on the land below?; while the view off the back of the platform was, well, the road you drove in on... Yes, all of 60 platforms sang the same sad story.

Don't get me wrong. If you're an RV owner or a luxury camper you will love this campground! However, if you're looking for a book to direct you to the best TENT camping in TN or KY, ie a book entitled "The Best in Tent Camping: Tennessee & Kentucky..." this book may miss the mark. Although lovely in its own respects, Edgar Evins is more like a Motel 6 minus the roof, but fairly, at half the price. Johnny sighted this campground as the most unusual in the book. My warning is that "most unusual" claim turned out to be most dissapointing. Read with caution and research these sites outside of this book alone.

This book opened my eyes to all the camping destinations in Tennessee and Kentucky. I live in Knoxville, TN and had no idea all of these possibilities were around me!

Being so near the Smokies, I just always went there, but now I have branched out in my tent camping endeavors, checking out such places as Turkey Foot campground in Kentuckys' Daniel Boone National Forest. Mammoth Cave National Park also has a great tent campground, Houchins Ford.
My own state of Tennessee has cool destinations like Meriwether Lewis Memorial on the Natchez Trace. I always disdained west Tennessee but was surprised to find Fort Pillow State Park on the bluffs of the Misissippi River. Buy this book if you want to expand your tent camping horizons in Tennessee and Kentucky.
I highly recommend this book -- Molloy makes the information so engaging and interesting as well.

This book was in excellent shape and shipped very quickly. Not had a chance to read it yet but it looks interesting.

My family and I like to camp. I want my kids to experience "real" camping! Johnny's frank descriptions and extensive knowledge qualify him as a top-of-the-line outdoor writer. Not only do I enjoy his style, but his accuracy and thoroughness sets a standard. If I am looking for an outdoor book with his name on it, I will order it!