Airey Lake Campground In Mississippi
Date Visited: End of February 2020
Address: 160 City Road – Perkinston, MS 39573
GPS: 30.688574, -89.060417
Website: USDA
Phone: (601) 528-6160
Price: Free
Stay Limit: 7 days
Pets Allowed: Yes
Reservations: No reservations required
Restrooms: Flush Toilet
Trash Cans: Yes
Hookups: No
Water: Potable Water
Cell Service: 4G with Verizon
ALWAYS research campgrounds before visiting.
Rules and regulations may have changed since we stayed there.
Airey Lake campground is located in the De Soto National Forest in Mississippi. We didn’t stay here, but came here a lot for water and trash. We spent time in three other campgrounds in the area all within 15 minutes of this one. This campground has potable water by the restroom which has a flushing toilet. There is also a dumpster to throw your trash away.
Campsites are on a first come, first serve basis and are unnumbered. This place is a bit small and only a couple spots could accommodate an RV type vehicle and not anything larger than maybe 20 feet. There is plenty of room for tenters and group camping which we saw a lot of there. There are some picnic tables and fire rings scattered throughout.
There is a 3 acre lake with a very friendly group of ducks that seem to get fed a lot by the locals. We saw people fishing and even one person pull out their kayak, but I feel it’s a bit small for that. Hikers can access the Tuxachanie Hiking Trail from the campground. We hiked multiple parts of this trail while in the area and a nice time was had by all.
Camp in designated areas only and quiet hours are between 10:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. Place campfires in rings only and please don’t leave them unattended. Keep pets on a leash and ALWAYS follow the Leave No Trace Seven Principles.
Now let’s get to the reasons we spent 3 weeks in this area, but didn’t actually camp at this spot. First off it’s right off the road. So road noise is something you would for sure have to deal with. This place is packed on the weekends. Like I said before it’s not that big and peeps had tents everywhere as well as a couple small RV’s. Others were just fishing at the lake.
The next reason is there seems to be a little homeless issue in the area. This camp is used a lot by a homeless group according to locals. Though they don’t seem to cause any real problems they seem to make a mess and stay way past the 7 day stay limit. It’s a popular spot for them because of the restrooms and water being available. Our first trip there Dexter played with one of their dogs and the man and dog were nice.
Stay limits also seem to be an issue. The homeless group stays for sometimes a month at a time before being moved. I’ve even read comments on sites of people who are full-timers in RV’s and such saying they have spent weeks in the camp. PLEASE follow all stay limit rules. This is one major reason more free camps are shutting down across the country because rules are not being followed.
For a single night this is a great spot. If you would like to stay in the area longer there are a number of other camps to stay at that I believe are just better choices. Below I will link the three we camped at. This is a great spot to come to though for water and trash and very close to all the other camps. Plus you got to go visit the flock of Muscovy ducks there at least once.
Click on the links below to see the places we camped nearby:
Always follow the Leave No Trace Seven Principles and try to leave your camp nicer than you found it. Please research campgrounds before visiting. Rules and regulations may have changed since we stayed there.
