Upon arriving, we discovered this park has half of the sites, and most larger sites, filled with long-term guests that appear to have been there for a while. Long enough to accumulate junk strewn about, including an old fiberglass shower stall.
Online at Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks we found a list of park rules for Mississippi State Parks. After all rules are listed, page 21, number 23 states a?oNote: All rules and regulations set forth above do not apply to Shepard State Park which is being operated and maintained by the City of Gautier for the State of Mississippi.a??
Wea?Tve been to a couple of Mississippi State Park Campgrounds in the past and were very pleased with them. We expected the same standards to be met at this park as we believed before arriving that it was a state park. On the website, www.shepardstatepark.com, we do not see stated anywhere that it is not. It would be helpful to travelers if their website would inform potential campers that their rules are not the same as state run Parks, so that they would know what atmosphere to expect. It is very misleading that it appears to be a State Park, when it is not.
Also, we were woken up at 4:00am Saturday morning to the sound of a truck engine revving repeatedly as if it was trying to pull something and the next morning at 1:00am by the sounds of loud arguing and profanity.
On the plus side, the trails are nice, and the bathroom/showers were well lighted outside and inside and had hot water and a separate changing area with a bench and hooks. The areas for disc golf and archery also appear to be great amenities for those that enjoy those sports.
I guess we learned that we should always check ahead to see if where wea?Tre booking is a trailer park or a campground.