Lake Springs

Lake Springs Recreation Area is one of the most popular parks on J. Strom Thurmond Lake, located on Georgia State Highway 221 within twenty minutes of Augusta, Georgia. The 70,000-acre lake and its 1,000+ miles of shoreline provide excellent boating, water skiing, swimming, fishing, hiking and picnicking. A $5 per vehicle day use fee is required to enter the park. All Federal Passes are accepted. Payment can be made on site, credit card only, no cash accepted. The boat ramp and fishing pier are open year-round. All swim beaches, picnic tables and group shelters close after Labor Day, September 6, and reopen April 28, except the Deer Run beach, tables and group shelter, which are open year-round. Lake Springs is a wooded day-use area with four group picnic shelters, each provided with water and electrical hookups. Other amenities include flush and vault toilets, drinking water, a boat ramp, dock, fish cleaning station, playground and lookout tower. Thurmond Lake provides some of the best fishing, hunting and water sports in the southeastern United States. Anglers fish for largemouth bass, bream, crappie, catfish and striped bass. Hikers have access to many miles of trails in the immediate area: within the recreation area is the 1.8-mile Lake Springs Loop, and outside the park stretches the 27-mile Bartram Trail, which meanders along the scenic shoreline and through Wildwood Park, with shorter sections hikeable from several intersecting trailheads. Hot, humid summers and mild, pleasant winters characterize this heavily wooded area on the shore of Thurmond Lake. A mixed pine and hardwood forest covers the site, providing summer shade and fall color, and elevation is 345 feet above sea level. Wildlife is abundant, and visitors regularly see southern bald eagles, migratory waterfowl, wild turkeys and whitetail deer. Nearby cities house museums, art galleries, zoos, restaurants and shopping areas, and the Augusta National Golf Club hosts the Masters Golf Tournament annually the first week of April.