Staff Photo by Margaret Fenton Millie Kilgore holds out a fish to her grandchildren Justus Ellington, 6, far right, and Josiah, 1, and her daughter Jamie Ellington. Elbert Kilgore, center, helped Justus catch his first fish at Chester Frost Park on Tuesday afternoon. The family comes to the park for a week in the summer and in the fall to stay in the Kilgore's motor home.

For families looking for a low-cost vacation this summer, the answer could lie just beyond the tent flap.

Many families are finding that camping nearby can offer an inexpensive alternative to traveling hundreds of miles to stay in a hotel room.

The Martinez family, of Tunnel Hill, Ga., has been camping together for years, but this year it was more important than ever to save money.

"It's awful. I'm without a job right now," Mrs. Martinez said.

So instead of driving several hours to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park as they did last year, the family of six, plus three grandchildren, recently camped at Chester Frost Park in Hixson.

It's a place they have been visiting for years, and it's only a 45-minute drive from home. The cost for camping per night is as low as $11 for a "primitive" campsite, which means no water or electricity.

But for less than $20 a night, a family the size of the Martinezes can get a waterfront campsite with electricity and running water.

Noel McDaniel, the head ranger at Chester Frost, said he has seen the park grow in popularity over the years, even as rates for sites went up.

"The beach keeps getting smaller and smaller because we're so crowded," he said.

The recession appears to have driven more vacationers to outdoors stores, according to the Outdoor Industry Association.

A report from the industry trade group showed that outdoor equipment sales grew by 26 percent by the end of the first quarter compared to same period last year. Sales of tents, sleeping bags, backpacks, climbing gear and winter equipment soared in the double-digits in the quarter.

The group also reported earlier this year that the number of people camping overnight rose by 18.5 percent overall, and the number of people camping within a fourth of a mile of their residences or their car grew by more than 7 percent.

With the summer in full swing, many campsites locally are filling up, and the July 4th holiday seems to have brought campers out in droves. Tennessee has 36 state parks that offer camping. In Georgia there are more than 40, in addition to the national parks such as the Smokies.

Chester Frost is maintained by Hamilton County, and is the only county-operated park to offer camping. By mid-afternoon Friday, nearly all of the more than 200 campsites there had been taken, according to park officials.