This was my first ever camping trip! I went as a guest with a family of 6. We had a great trip, but of course there are pros and cons. We stayed at site T1.
Pros: Well maintained site, bathrooms and showers were always clean, the trash seemed to be emptied every morning, our site was right across from the bathroom, nice and friendly staff, nice and hospitable campsite neighbors too. Due to miscommunication, we actually mistakenly set up on a platform campsite-- when the staff realized this on our 2nd day, they didn't make us move (although I felt bad for the people we likely inconvenienced). The staff is also not out to steal your money, if you make a request for a refund because of any issues--they'll give it to you. The lady even said that if we turned our rental bikes in a little late, she wouldn't charge us a late fee. There are electrical outlets, hooks for lamps, a nice campfire area, and a clean water spicket. Also, we didn't use it, but we noticed a dish-washing area on the park grounds. There was also a beautiful small waterfall to stick your feet in along the trail (except cars drove through it constantly) and we didn't use it either, but there was an indoor pool. We also enjoyed the pavilion area with about 30 or so people that we came with as a big group-- I added a picture of the projector used to watch a movie.
Cons: The biggest con was definitely the FLIES. They were everywhere, they flied in clusters all over the place, we estimated maybe a thousand (not exaggerating). it must have been our location in the back woods, because the family I went with has been going camping for years and they said this was there first time experiencing the multitude of flies. We did have a lot of food (however, the flies also lingered around the radio, the bare table, the folding chairs, basically anything) and even after we put all of the food away and cleaned up all the surfaces, the flies just lingered around all over the place. We tried the pennies in a bag of water trick--to no avail. For this reason, we couldn't wait to get out of there. Then at night, after the flies went away, we (and also our neighbors) faced large grasshoppers and other flying insects. On our second night we didn't put up as much light and they weren't nearly as bad. (note: the bug zapper worked pretty good at getting rid of them) As far as trails, the lady in the office said the perimeter trail would be okay for us ( a group of 7 women ranging from ages 17 - 65). She (and the trail sign) also said the trail would be suitable for the rental bikes. It was neither. The trail was downhill, uphill, rocky, with lots of tree stumps, and etc. There were minimal signs marking the trail--instead it was mostly spray paint on trees. It was confusing, some of the paints were very similar colors. Not to mention, we had to keep moving off to the side because of trucks and cars coming through-- what kind of walking trail is full of cars? it's not what i'm used to here in SC at least. The bikes were not bikes we were used to--they were road bikes I think... I'll post a picture. They were too big for us (17 yo female/ height 5'6.5; 19 yo female/height 5'4.5; 21 year old female/ height 5'6) and difficult to ride on the regular pavement, let alone that crazy trail of downhill and uphill rocks and tree stumps. We would have broke our necks. We took one look at the trail and went back to the office to return those death trap bicycles--they gave us our money back without any fuss.
Another thing that isn't really a con is that we were on a walk-in, walk-out site. We agreed that due to all the lugging of supplies back and forth down the hill, next time we'll just stick to the drive-up campsite. But it depends on your group and the amount of stuff you're bringing--we definitely over-packed.
That's all I can think of for right now. Overall, we had a great trip and wouldn't mind coming back--maybe to a different campsite not so deep...
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