Racoon Ridge Campground (Sites 102-163)

I had a good experience with one night in early May without a reservation. Overall the campground is well organized and relatively well kept. I particularly enjoyed that the showers actually have a hot and cold faucet and you could actually take a long shower. Check out was also a generous 2 pm but perhaps that was because the campground was pretty empty when I was there.

I was able to ride the mountain biking trails and return to my campsite to take a shower before having to check out.

We van camped (6/7/2017) in a non-electric site at Raccoon Ridge Campground which has both non-electric & electric sites. The other 2 campgrounds - Buffalo Ridge & Taylor Ridge - are electric. Buffalo Ridge is a more open, park-like setting. Raccoon Ridge has trees and some open areas. Taylor Ridge is mostly wooded. Our site was larger, sloped slightly downhill, but flat in the back. When reserving, I did pay attention to the grade description. A few sites in Raccoon Ridge were mounded for level parking, but the fire ring and tent spots were down the hill, below the mound. We noticed in Raccoon & Taylor campgrounds, many sites had more space between them, but some were fairly close. Non-electric was $16/night, but $19 Thur-Sat.

Bathrooms - vault toilets were totally enclosed, like new (or newly painted), clean, and had air fresheners. The shower house had flush toilets and 4 shower stalls. They also had soap dispensers, mirrors, hand dryers, electrical plugs. Two shower stalls had nice shower heads; 2 had what looked like water saving heads. Shower was nice (I used the non-water-saver), but the water temp seemed to be only hot & hotter. Water spigots were in various spots; there was a centralized trash bin & recycling bins for cans & plastic.

Phone service - most all the time, 2 bars LTE (AT&T). Free Wi-fi was available but spotty; it was accessible at the Nature Center, Park Office and at the lodge.

We arrived during the week (Wed), and even though it was about half full, Raccoon Ridge was peaceful, with birds & squirrels about. There was fan noise from the shower house, so we were glad we picked a site at the end of the loop.

This state park is beautiful, with lots of great hiking, an interesting nature center, two small lakes (no swimming in them though), awesome vistas, mountain bike trails, Olympic-size pool, a camp store, even a horseman's campground. We'll be back!