Redbud Campground

We stayed here in Oct 21 (sorry I'm just getting to the review.) It is a beautiful campground. You do have to drive on some gravel / washboard type roads to get here, but it is well worth it. It is $10 per night, $5 with the senior discount. The weekend we were here it filled up. Family reunion across the street had a fish fry and shared with us.

Each site has a picnic table, fire ring and lantern . There are 2 vault toilets in the campground as well as a water pump... after several gallons pumping water looses it's appeal, but it is available. There are also trash cans. There are lots of trails used by campers and day use alike.

We did make a video of the recreation area:
https://youtu.be/OkT-2swrxi0

Clean & Organized campsites (21 total) deep in gorgeous Bell Smith Springs. Campsites are large enough to pull rig, 5th wheel, campervan or rv into camp. Fire ring with grill • picnic table • several vault toilets spaced throughout • one potable water source at entry // exit of 21 campsite campground loop road. Friendly folks. A few 3+ day campers, more often 7 or 8 evening in/morning out campers on rotating basis. $10/night basic ($5/night with “America the Beautiful” pass). No electric. Beautiful campsites nestled in the Shawnee National Forest. Immediate access from campground to 2 popular hiking trails in Bell Smith Springs : Sentry Bluff Trail ( a 3.7 mile “easy/moderate loop) & Natural Bridge (2.0 miler rated “easy”). Self-pay station•first come first serve appears to work here. 🙂

This campground was perfect! Surrounded by nature and hiking trails, you’ll find 21 campsites (all without electricity). It’s $10/night and there’s a self pay station. There are 2 vault toilets (one has the handle broken off the door) but both super clean and fully stocked. I arrived around 3:30pm on a Friday and about half the camp was full. Upon departure the next morning, there was maybe 1 empty spot. There is a drinking water spigot near the first bathroom and also trash cans. The sites near the front allow for charging solar panels so that’s where I stayed. Towards the loop, there is much more tree coverage. I had 1 bar of LTE through AT&T at the front of the camp but lost service back in the loop. Overall, beautiful campground and will be back!

Very bumpy road to get there, but worth the trip. Just be careful on the road and take it easy. The campsite sits on a pretty high elevation, so no worry about flooding. Very tall pine trees around the campsites.

Campsites are gravel roads And relatively level.. Most have a fire ring of some sort, and a lantern post of some sort. We camped there memorial day weekend, and was probably about 1/3 full. I don’t think it gets a lot of action, since it is out in the middle of nowhere. Also, we had the only camper in the campground. Everyone else was a tent camper.

Very nice and clean vault toilets available. There is an old pump for water available for drinking, but it is very difficult to pump. Me and my 30-year-old son took turns pumping hard and fast and it took us about five minutes to get 5 gallons of water. No other amenities available. If you have solar, it will be tough to use at this campground, since most campsites are very well shaded.

There’s a pretty nice trail system for hiking right on site. Also, less than 5 miles away is great hiking at Jackson Falls.

The best campsite is campsite number 17. Very roomy, lots of shade of mature trees, and no real neighbors.

We didn’t get there in time for 17, so we got campsite 12. It is across the road from a nice vault toilet. It is also a very nice campsite. The great thing about campsite 12 is there’s actually a little sub camp behind it that could be used for a tent or a small camper. Two campsites in one!