Swartswood State Park Campground

We had reservations for 2 nights and only stayed one in Aug 2016.

Check-in was at the park entrance. We were told to drive in a loop to the parking lot and come inside to check in. The parking lot was not designed for towing vehicles. Larger rigs should park in the beach parking and walk over.

The campground has two sections. What they call shaded grass sites (I'd call partial to full sun sites.) Then there is fully wooded sites and I'd agree to that description. The wooded sites are labeled as tent camping and the sites on the grass can accommodate trailers and RVs. There were a few wooded sites that we could have gotten into with our 21 foot trailer, but not many. The road in this section was narrow which is also a consideration for anyone towing. There are also 5 yurts that are in a separate loop.

Sites have a picnic table and fire ring. It is dry camping, no hook-ups. No generators, no pets, no alcohol (yeah, right), and no flying drones. The bath house was modern, clean, and had free showers.

There are MANY signs and notices that you are camping in bear country and must store food and coolers properly. Even their dish washing station at the bath house is inside an enclosed room. The swimming area doesn't have trash cans, but they give you a garbage bag to carry out your trash.

There is a sandy beach for swimming in Swartswood lake when lifeguards are on duty. I think the times are 10 am to 6 pm Memorial day through Labor Day. There is a concessions stand at the beach. The park offers boat rentals for something like $15/hour.

Quite hours are 10 pm to 6 am. The reality was that the campground was still rocking at 1 am on the Friday we were there. We were glad quite hours ended at 6 am because we packed up and left as soon as we could. I would not stay here again on a weekend. I doubt I'd stay any other time either. We were hot without hook-ups, the lake was okay but not enough to keep the teenagers entertained, and it's really in the middle of no where. I do think if it wasn't so hot and during a quiet weekday the experience could be better.