Shirttail Creek

Shirttail Creek Campground has the potential of being one of the best-kept secrets in the area for camping and swimming. I was disappointed when my group site at another campground was cancelled so we quickly grabbed four spots at Shirttail Creek so our families could be together but have individual family units. The campground is lovely, however not very well maintained. The restrooms were not cleaned properly which was a big concern for our group during the Covid Pandemic. We saw the host simply pour some sort of chemical (Likely ammonia) in the vault toilets but never clean the room or the toilet itself. The smell of the toilets overwhelmed the area. I'm fairly certain that vault toilets should get pumped similar to porta-potties on a regular basis. The trash bins were 3-yards and although several around the campground, they were all stuff to the top with trash encouraging a Yellow Jacket party! The flies were also out of control in and out of the restrooms and trash bins. It made for very unpleasant meals as our camp was very close to both restroom and trash. The camp host needed to call for service or come up with an alternative solution.

The camp host were nice but the guy seemed to be a little defensive and accused us of one of our reservations being cancelled only to discover the person who parked in our spot was there on the wrong weekend. Basically said, your reservation was cancelled and these new folks have your site. DO YOUR HOMEWORK first before accusing guests of doing something they did not do.

Overall, the reservoir was the best swimming of the summer. The water was warm, clean and clear. You could see to the bottom most of the time. And the campsites had tables, BBQ, firepits and bear boxes (Thank you). I hope to come back again. Hopefully, they will figure out better maintenance practices.

The camp ground is beautiful! The lake is a no wake lake ,so it’s a quiet and peaceful place to visit. Camp sites are large and spread out. Just like most places right now, with the pandemic ,it’s very busy. Unfortunately there was one camper who chose to run a generator most of the day! I have a RV and there is a place and a time for Quiet “RV” generators, noisy emergency power generators should be left at home.

great place, awesome lake

Nice camp sites close to lake. Very nice family friendly camping

Well maintained campground. Beautiful location.

Love the campground & the lake, been here many times. The camp hosts, particularly the lady are horrible. She yelled at people in front of small children and used racial slurs to the group next to us. Many of us were completely shocked the USFS would have such a person in their employ. We camp in our RV nearly 100 days a year all over & have never seen anything like this. Please remove them from hosting.

Are you looking for absolute quiet and serenity and a way to completely disassociate from other humans? This is probably not the campground for you. Do you have a family you want to entertain with some low key car camping and access to a clean place to swim? You'll love it! This is a campground full of RVs with generators and kids running around the campground loop and loud stereos blasting music and grown ups drinking their grown up beverages and people generally enjoying themselves with no illusions that they are doing a Walden-esque exercise in transcendentalism. (Quiet hours are pretty strictly enforced and the stereos and generators stop at 10 pm -- YMMV on the people, although I will say that listening to the guy one site over who thought he had bought a tent on Amazon, but much to his girlfriend's chagrin, had actually bought a mosquito net was highly entertaining... I didn't get the sense that they'd be back in the wilderness anytime soon.) The reservoir/lake is nice, but at least on the 4th of July, no one is really social distancing and definitely no one is wearing a mask. You can, however, cut through the trail between sites 6 and 7 to go down to the water and avoid the day use area, thus avoiding the crowds of people. Just find a quiet spot off trail to jump in the water -- it's all a lovely place for a dip and the water is clear, cool, and refreshing. The camp hosts are great, especially on the pandemic front, and stay more than six feet away from you as they sell you firewood ($1 per log) and dutifully disinfect the bathrooms every morning. The sites in the lower loop (i.e. 1-12) and anything inside the loops are fairly close to other sites. However, sites 23 and 24 (I had 24) poke outward into the woods and you can almost pretend you're alone (after 10 pm when the stereos stop, that is). Lots of space in 24 for me to set up a tent and a hammock and generally just enjoy my reading by the fire while indulging my fondness for s'mores.

Nice campsite; outhouse as expected, but lake is beautiful and camp is clean/safe. Con: Smokey from campfires blowing down hill into other sites. Overall: great for nature and relaxing walks around lake.

Camp site was very nice and clean and the lake was amazing

This was the worst camping experience in my 30+ years of tent camping. I had taken my 5 year old grandson camping for the first time and the group of 5-6 women on the adjoining camp site thought they were at their own personal bar. I don't mind people having a good time, but when you are so loud till midnight as to disturb other people's sleep it is discourteous. The camp host had been by at 10pm, but said nothing to them, and they never came by again. After this experience, I read some of the reviews and apparently this is common at this campground. Perhaps a more experienced camp host would be better for this campground.