Panther Flat Campground

I really like this site. It has everything that I could want. The camp host I had in 2022 was much friendlier though.

Campsite 16 was very spacious, can fit multiple tents. Right next to the bathrooms with showers, to potable water and next to the trail that leads to the river/swimming hole, which is perfect for a hot summer day. Not very private since people walk back and forth through the day.

Our site was in the middle row across the field from the bathrooms and a short walk to the path down to the day use area and the best beach access point (which is unmarked but obvious). Other campers were LOUD (maybe bc it was a full moon?) but mercifully stopped screaming just in time for quiet hours. Campfire smoke made air quality really gross and whole family got throat/nose infections after our stay, but site was large, well equipped/maintained and it is a great location for enjoying the Smith/Six Rivers area.

Not overcrowded
Quite campground, but the highway traffic nearby
Small swimming hole great for young kids
Showers hot water with no adjustments
Plenty of room for two tents
It’s worth the drive to Jedediah Smith State Park day use and then cross the little bridge to stout grove redwoods for a majestic hike, low impact

Nice place to stay for couple days, there is Red Wood not so far, hot shower, river...

It was quiet, clean, the tent sites were flat and private, the bathrooms were clean.

This is our second stay at Panther Flat and we had a disappointing experience this time around (July 2023). We arrived at the campground on a Wednesday night around 8pm to find our reserved site was occupied by a large group with 3+ cars and tents parked at our site. The campers looked puzzled as we pulled up to double check that the "reserved" sign that did in fact have our name and dates of stay listed. They told us that a ranger came by and told them they could occupy the space, as no one had it reserved until a couple days later. They claimed the sign must have been updated while they were not paying attention. It was getting late so we made our way over to the on-site hosts with one of the people occupying our reserved site, who mentioned to the hosts that they were just starting dinner and would need at least 2 hours to move their belongings from our site. The hosts were actually off duty (their off days are Tues/Weds) but without cell service, there wasn't much else we could do. The hosts didn't seem to have a proper solution for our issue, and simply offered for us to park down in the day use area to spend the night as they didn't want to move the folks that took over our reserved site. They claimed we would be refunded for our one night reservation and promised us a better solution in the morning.

An apologetic ranger visited us in the morning and moved us to a random site near the bathrooms for our next night. The refund obviously never came, nor did the hosts check in on us the next day. To have spent the time researching the best site for our setup (6 months in advance), pay extra online reservation fees, and then get kicked out of our reserved site to an area with no showers and pit toilets was disappointing to say the least. The camp hosts and rangers really need to be more vigilant and they need a better system to ensure reserved sites are occupied by the correct individuals.

TLDR; your reservation means nothing, so have a backup plan!

Love the location, easy walking access to Smith River. Busy campground, little privacy, but we had friendly neighbors. Fire pit had a grill grate, adjustable height. Lots of twigs around to help start fire. Bathrooms were stocked and fairly clean.

Name tag on site was great, love that feature, very professional!

Generator was stolen while we slept. Noisy neighbors.