Stayed two nights at Tar Hollow's North Ridge Campground, which is the tent only campground. Be sure to visit the "Camp General Store" to pick up your permit before heading to your campsite. If your GPS takes you to the North Ride campground, just drive past and continue on until you see the general store/putt putt area. Believe the camp store is open until 8pm during the week.
We were on site 106, which is at the far end of the campground. The campground is about 2-3 acres large, situated on a hill with a path dug out around the perimeter.
Some positives about the campground and site 106:
-the path around the hill allows for great drainage; a huge help if you're camping in rainy weather.
-the north ridge campground is in an entirely separate area of the park than the RVs and there aren't many campsites, so in that way it feels a little more remote and secluded.
-In addition to the path around the perimeter of the campsite there is a path leading up through the middle of the campground with the campsites situated on either side of the path. Since site 106 is at the far end, you don't have anyone walking by your campsite to and from the parking lot.
-Pine lake is a beautiful little spot to fish, rent a paddle boat, or just relax. There is also a pretty spacious beach area.
-There is a water spigot, restrooms, and a dumpster.
-There is no cell service. Enjoy the outdoors! You are off the grid!
Some negatives about the campground and site 106:
-You cannot park your car directly at your campsite. There is a parking lot at the bottom of the campground hill. You have to carry your items to your campsite. Depending on what site you reserved you could have to walk uphill for about 100-150 yards. This could be an issue for differently abled people. Also, it means you need to be crafty about securing your food at night if you don't want to walk it back down to your car.
-Many of the campsites are situated on pretty intense slopes. 106 wasn't too bad. I would guess 105 is probably the most level site in the campground.
-Site 106 is the farthest from the parking lot. Great for privacy, bad for lugging your stuff to and from the car.
-The bathrooms are pit latrines. Normally, I wouldn't be too concerned about this (you're camping! it's cool to rough it a bit!) However…these are some of the dirtiest I've experienced. The bathrooms are also very narrow and perhaps most importantly, they are not lit, so you have to make sure you bring your headlamp with you at night. I also couldn't get the latch to lock on the doors, but maybe that was user error. There is toilet paper and hand sanitizer (but I always double sanitized with my own sanitizer back at our tent--such was the state of these bathrooms.)
-The campsites are all pretty close together. We got lucky and there was no one next to us, but even so we could still clearly hear conversations at other campsites and folks snoring at night.
-There is no cell service. Be sure to give anyone who may need to contact you a heads up.
All in all, we had a positive experience and were glad we went. That said, there are better spots to tent camp in and around OH.
