Redtail Campground — Mary Minerva McCroskey State Park

We stayed here for a night midweek after the Memorial Day weekend and had the whole campground to ourselves. Beautiful unobstructed views to the East, South and West. Initially pulled in under a large dead ponderosa pine tree and decided to move to another spot to avoid windfall. The water from the spigot was cold and lovely - filled up all our jugs.

Take a night or two to visit this nearly unused campground. What a wonder. You are on the Ridgeline between two valleys with views of the horizons of 50 miles or more. To the east ot is very much like the views in the Smokey mountains. Not a lot of shade at this campground. Great for solar and Skylink. ATT and Verizon were 3 plus. Make certain the chores are done and the drinks are made before the light show begins at sundown. Vault toilets, picnic tables and fire rings. Sites at this campground are reasonably flat and deep but not a lot of room for pop-ups.

Camping here is free.

My only criticism is the distance between signs on a very small road. A few more signs would be reassuring. For this campground, head generally south on Skyline Drive until you think you should be there, then go 2 more miles.

Central potable water by the privy.

There's not a lot of choices for camping in this area, but we ventured off hwy 95 and traveled about 9 miles to the Redtail campground. Had the campground to ourselves. It was nice. There was potable water but it was turned off. The restroom was clean. Had good cellphone service. Not enough trees for shade from sun. But it was free Camping.