Green Ridge is the place to go if you’re looking for a rugged, isolated forest. It has 100 primitive drive-up campsites (fire ring and picnic table, no facilities), and countless more “overflow” sites with a fire ring if it happens to be full when you arrive. For me this is the place to go for car camping—bear in mind that some of the back roads are pretty rough so you’ll ideally want a car with decent clearance. There is also backcountry camping with a few shelters on the trails. Camping is $10 per night–if you show up when the ranger station is open the nice folks there will give you a site. They’re pretty knowledgeable and can help you find something that will best suit what you’re looking for. I think there’s self registration if you arrive after hours.

COVID update: in May, and from what I’ve heard since, the ranger station is closed and it’s first come first served throughout the forest. More or less a free for all from my experience in May—you will definitely need a good map with the numbered campsites and suggest downloading offline navigation to your phone.

Photos—campsite #53; overflow site near site #19; backcountry shelter on pine lick trail.