Pawtuckaway State Park has three sections: Big Island has a few good sites along and above Pawtuckaway Lake. Otherwise the Big Island campground is a ramble of inconsistent quality with many sites lacking grading and site preparation. A flat site? Dream on….One risks flooding the tent in so many of the sites. 

Horse Island probably has the best sites with water views and better shore locations except for a stretch of sites such as 44; 45; 46; 47; 56;54; 53; 58; 60; 68; 62…that seem to face a residential neighborhood across a narrow cove. A very good site on Horse Island is site# 1…but, there are several reasonable choices…if you disregard level site prep. 

Neals Cove has an extremely rough access road throughout the loop that needs A-Z maintenance and grading. What happens to vehicles on this road in wet seasons? 

Throughout the park be wary of sites with steep driveways both up and down and poor leveling and lack of grading. My site was# 90 on Big Island; and, it was so steep that I dared not put the car on the slope when rain was threatening. I noticed that site 156 was a good ADA site and since it was vacant overnight, I parked the car there. 

The campground was only about 10% full when I camped there in late September. This is a deep forest so all sites are shady.

Only 2 stars because of neglect and poor engineering throughout.