Good spot for fishermen and birding, but the sites are not private at all. The electric sites are $30 a night and it’s an RV park with manicured lawns covered in tiny mammal poops and lawn trimmings and 1-2 palm trees per site. You get electric and water, but the water tastes very chlorinated. There’s at least 2 dishwashing stations. Great access to the beach, lots of shorebirds and skimmers, spectacular sunrise and sunset. The bathrooms are nice too, but far from the electric sites so it’s a hike or a bike ride to use them. Showers are hot and clean. The tent sites feel more private since it feels more nature-y on the beach and less like a neighborhood, and they each have a fire ring and picnic table. Mosquitos are a given for the region, as is heavy morning dew in January. Some great casual southern dining options nearby.

Harper Campground is designed for tent camping, $20 for unimproved and $30 for improved (electricity and water). If you have a $20 site, you have to bum water from one of the $30 sites. The restroom is nice and clean, showers are hot, and dumpsters are close to restrooms, but is a bit of a walk since the campground is so spacious. I rode my bike to use the bathroom. Enough brush to discreetly pop a squat if that’s your style. A small RV or camper van can easily fit in most of the sites. They’re quite spacious and only a couple (17 and 19) had mud pits. Every site is quite flat and clear and has good hammock trees. Sites 20 and up are not very private since the day use people can see right into your camp but otherwise they’re quite private since the shrubs are thick. Lots of cover meant less dew-covered gear in the morning. Each site had a nice wooden picnic table and fire pit. They sell small bundles of wet firewood for $6 a pop online and at the gatehouse so I recommend buying the regular sized dry bundles at the local supermarket a couple minutes down the road. Wildlife was good for birds, and we had an armadillo visit us all 4 nights! The history of the place is also really cool and we did not get any creepy vibes.

The campground is great for climbers looking to get an early start on all the routes nearby. It’s not a lot of privacy since all the sites are fairly close together and the vegetation is pretty thin, but it has all the regular amenities (picnic table, fire pit, flush toilet, hot shower, potable water). Access to the sites was easy for any 2WD sedan, every site was reasonably flat for pitching a tent. No firewood around to gather at all so bring your own. Kind of expensive for what it is, but it’s the best option for a drive-in campsite the night before climbing. Cell service ok for Verizon. There’s a hike-in campsite nearby too.

This campground is pretty tightly packed but is very close to the lake which is great for fishing without having to drive to the lake. The bathrooms were kept super clean by very attentive hosts. A burn ban was in effect but typically fires are allowed. The lake store is about another mile down the road and carries almost anything you’d need for camping or fishing.