Trying to reserve a site during the first summer following COVID lockdown was tricky and required us to stay in multiple standard non-electric sites over the course of five days. While our trailer arrangement didn’t require electricity and water, in hindsight it would have been worth trying to stay in the separate full hookup section of the campground.

The sites are mostly pull through which is fine as long as your site is on the passenger right (passenger) side of the one-way road. Otherwise, your living quarters side will be facing the road instead of the inner campsite. Due to emergency evacuation policy, camp staff/rangers prohibit you from parking your rig against the flow of traffic.

The bathrooms are dated but typical of a big national park. Showers are not provided at the bathhouse; you have to pay for them at the central Colter Bay visitor center/store.

Sites (the pull through) are mostly level, but not true for tent pads within the interior of the sites. A lot of the sites in loop A seemed to have suffered moderate erosion resulting in exposed roots.

Cell service is essentially non-existent and only available at the visitor center.

Strict on checkout times, but that’s understandable with the number of people trying to get into the park.

CG is centrally located to make for a relatively easy travel time to Jenny Lake or north to Yellowstone.

This is a beautiful state park campground located with easy access to the beach and the nearby beach town of Manzanita. We were only here for a couple of nights in May, but would absolutely return to spend an entire week.

The sites are relatively close together with minimal screening between them, so camping here in a RV or trailer may be preferable over tent camping, which is effectively what we did (modified toy hauler with outside living quarters). Suggest a site along the beach side for better access and breeze. The other sites along the other rows seemed buffered by trees, which could be a plus.

The bathrooms were some of the cleanest I’ve seen at a state park…a definite plus!

The beach is gorgeous here and with limited people. The town is ~5 min drive away and offers all the quaint beach-town options you’d ever want. Great Mexican restaurant along the main strip.

My family of three recently stayed there for six nights (site 57). As many have already mentioned, the campground is quiet, especially after 10pm. Everything is well maintained and clean. Well situated within Brewster, with a great small grocery store a two minute walk from the campground entrance. Centrally located to the sites and ports along the Cape (about 45 min to Provincetown, 35 min to Woods Hole for MV ferry). Reasonably priced for the location and campground amenities. The owner’s adult daughter is your main poc, but all the staff are incredibly helpful and can recommend things to see while on the Cape.

The showers/bathrooms were always very clean. The showers offered plenty of hot water and water pressure (these aren’t your typ state park showers!). Laundromat available at both bathhouses. I might add super hot dryers, so $1 and 20 min will dry most things. $3 for a standard washing machine load.

Lots of sites to select from. Most seem relatively easy to get into, based on the rigs there. Sites are level and ground cover is either grass, gravel, or wood chips. Didn’t notice bare ground at the sites. Ample variety of hookups from water only to full service. Good cell service (AT&T); free Wi-Fi offered by campground but a little weak in the back area near 57.

Only gripes I had was the lack of vegetation screening between my site and others, but suggest calling the camp host to get recommendations for a site that offers better privacy. Also, and admittedly this may be the nature of sharing a campground with big rigs, people typically leave on their travel trailer/class A exterior floodlights/amber lights till late in the evening. With the limited vegetative screening, and the tiered campsites due to the campground’s topography, it was hard for us to enjoy a naturally dark campsite while trying to enjoy a campfire. As mentioned, alternative sites there may not have this issue so call the staff beforehand.

We’ll definitely be back to this great campground that has been in business for more than 50 years!

The Good - this campground is a great basecamp for accessing the mountain bike trails available within the park. Sweet free ride areas, pump track, and trail network. Would definitely return for that access. Also super easy to access Boston via the Red Train at Braintree station ~20mins away. A fantastic Italian restaurant (The Venetian) in Weymouth is about ~15mins away.

The Bad - MA sticks it to the out-of-state visitors charging $54/night relative to only $17/night for MA residents. I paid less staying at a nicer private campground in Brewster on the Cape. (Campground cost details updated to reflect the full cost range for both in and out of state residents. In-state: $17 - $23 ($6 extra for electric site); non-locals: $54-$60 (non-electric and electric). https://www.mass.gov/service-details/camping-fees

The Ugly - Bathrooms were filthy, and the trash cans were overflowing and looked like they hadn’t been emptied for days, even though there weren’t an unusually high number of campers during our two night stay. The individual campsites were so-so.

Bottom line - if it wasn’t for the mtn bike trails and proximity to Boston, suggest staying elsewhere. That’s the reason for two stars and not one.

Public campgrounds are pretty limited in this part of VT, so we ended up at Gold Brook CG. This is definitely best for RVs/travel trailers where you can escape inside your unit because this place gets busy on the weekend. We visited in early June before the high season, so the crowds were minimal during the week but busy on the weekend. We personally would prefer more seclusion/privacy between the sites since we tent camp. All that said, the plots are level, grassy, and seemingly well maintained. The bathroom facilities were clean and nice; washer and dryer room available. Too cool for the pool but looked nice. We stayed in site 12, though next time i believe we’d opt for something further down to be closer to the creek. While we were next to the creek at site 12, it was blocked by brush and trees.

Check in was easy, and the staff were present enough in case you had questions or needed to buy firewood. Road noise was moderate; I wouldn’t want to stay in sites 1-11 due to the proximity to the road.

The campground served as a good ‘basecamp’ for accessing Stowe and other surrounding attractions.

Can’t speak to the negative review re cancellations, but my experience with the staff was all positive and received relatively prompt responses to questions.

Well maintained campground with most sites situated within easy access to Lake Hartwell. A short drive to Clemson via country roads. Stayed in site #12 with tents so the orientation and split level site weren’t an issue. However, as someone else has mentioned re this specific site, it could be tricky to get a trailer into this slot. Personally, I think the sites located in the 01-23 loops offer more secluded sites to select from than the rest of the campground. Many offer easy access to the lake for boating or beach playing. Skunks are not afraid of humans and will wander into your campsite in broad daylight with you there. Knocked off a star for the bathrooms which were dated and dirty with poor lighting; wife didn’t feel comfortable using them at night. They likely don’t get much use if the number of self contained RVs we saw is any indication of the typical visitor. Regardless of the bathrooms, we’ll be back. The support staff/hosts were very friendly and available for questions. Hard to reserve spots due to location on the lake and relative to Clemson, especially during football season.

Per call with Cheoah Ranger District office on 3/22/2022, the Tsali campground will open 4/15/2022, and close 10/31/2022.  The status note at the top of this page is incorrect.  

Great place to go to ride and camp!  Typically crowded on a summer weekend…have to arrive early since it has historically been first-come/first-serve.