Visited Pineknot Campground last weekend and had a good time with friends. We were at site 9 which backs onto the Forest Service Rd. Site 9 was spacious and had enough room for our big 4 person car camping tent and two more 3 person backpacking style tents. We were super close to the restroom but not so close that there were any smells or people constantly walking around our site. The site layout also had the tents a bit away from the fire ring so that the campfire smoke had enough distance to dissipate before it reached the tents. The only bad thing was that there was a slight slope, but I noticed it was a bit better than other sites. Also we did not feel like we were too close to the neighbors.
For the campground in general...
PROS:
- super close to stores, restaurants, and other amenities. So close that cooking is not necessary if for whatever reason you don't want to cook during your visit.
- flush toilets that were clean
- picnic table, fire ring, grill, and bear boxes at each site
- firewood sold on site ($8 CASH per bundle)
- camp host was friendly and made rounds in his golf cart to check on people
- potable water
CONS:
- super close to city. This can be a negative for those people who want a more secluded experience.
- could use more toilets
- no showers
- $8 CASH parking per day for 2nd vehicle
- some sites are very close together and most sites have a slope of some kind
- the site can be dusty. There isn't any grass so the ground is just loose dirt that kicks up easily.
- POLLEN OVERLOAD!!! I have never seen so much pollen in my life. Everything from our cars to our equipment, cooking gear, etc. was blanketed in green-yellow pollen. One of us had a bad reaction to the pollen and was miserable for two days due to the pollen.
- poor cell coverage. zero service for AT&T and T-Mobile. Verizon guy in our group had no problems.
Overall I would rate my camping experience here a 6 or 7 out of 10 but out of our group of 6 people, 3 of them rated the experience 8/10. I would prefer a more secluded site but Pineknot would work well for families with small children or people that just want easy access to the town.