No matter what, you have to drive about 10 miles on a narrow gravel road through a beautiful valley to get to the campground. A babbling brook, fireflies, birds, lots of stars, cool nights, and most campers are into some kind of outdoor activity, which creates commonality and an early to bed and early up crowd. The camping lots have no hook ups, just the things you would like to find when arriving on a bike. A picnic table, a lamp post, a fire ring, a grill, a parking spot and a smooth, flat surface for a tent. Water from the two faucets at the bath houses is cool and as tasty as can be. All that is 5+ star rating. But
Two bath houses each with only two gender separated toilets (one each per gender, bring your birth certificate to stay out of jail) and separate showers. High pressure toilet flush in both bath houses was either not working or not working properly (men's room). Host was hard to find and NC State Park reservation rules need tweaking. At Mortimer, one week in advance only two places were reserved but all others were set to first come first serve (FF) At arrival all FF were 1 night only and 7 places had reservations. I understand the reason to prohibit fire wood from outside but not having firewood for sale makes it a bit cumbersome. I would have wished for a trail map at the entrance kiosk to inform about the trails that start at the campground. Be better prepared than me and download (no network or wifi in the area) maps or bring paper.