Not crowded on the weekend
I'm not sure why every website I've read says to avoid the weekends. I went on a Saturday, maybe 10 campers in all, and I was told by the Ranger that there were only 4 families on Friday night. There was no soap in the camping restrooms but plenty of toilet paper, no street lights, no lights outside of the restrooms, but inside the restrooms were well lit. The nighttime sky WAS FANTASTIC. I've never camped without a streetlight around, but it was great. I could even see the milky way. I haven't seen the milky way in about 15 years because of the city lights in my town. I felt like I was on planet Earth again. Wildlife: deer, raccoons, atleast 20 species of bird (finally saw a woodpecker), insects galore but NO MOSQUITOES!!!!! The different species of plants and lichen/brachen that you can find is amazing, the types of scat to classify is even better. Beware of the fire ants and red ants, the ants did not bother us at the tent, just around our car. The climb is easier than it looks. My daughters hiked in leather sport sandals. I don't care what anyone says, visit when the sun is hot and really warms up the rocks, at night the hills really do moan with contraction of the rocks. It was so COOL and CHEAP!