Panther Flat Campground

I was (as far as I could tell) the only one camping here apart from the host, who I never interacted with. Drinking water and bathrooms that flush! Sites are pretty close together but heavily wooded, and there is a short path down to the river. Nothing special but a nice peaceful place for the night. NO service (Verizon) till you get closer to town.

Campgroung is along the designated wild & scenic Smith River. No potable water when we were there (June 2018), but flush toilets working & paved pads nice. Several sites are first come, first served. If they get potable water figured out and showers open, this place is hard to beat for value in redwood country. Only negative was some yahoo left their 2 dogs chained to a tree all day for 4 days and they barked constantly. So inconsiderate of their pets who were obviously afraid and for the campers who had to hear the barking day and night. Staff was tiring to address issue and eventually succeeded. Nice place.

If you're traveling south on 199 from Oregon into California, you'll pass a number of campgrounds along the way. If it is late at night and you're ready for a break from the twists and turns, pull into Panther Flat for a nice, private (if not quiet) wooded campground with a scenic river. The sites are fairly flat and a number of them will accommodate a 40ft RV (albeit, your toad will cost extra and may have to park elsewhere). The standard picnic table and fire ring is provided. Bathrooms are standard flush and showers are available at a cost from $0.50-$3.75 depending on how long you want the water to run. Mobile signal is spotty, however US Cellular (via Google Fi) offered the best service.

Mobile Signal - Standard / Boosted
US Cellular: 3G (0.25Mbps / 1.1Mbps) / 4G LTE (5.1Mbps, 1.2Mbps)
Verizon: Voice Only (weak) / Voice Only (strong)
Sprint: NA
Tmobile: NA
AT&T: NA

We managed to get our 30 ft fifth wheel in site 7 with enough room to park our truck. Our unit was probably the biggest that I would want in this park. Not too many other campers. Some showers were closed at this time. No cell service. Nice and quiet at night even though the highway is close. Sites are nicely spaced.

This campground has become one of my favorites I have been to over the last couple of years. The grounds itself is quiet, with a minimal amount of road traffic that you can hear from nearby 199. The area in convenient enough for exploring the Redwoods and surrounding areas as long as your willing to drive the beautiful 199 several times. Crescent City is the major town that is closest at about 20 minutes away, and they have everything as far as stores go that you could ever need, and a nice laundromat. The campground itself is easy to maneuver around, and we parked our 5th wheel with plenty of room to spare, and I believe I could of gotten a much larger rig into the area. All the sites are paved, fairly level, and include a nice area for a fire pit and tents. All the sites are separated enough for privacy, both from noise and eyesight. There is first come first serve sites, and reservation sites, when we arrived in late October the camp host informed us that all the sites were First come for the rest of the season. Trash and recycling is very convenient here, however getting water to fill your tanks is not, so I recommend arriving with your water tanks filled. Water is available, however you cant hook a hose to the spigots, and its a slow fill of about 30 seconds/ gallon. We only had 1x coverage with Verizon here, we could do some data, but it was very limited. Nearby Crescent City has good cell data coverage.

Very nice campground, good privacy, clean showers and bathrooms. Coin-operated showers. At only $15/night, we decided next time we would just stay at this campground to hike in Redwoods National Park. Myrtle creek trail near mile marker 7.07 is beautiful with 15 informative stations. Parking for trailhead is on northbound side of 199. Rangers at Smith River visitor center were very friendly and helpful, definitely worth a stop.

Nice place, very close to the highway, which is a bit noisy. Bathrooms were clean and well maintained. Shower was 50 cents for a generous 3 minutes (more like 4.5 when timed). Site was flat, nicely paved, and free of trash. Cell signal (AT&T) is ok near the entrance / host, if your phone isn’t in your pocket.

This campground cost $20/night for my SUV and trailer (the campground’s website indicates these count as two vehicles- $15 for the first; $5 for the second).

Pros: Decent location near Northern Redwoods
The sites are spacious and fairly private, with nice-looking picnic tables and fire pits.
The grounds have clean bathrooms, with flush toilets.

Cons: I assume you’re paying for the location, but for the limited services, $20 seems pretty steep to me.
While pretty, the campground’s scenery didn’t wow me.
I visited in mid-March and while the website lists this site as having potable water, there was no handle on the spigot (I would think we would’ve been clear from freezing temperatures, but perhaps not).
The campgrounds signage was slightly confusing- I wish the signage had specified what qualifies as “vehicles” and what pass qualifies as an interagency pass, which would require further research on the website. Which brings me to- you couldn’t research on the site if you wanted to- no cell service (T-mobile and AT&T).
There’s limited services within a reasonable driving station- one gas station that was closed by 7:30 on a Saturday evening. So fuel up before driving here!

Verdict: I had a pleasant enough experience but would only stay again if there’s no cheaper options in the Redwoods.

The drive and location is spectacular. We had no problem getting a site with no reservation but if you have a larger rig you may need to pass on this location. We have a 20’ travel trailer and it was right backing it in there. Once it was, the site was spacious. There is a river near by that is a lot of fun for the kids to play in or to go fishing on. Great place to spend a night or two!

While there are plenty of small sites, our 40 ft 5th wheel fit into site 8. We saw about 5+ other sites that would’ve fit a big rig. We came in Thursday afternoon in late May and only 3 sites out of 30ish were occupied. For some reason the reservable sites had signs on them noting they were reserved... for next week. So be sure to check the dates on those signs if you need one of those sites - they may still be open.

199 from Crescent City was some windy but very doable. Trees are close to the road.

The campground is so close to the Jedidiah Smith Redwood Park, the sites are gorgeous! Dense tree cover might make getting a full solar charge difficult. But the weather here is perfect - don’t need much heat and no a/c! Small amount of road noise during the day. We had 2 bars LTE ATT, which worked pretty good.

Fantastic campground - amazing find!