Closest Access Point: Smoke Lake (Access Point #6)
Distance To Access Point: 7 KM (1.5 hours)
Difficulty of Travel From Access Point: Easy
Maintenance Level: Regular
Date of Visit: June, 2020
This is a nice, big campsite in the north part of Ragged. It’s the first one on the western shore when you’re coming south and it’s probably a great option if you’ve just spent three hours fighting a headwind down Smoke and need to get out of the boat before the kids tear each other apart. I’d recommend this for families and larger trips as there’s plenty of space.
Terrain: Nice and flat. There’s a small rise up from the shoreline, maybe 6-8 feet of gradual incline. The ground itself is mostly covered with pine needles and the occasional root/rock. There’s a lot of space here.
Tent Sites: Tons of tent spots. There doesn’t even seem to be much reason to put a picture of a specific spot, because this site is full of them. You could just close your eyes, spin around in a circle and throw your tent and where that lands would probably work. You could easily fit five or six tents here, although I think the Park has limits on that.
Canoe Landing: There’s a long stretch of beach that works great as a canoe landing. The site is on a small point and the beach starts at the tip of the point then wraps around to the west. You can pull up pretty much anywhere along here. There aren’t any significant underwater obstacles or things to bang the canoe on as you paddle in.
Fire Pit: The fire pits (yes, plural) on this site are pretty impressive. The main pit is in the middle of the site and is so big that someone has built a rock wall through the middle of it and created two fire pits. You could have one fire for warmth and one for cooking. Or one for roasting marshmallows and one for burning evidence. The possibilities are endless. There is also a second, not so sure it’s supposed to be there, fire pit a little distance away. It’s built against the flat side of a large rock, so it kind of looks like a natural fireplace. In other words, you’re going to be okay for places to put fire.
Swimability: Seems pretty swimmable. That nice gradual canoe landing would also make for a nice, gradual swim entry.
Thunderbox: It’s a good distance back from the site. There’s a small yellow bathroom sign showing you the way, so it shouldn’t be hard to find at all. It looks to be in good shape as of now, but my guess is it gets pretty gross by the end of the summer. I imagine this is a well used thunderbox.
Accessories: There are a couple of thing tree trunks attached to some other trees that act as a drying wrack, but that’s about it. The logs around the fire pit exist, but I’ve definitely seen better benches.
Views: This is a pretty enclosed site. There are trees along most of the shoreline, with the exception of a break where you can walk down to the canoe landing. The net result is a darker seeming site and not much of a view unless you’re down at the landing. From the landing you’ve got a nice view of the small island just across the water to the south. You can also see north around the tip of the point back towards Smoke. But, to be honest, I wouldn’t pick this site for the views.
Notes: This is an okay site. It is definitely serviceable and has some good qualities (like tons of room and pretty awesome fire pits). It’s not going to seem very secluded as it’s right on the main artery shout of Smoke. It seems like a good spot to take the kids or a large group of first timers.
Related Trip Report: Day Tripping’: Ragged, Wisp and More.
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