About Fort Mountain State Park

3 things to cover here: 1. Platforms 2. Bears 3. Campground overall My husband and I went camping with four other friends on the platform sites. The platform sites start at 1 which is at the bottom and closest to the parking (though still pretty far) and steadily go up the mountain further from the parking, so make sure you are prepared to do a couple trips bringing in all your gear or else just pack light. The platforms themselves have a pretty low roof, if your tent has any standing room at all it won�t fit on the platform so try and get a site that is flatish so you can tent next to the platform. Platform 1 site is nice and flat with lots of space but doesn�t have a bear box; platform 2 site has a bear box that you�re supposed to share w 1 but has no flat area other than the platform to pitch a tent. Platform 3 is where we stayed, it had a bear box that you are supposed to share with 5 or 4 I think but has almost no flat area to put a tent and our tent was too tall for the platform. Platform 4 is across from 3 and looked nice and decently flat and I didn�t see 5 or 6 but my husband said5 was flat. They are all pretty far from the car and bathroom areas which was really nice. You can see the other platform campers from wherever you are but they aren�t that close. Lastly, this is definitely bear country but don�t be afraid just be prepared. Do not keep anything with ANY fragrance (toothpaste, chapstick, even wipes) outside of the car or bear box. There was a teenage bear who appeared the first afternoon across from our platform. I was cooking dinner and it obviously smelled it and wanted in on the grub. We shooed it off easily enough but after it retreated a ways it stayed put and continued to watch us. This told me off the bat that they are too accustomed to folks. It continued to appear off and on over the next few days. The next morning I heard a ruckus and luckily my groggy mind expected the bear to return and I realized it must be trying to get into our things, which it was. One of our storage bins had sunscreen in it that we forgot to take out and the bin now has some pretty scary battle wounds. There are 3 distinct claw marks and punctures in the bin. I scared it off easily enough but even a young bear is around 200lbs and can be kinda scary. Just be loud and big and bang pots and pans together. The campground itself is lovely. The lake has a beautiful path around it and there are some nice walks you can access easily from your campsite. I was amazed at how clean the bathrooms are! I don�t expect bathrooms to be nice when I go camping but these raised the bar. I definitely recommend the platform camping because it feels the most like camping, the other sites are too close together and you can hear and see everybody. Just make sure you get a flat platform area.