Best Dog-Friendly Camping near Bear Creek, NC

A family owned and operated, 11 acre full service, pet friendly camping facility. We are conveniently located just 20 minutes outside the historic town of Murphy North Carolina, at an elevation of 1850 feet, surrounded by mountains! Closer to the natural beauty the area is known for. We are nestled in the center of a peaceful valley with a 360 degree view of the mountains that surround us. The campsites border the many bubbling streams that pass through our valley.

_A Full Service Campground, w_e have 2 separate bath houses with private individual bathing facilities, 3 _Bunkhouses as well as Primitive sites.  _We have a large pavilion for your group meetings, family reunions, fully lighted with electricity available.

 Greenbriar campground is located in Pittman Center, west of Gatlinburg, adjacent to the Great Smoky Mountains. The campground is certainly one of the nicest camping spots I’ve n the area. The campground is very large, and has multiple camping options. They have tent and rv spots, as well as cabins, but I also saw some teepee style tent cabins. The campground is very wooded, so you feel like you are getting a legitimate Smoky Mountain camping experience. The pigeon river runs through the campground, and is great for fishing, or swimming/tubing in summer. There is a dog park also, and the campground is pet friendly. This campground has so many things to do, and it is very popular, so if you want to camp here, I would suggest booking early, because spots are booked months in advance. The campground is very quiet at night, with just the sounds of nature. There is a camp store, with firewood, and you’ll want to enjoy a campfire, even in the middle of summer. I Highly recommend Greenbriar Campground for camping in the Smokies.

This campground has a beautiful mountain view behind the lake. There is also a beautiful waterfall to hike to. They offer paddle boards, kayaks, peddleboats, and aqua cycles to rent for the lake. They also offer bike rentals and putt putt course. There is a general store in the visitor center. There are hiking trails for the extreme hikers too that go into the mountains on the Appalachian trail. The campsites are pretty close together, but we had a premier spot that was larger and a pull-through. The bathrooms were clean, but old and dated. This is one of the oldest campgrounds in the state. They offer cottages and cabins for rent. There was a dog parking loud constantly that was so annoying. We have dogs and many people camping there did, but our dogs don’t bark constantly. I would say this isn’t the campgrounds fault, but this irresponsible pet owner was literally between two campground hosts. Had it continued late at night past 10pm we would have had to call someone. It’s hard to relax by the fire with a dog barking constantly. The campground needs to add more signage. People are driving around looking lost. Here’s the problem ... if you have an RV or camper and park in the RV spaces when you pull out on the far end to the right you cannot see the directional signs. We pulled to the right and it was a dead end at the cottages. It was very stressful trying to the turn around hauling a camper. People in the cottages told us we weren’t the only ones to pull down there and have to turn around. Lots of cars were turning around down there, but with a camper it’s a nightmare. I paid extra for a pullthrough only to deal with that nonsense at the start. I suggest adding a sign at the far right exit of parking lot that has directions. Add another sign that says “Cabins only - Dead End”. If our camper had been an inch longer we couldn’t have turned around. Not impressed by the swimming area at the beach.

I stayed at this campground in 2013 (3 days) and I have scheduled to go there again for a week in May 2019.This is a KOA and even though I normally am not a fan of KOAs this place is very different. It is small and heavily treed so the campground does NOT look like a parking lot. There seemed to be amble space between sites. There is an awesome gold-bearing creek alongside the camp which is too cool. The place is pet friendly, the owner is awesome, the price is reasonable. There is an acre field for dogs to be off leash and run, you can tube in the creek, they have nice cabins. The bathhouse was older when I was there but from what I understand it has been remodeled in recent years….but I don't go camping to explore the bathrooms so I don't really care about them. This is a great family site and it is fairly quiet, so if you are like me and you camp to GET AWAY from noise and drama, then this is the place!!