The best DRIVE IN camping near
Bessemer City , NORTH CAROLINA

Stayed a 4 Paws numerous times now and have always had a good time. There are options as to how you want to camp. This year I had one site with a fence all the way around and most recently my site had a small fenced in yard for the dogs to use. Ownership has changed as of Thanksgiving week, we will see what the new owners do. There is a laundry, dog wash and shower building that is well maintained and very modern. We visited several EXCELLENT hiking trails that had the views! Then there’s sampling of local cuisine and shopping. Asheville, Hendersonville and Greenville are all nearby. Or you could easily sit at the campground and just hangout at the dog parks. For Thanksgiving they served a meal and had other events. They also have other event weekends that are a lot of fun.

Family Campground

One nice thing is the size and separation of the sites. One bad thing is the road is busy.

This campground is one way and exits into a trailhead parking area. There was one site that was in the parking area, would not be my first choice. Shaded sites with picnic tables and fire rings. Nice shower house , well maintained.

Easy access to several trails and not far from the falls. The river runs the back of the campground.

This is such a great place to go if you are wanting to escape from the city!

If you happen to have loud drunk neighbors, who party until 3:30 am, the hosts will not tell them to be quiet. Someone did call the sheriff, but no one came until 10 am the next morning. They woke the drunks up to tell them to be quiet, but they were allowed to stay in the park. I give it 2 stars because this is a beautiful park.

It's not clean

The pool was closed and so was the game room and kitchen. The bathroom and store was a long walk from our tent and so was the pet are. The road noise was bad. And the store had no suplise. The staff was not kind

We finally made it to Emberglow in early November 2020. It was perfect. It didn’t feel like a parking lot with RVs and campers but had enough space in between each spot with plenty to do for kids and adults.

Stayed here for the weekend and Emberglow hosted a 5K. It was a great time. Great family campground. All camping sites are gravel so make sure you have some leveling blocks. They also have yurts and tree houses that look like a blast as well. Definitely will be back.

Ok so this place was just beautiful all around. It is close enough to town to get in and see some places near…. but far enough out that you have some quiet time. Sites were fair and the bath house near us was shut down. Next bathroom was to far to walk to but we made do. Overall great visual and be sure to go up to the town of Blowing Rock… really nice place. Terrible cell service so be prepared to dish out $8 a day for internet….

Stayed here for 5 days in November 2020.

The road is gravel and dirt. No major potholes and easily navigable. Two cars/trucks and most likely two small to mid-sized RVs can squeeze by at the same time. If you take the road all the way to the end, about 2 to 2.5 miles, there is a huge asphalt parking lot(see pics). One caveat: there is a relatively narrow turn near the top of the lot, past the camping sites, that would be difficult for larger RVs. Then again many trucks hauling dirt bikes on trailers made it up to the parking lot. If they can, I imagine many lengthy vehicles probably could get through also.

This parking lot is mainly used by Off Highway Vehicles(OHV). That is, dirt bikes and four wheelers. The OHV trail starts at the parking lot, which is why on weekends it gets extremely busy. I'd say I saw upwards of 25 trucks and vans in November. Most leave before sundown. Some may occasionally camp. The OHV lot is far enough from the sites, about 0.5 miles, that you won't hear the bikers coming and going from the OHV trail. You will hear them when they pass your site on their way in and out. By the way, I believe you cannot camp at the parking lot though I did not try.

There are a handful of sites, all of which are of different sizes and shapes. All can accommodate tents with ease. Tables and fire rings are available in most though I didn't check them all. Some sites will fit trailers and trucks, especially if you squeeze them in. See pics of how a few campers did exactly that. Small RVs will fit in most sites, possibly by backing them in. The road is wide enough where backing in is possible, especially with assistance. I saw a large fifth wheel in one of the sites and a truck and trailer in another of the smaller sites(see pics).

There are two toilets about 100 feet apart. They are clean and toilet paper is supplied(see pics).

Phone reception and internet access are unavailable at the sites, or at least the one I was at. It's possible that with a booster you may get service. You will get service to make phone calls at the OHV trail parking lot. Internet is spotty.

Being a forest, trees abound. Depending on the site you are at, you may or may not get sunshine. The trees provide plenty of shade. This can be good and bad. My solar panels had to be moved every 15 to 20 minutes if I wanted them to provide full charge. A bit of a hassle but doable. I was able to charge my power station sufficiently.

As for groceries, there is a store diagonally across from the entrance of the forest. Unfortunately, it was only open during the weekend when I happened to be there. The Collettsville General Store is about 6 miles from the dispersed camping sites and a far better bet. If you're exiting the forest, turn left and keep going until you hit a T point. Turn right and it's immediately to your right. They are a fully stocked convenience store where you can also get pizza and sandwiches. The general store also serves as a gas station. And they're open 7 am to 9 pm to boot!

About 0.25 to 0.5 miles from the Collettsville General Store is the Hard and Flossie Clark Family Park, a public park, where phone reception is available. There are covered picnic tables so you can sit and surf(see pics). If you scout around you'll find a power outlet that is turned on. Enough to get routine tasks done while charging your laptop.

Collettsville also has a post office, which opens during the afternoon every day. I think from 12:30 pm to 4:00 pm. Or it may be 12:30 to 4:30.