Best Equestrian Camping near Bryson City, NC

This was a great family campground. Plenty for the kids to do, including gem mining, feeding goats and several playgrounds. Plus you can rent tubes and drive a short distance into the national park for some fun tubing. The campground fills up, and most of your neighbors will be in RVs, but everyone was respectful and quiet during our stay. A dish sink outside the bathrooms made cleaning up from meals a cinch. It's also amazingly close to Bryson City, but you wouldn't be able to tell once your in the campground. Try to get a spot on the river, sites 1-10, but we stayed in 12 and it was fine. There are plenty of trees for shade, and this area of WNC rains a good amount, so everything is very green. Staff were all very friendly and helpful.

We tent camped at an electric site and it was awesome. There’s shelters to camp under, a fire ring, and a picnic table. We were close to the bath house which was welcomed in the middle of the night. This campground has a ton of activities for the whole family. Just a short drive into the GSMNP, we did hiking during the day, explored Bryson City, then enjoyed the campground at night. When we were there, it was nearly sold out but still quiet. Would love to go back in the summer and tube.

If you forget something, the campground store is great. They do have fire wood AND the Wi-Fi was strong enough for us to stream Netflix / send emails.

Campground review: Located in Bryson City, N.C. on Deep Creek, this campground has around 50 sites with full hookups. There are tent sites, RV sites (some directly on the creek) and also cabin rentals. The office is a gift shop with souvenirs, basic camping needs and hand -scooped ice cream. There are tube rentals at the entrance as well as gem mining and a petting zoo with goats. There are 2 coin-operated laundry facilities at the campground that are very affordable. You can put in your tube at one side of campground and float to end of tent sites to get out (15-20 minutes total float) or drive up the road a bit to Smoky Mountain Deep Creek entrance for a longer run of about 2-3 hours and end up back in camp. Our first time experience here was a little tainted by some grouchy staff and no wi-fi even though it was advertised. There were also multiple power outages during our week stay that were finally fixed. This would not keep us from coming back to the serenity of this creekside camping. There are many things to do in town as well. Train rides, antiques and lots of trendy shops and restuarants. This town is up and coming. Fontana Lake is nearby where you can fish, boat and swim. We met new friends who we plan to return with next summer. Product review: Palmilla Notched Tank from Toad & Co. is light and comfortable. I wore it on a hike into Deep Creek entrance of Great Smoky Mountain N. P. for several hours while we walked along the creek to see waterfalls. The fit is great and love the vibrant cedar orange color.

This campground has just about everything you could ask for.  Located close to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, it is a private campground and has several types of camping opportunities.  Although most of the sites are for RVs, there are a few sites beside Deep Creek for tents.  If you have two tents, as we did, you need to make sure they are small because the tent pads are not that big.  However, it was great sleeping beside the creek away from the RVs, and it was not too far of a walk to the bath house.  If you are in an RV, there are pull-through sites and back-in sites.  This is also the first campground that I have ever seen with shelters at some of the RV sites.  As far as activities, there is plenty for the kids to do so they will not get bored.  For younger children, there are two playgrounds and a “fort.”   I can hardly wait to come here again with my grandson since I think he would especially love the fort.  The modern bath house is coupled with a laundry, and there are quite a few cabins if you don’t want to stay in a tent or an RV.  The camp store is fully stocked, and the whole campground has a quaint mountain theme.  The person I spoke to in the store spoke matter-of-factly, but she was not unfriendly.  I guess I should have bought some of the bundled firewood because we had a hard time trying to start the fire without dry wood.  We were able to miss the Memorial Day crowd since we camped there before the big rush.  Since this is also a tubing center, you can rent a tube and take it into the national park, which is about a mile down the road.  If you don’t like crowds, I suggest that you go when I did—a few weeks BEFORE Memorial Day.  Once Memorial Day comes, it will be crowded and the creek will be filled with tubers.  If you take the short drive into the national park, you will come to a parking lot, and from there, you can hike to three waterfalls close by.  The closest one from the parking lot in the national park is two-tenths of a mile, and it is an easy hike.  If you want to do some shopping or sightseeing, downtown Bryson City is a couple of miles away.  From there you can book a ride on the Smoky Mountain Railroad, or you can drive into the national park down Lake Shore Drive (a.k.a. “The Road to Nowhere”).  It is a pleasant six mile drive and has an overlook to view the beginning of Fontana Lake.

Chosen by the in-laws for family reunion weekend. More built up/RV resort style than my preference, but a nice location nonetheless. On-site camp store and pool with splash zone. Oversize lawn games and several playgrounds for the kids. There are well stocked trout ponds on-site, and the surrounding rivers and streams are one of the largest managed private fisheries in the Eastern US. Tribal fishing license and you’re set to angle for rainbow, golden, and brown trout. Note restrictions on a defined local section for fly fishing/catch and release. One hour 20 minutes to Asheville & Biltmore Estate. Local day trips also include Mingo falls, Harrah’s casino, river tubing, Mountain Farm museum, Museum of the Cherokee Indian, Oconaluftee Indian Village, Blue Ridge Parkway, Mountains to Sea Trail, Bryson City model train museum & Great Smoky Mountains Railroad.

As others have noted, there were some communication gaps between staff members regarding events and services. During our stay they were repaving sections of the access road with some interruption to water and power. My understanding is that renovations are now complete. Three stars based on these service interruptions

Easily accessible RV pull through and back in sites with enough room to park your towed daily driver. 50/30A full hookups.

Tent sites had sand or grass pads. Mix of primitive sites and those built up with 50A hookups and water. Bear boxes and fire pits.

My brother’s family of four felt a bit cramped in the smaller cabins available on site, but there are larger options. Overall the buildings are in good repair, spread between the water and the camp store/pool area.

Ranger Review: Eclipse Sun Sleeves at Harmon Den Area(Pisgah National Forest) https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/nfsnc/recarea/?recid=70836

There are a few dispersed camping sites at Harmon’s Den, and they are spacious sanctuaries beside Cold Springs Creek. Harmon Den is in Pisgah National Forest, and dispersed camping is allowed but only where there is a camping symbol posted along Cold Springs Creek Road. To get to the campsite, you have to get off on Exit 7 along Interstate 40 in North Carolina and travel a gravel road for several miles. You will not want to drive too fast since there are several potholes, washboards, and protruding rocks in the road. At the campsite, there is a fire ring, but there are no other facilities such as bathrooms, showers, electricity, running water, trash cans, camp store, firewood for sale, campground hosts, etc. It is pretty much just a space for camping. With that said, it offers all the exciting activities that national forests offer, such as fishing, biking, hiking, etc. Harmon Den is mostly known as a horse camp, although car camping without horses is a common occurrence. When I was there, I passed by a couple of car campers that did not have horses. I did see a few vehicles with horse trailers pass by on the road. Because it is a popular horse camping area, you have to watch where you step. At our campsite, there was horse poop in several places, and I had to watch my grandson closely so he didn’t step in a pile of horse manure. Expect to encounter horse flies as well. There was also lots of poison ivy, so that was another concern I had about my grandson running freely. Since there are no bathrooms, practicing LNT(Leave No Trace) is important. Unfortunately, there was lots of trash, but that was a teachable moment for my grandson, and we definitely left the campsite better than what we found it. Before it gets dark, make sure you know where you are going to take care of business when you have to get up in the middle of the night. That way, you can avoid stepping in the wrong place. There were also quite a few people fishing in the creek on the way to the campsite since the creek is a popular place for trout fishing. As a matter of fact, a wildlife officer came through our camp with a fishnet full of trout to stock the creek. She asked us if we brought our fishing poles. Unfortunately, that’s one thing I didn’t take camping with me. What was I thinking? Even with the horse poop and the poison ivy, it’s a great area for camping if you like solitude and the sounds of the creek throughout the night. Another reason to camp at Harmon Den is to visit Max Patch while you are there. I would suggest staying at least two nights so you can spend one day just enjoying Max Patch. It is a large mountain bald over which the Appalachian Trail crosses. I have been there in the past when people are having picnics, flying kites, or just lying on a blanket enjoying the magnificent scenery. If you go at the right time of year, one of the trails up to Max Patch will take you by wild blueberries and blackberries. As I stated earlier, the campsites are spacious, and it felt very peaceful just being there. 

Product Review: 

As a Dyrt Ranger I get to occasionally try out outdoor products while camping and this trip I brought Eclipse Sun Sleeves(https://eclipseglove.com/)..) As a stem cell transplant survivor from stage 4 Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, I can never be in the sun without adequate protection for the rest of my life. That’s why Eclipse clothing is perfect for me. Even in the middle of the summer, I have had to wear long sleeves and a broad-brimmed hat. I had earlier written a review for the Eclipse shawl, but with the Eclipse Sun Sleeves, I can finally wear my short sleeve shirts again. Since I love the outdoors and have some cool t-shirts, all I have to do is put on my sun sleeves and I am protected. The only thing I could see that might need improving would be to figure out how to keep the upper part to stay up. It wasn’t that much of a problem, and I don’t how the company could solve it, but overall, the sun sleeves are great. I would further like to say that because of sun sleeves, those who are allergic to the sun have one less excuse not to go outdoors in the sun..