Best Dispersed Camping near Cooleemee, NC

Good challenging hiking, and plenty of campsites along the trails. This is a good place for a 'shakedown hike' if you ever plan on through hiking the AT. There are a few different trailheads, so you are never too far from your car or civilization. 23/27 trailhead has a decent sized parking lot and allows for overnight parking for backpacking etc. Rt 109 trailhead has slightly smaller parking.

If you are car camping, there are established campsites for that, and you can basically disperse camp anywhere there is a site in the Uwharrie.

We primitive camping here at least every other weekend. We love it. Great trails, beautiful scenery. A peaceful experience

Nestled in the middle of NC is this great forest. There were lots of established camping spots. We picked a nice one near a stream. There was a lot of road traffic even late into the night. People were friendly when we saw them but everyone kept their distance.

First time at Uwharrie and we drove about 5 hours to get there but it was worth it! It’s a huge area with several campgrounds. We stayed in 2 different dispersed primitive sites and they were both great. Plenty of space and trees and privacy! There are a 6 different stores/gas stations that have the overnight passes available for purchase. We got our passes from Eldorado outpost and the attendants there were very knowledgeable and helpful! We also took our Jeep on the OHV trails and had a blast. There are several places you can take a canoe or kayak on and the scenery on the lake was beautiful as well. They also have several hiking trails throughout. Canebrake horse camp is located in Uwharrie and has horse trails throughout. We didn’t come across a park store but they did have showers and bathrooms in the actual campgrounds. There’s a store/gas station (Eldorado Outpost) right down the road and they also have an air compressor for inflating tires (which is handy for off-roading). It was definitely a long drive but we will definitely be making the trip again. We really liked the secluded primitive campsites and the various trails we were able to take our Jeep on.

It should be no shock to those familiar with North Carolina’s geography that if one is seeking higher altitudes and breathtaking overlooks, Uwharrie is not the place he should go. Notwithstanding, as much of the higher elevations are impassable during the winter months, the forest offers backpackers an opportunity to stay on the trail a few days. The Uwharrie Trail, which pretty much spans the park north/south is about 20 miles point to point. The trailhead is kind of hard to follow sometimes, sections of the trail are prone to flooding and creek crossings can become difficult following heavy rains. Overall, however, the forest is a good place for backpacking in this region of the state. Th streams, provided one has filtration or iodine tablets, provide ample sources of drinking water.

This is a great area for dispersed campers with 4WD or AWD. It's pretty popular so head out early to secure your spot. Some of the sites may have a little trash left from the last user, so please try to leave it cleaner than you came to. No toilets for disperesed areas. Most sites have rock fire pits and room to set up. Love it here. Plenty of OHV trails as well.

The tent sites nice and clean and level. The host drove through many many times in the 3 days I was there. Bathrooms are what you can expect from a state park clean with little bugs here and there but nothing you can do about that in the middle of the woods. Overall great place good four-wheeling and nice accommodations

The State Forest has camping. We used our pop-up with a generator in rustic locations. There are hiking, horse, OHV, dirt bike, ATV, and mountain bike trails.

Drove out in the Tacoma and slept in the bed of the truck near the water pulled off on the side of the road. The spot we found already had a fire pit made which was so nice. Only a short hike down to the water and the weather was beautiful!

This area was a place that I went often to deer hunt in the fall. I have never came across another camper/hunter at this location. It is a good location if you are looking for an area that is away from camp grounds and heavy traffic. I never shot a deer here but they are in the area.  The area is just SW of Troy, NC down HWY 109/24. On the map below, it is the most western forest area. 

Link to Map: 

https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fseprd485941.pdf

Along the Uwharrie trail. Water available on both sides of camp / trail.