Best Tent Camping near National Forests in North Carolina

We stayed at Tent Site #3 in late May and early June. We have stayed at the campground twice before. We love coming back here because of the great amenities, location, and access to activities. 

1. The amenities are great for the kind of tent camping we like to do: electric & water at each site, central bath house with individual bath suites that are cleaned regularly, and a dish washing station. 

2. The location is excellent - you can get to downtown Asheville in 10 minutes! 

3. The views are amazing - so many mountains and the French Broad River!

Our pup loved the trails at the campground. I would recommend you not picking tent site #3 (the picnic table was not level) or #4 because they are right across from each other and there isn't a lot of privacy between the two. I would definitely pick tent site #2 if you want to be closer to the bath house or #5 if you want to be farthest away from the other sites.

This campground is located in Rosman NC, west of Brevard. We camped here as a base camp for day hikes in the area. It is very wooded, in a valley with a creek running alongside the tent camping sites. The scenery is gorgeous and horses and chickens were sweet. The tent sites are small, smaller than average park campsites. We woke to the smell of our neighbor smoking and coughing throughout the night.

The facilities are good, nice hot water in sinks and showers. Clean bathrooms etc. We also had a spigot and plug near our campsite if we needed them. The people were extremely friendly and kind.

We like for our kids to be able to run, play and explore while camping and this was not the site for that. Across the creek is a busy road which was not busy during the night, but had constant travel during the day.

Moonshine creek is a nice campground with something for everyone. Minutes from the parkway for hiking, 2 miles away from a creek on the WNC fly fishing trail, and plenty of space to get out and walk around the grounds. Nice, well stocked camp market, many bathrooms around the grounds, and laundry/shower facilities that were very clean. The creek runs right through the middle of the campground and can be heard from any site you are on.

Multiple options for tent camping, but we chose the ones away from the creek due to them having shelters over the tent pads to set up under. We stayed at site 62 which had plenty of room for the tent shelter and two vehicles. We brought an 8 person tent that was a little big for the shelter, so we had to turn it sideways leaving the tent exposed to the elements. Unfortunately the fire pit was directly behind the shelter, and we chose not to have a fire on our site because of the fire hazard it posed. Even if we had we chose to start a fire there would’ve been little chance that 6 of us could’ve gathered around it. The pit was small and was backed by a steep embankment, and the side had a large tree in the way. There were other tent sites near the the creek that had shelters, but we had a truck with roof top tent that we wanted on the same site, and that just wasn’t possible with the parking situation for standard tent sites. For those, there is an unloading area with wagons to load in with. The tent sites are on opposite sides of the creek than the parking and unloading areas. All of the tent sites seemed to have water and electric which was nice, but not necessary.

The ‘waterfall’ on property is kinda silly. It’s a culvert pipe coming underneath the train tracks. I’m sure it sounds nice at night, but it isn’t pretty to look at. Also, there is a playground that had the kids excited, but it only consisted of a couple of baby swings.

The badminton/volleyball area was nice. It’s right near the group camping area which was wide open. Gave the kids plenty of room to play. The camp office had racquets and volleyballs to use. The creek was nice for the kids to play in. The pond is not for fishing or swimming.

All in all it was a nice place. Very clean and family friendly. Would like to return again, but hope the fire pit situation could be remedied.

We visited this park on Saturday, October 22, and discovered this was the day that reservations were going live to begin reserving the brand-new developed campground(Grassy Ridge Access) for dates starting on October 29. The campground will have five primitive cabins, 16 tent and 14 FHU sites. We were not even allowed to see the campground on this day. 

Frozen Creek Access will continue to offer first-come, first-served tent sites free of charge. These are not reservable. There are six designated backpack sites along the Foothills Trail near the southern boundary of the park. Dispersed primitive tent camping is available in Pisgah National Forest along the Rainbow Falls Trail. Access to this trail is from the Grassy Ridge entrance to the park. These sites are not reservable and are free of charge, but you must register at the visitor center or the trailhead. 

The Visitor Center is beautiful– not sure when it was completed. There is also a large picnic shelter near the Bearwallow Valley Trail. 

We only had time to hike the short trail to Upper Bearwallow Falls but would like to return to camp here and hike to Rainbow Falls so this park is on our return list for sure!

For tent campers, I would rate this campground with five stars. For RV campers, I would rate it with one star. There are no hookups for RV campers, but there is a place to park a small RV camper that is self-contained. I loved this campground. It is everything you need for tent camping. It is remote in the mountains of western North Carolina and has lots of shade. It has a small pond, it is quiet, and the owners are very nice. One of the owners apologized for the grass being so high, but I assured him it was all right(and it wasn’t really that high). 

There are several tent sites back in the woods, but they are spacious and not on top of each other. Some of them have access to running water, and at least one has electricity.  There is also a small cottage by the pond, and a camper that can be rented.   At night, all you will hear are crickets, the wind through the trees, birds, and frogs—just the way I like it. This campground truly is off the beaten path. 

As far as facilities, it has a shower. There is a portable toilet across the path. Although it sounds primitive, which it is, the quaintness of the shower house and the fact that it has both a shower and a portable toilet is good enough unless you are looking for luxury accommodations. This campground may be remote, but it is not far from many hiking trails and sites, including but not limited to Purchase Knob, Hemphill Bald, the old Ferguson Cabin, Cataloochee Valley, the Great Smoky Mountains, and much more. 

An additional feature is the old barn owned by the same people, which can accommodate special events, such as weddings and other venues in a beautiful rural setting. Would I recommend this campground? Absolutely!!!!… especially for tent campers.