Best Campgrounds near Barnardsville, NC

This campground has a few tent campsites near the office/shower building but a great number of remote sites up on the side of a mountain. 4WD required due to steep inclines and rough road conditions. Each site had a picnic table and fire ring and some shade during different times of the day. Fireworks were an issue the first night because it was 4th of July but other nights it was quiet.

Management was mostly absent and check in was easy. Tent site selection is first come first served. Manager did pick up the phone to hear my complaint about fireworks (midnight) but shooters were coming from outside of the campground.

Lot of cabins and RVs But I didn't see any pull throughs.

The creek was beautiful and the restrooms were clean... but the sites were so small that our awning came out just to the edge of the site and the next camper slide was just inches away from the awning. Our slide on the other side reach to the edge of that side of the site. The owner told us there were no mosquitos because they were so high in the mountains..... I was bitten by no-see-ums over both legs and arms and so were the other campers. There was no internet, the TV sporadically worked with a few channels, and we had intermittent cell service with only 1 bar. We forfeited our deposits and a few days of rent to leave and go to Cross Creek in Maggie Valley. We are still there and it is lovely with everything that Moonshine Creek wasn't. Oh, and Moonshine Creek is the most expensive over other camp grounds in the area. Shame on you Moonshine Creek!!!

The higher number loop across the street is better for a more quiet experience. Still a very short walk over to the river or the showers. Showers are free for campers and average cleanliness for a campground.

The check-in office is in a weird, poorly signed place that we actually found accidentally when walking to the swimming hole in the river. It’s behind the bathroom and shower building.

Found a water snake with fishing hook stuck in its abdomen and pulling out the muscle as it was stuck in sticks and a toy boat in the river. Tried to free it but it got away with the hook still in it. Be responsible, fishermen.

On our second night, the host was blaring music in their camper that we could hear several sites away. I found that to be extremely strange.

The area seems to be very slowly recovering from the hurricane. It’s a bit sobering. I feel for these people.

We couldn’t hike the trail we were hoping for due to hurricane damage, so we drove to Grandfather Mountain SP and did a really fun hike there (to Calloway Peak). We stopped at Cellucci’s Italian Restaurant in Pineola and the food and service were amazing.

To be clear, there is only one site that you can drive to. (Site 14) When it says the sites are “walk-in”, it does not mean you can drive near your site and walk over into it. It means you have to park in a parking lot and haul your stuff up to 200 or 300 yards away along a trail over bridge. That being said, it is a lovely little campground. Very pretty right along the creek. Also hiking trails in the area. Be cautious though we had two local people in the area talk to us about people stealing things there and how there used to be a real homeless problem where a church about 30 miles away started dropping off homeless people they were tired of dealing with… typical 🙄. We did not see anything too shady during our visit, however. Just be cautious. The camp host was very nice and helpful. The bathhouse had one shower per side and on a scale of 1 to 10 for cleanliness, I would give it a 6.

Decent spot if you're passing through but staying long isn't bad but not the best. Depending upon what time of year there is a lot of rain, lots of bears (I had my tent ripped open by a bear at least once/ possibly twice or vandals) and there is absolutely no service. Wash creek is accessible at most campsites but not all. Lots of morning mountain bikers and late night drivers so privacy is limited. Dispersed camping is more limited on the Brevard side of the Pisgah forest but I recommend checking that out first if it's not a hassle, if you can't find a spot it's a cool area to see regardless, wash creek is more like a park