The best DISPERSED camping near
Pink Hill , NORTH CAROLINA

Great sites, fishing pier, playground great for kids, close to shopping and other stuff

This site is conveniently close to many beach attractions. To compare it to the local RV sites it so great in the aspect you are not on top of each other. The site itself for it being on “national park/forest land,” is “ok.” But in comparison to other national parks or federal land, it is barely a 3 star. It struggle in cleanliness and upkeep. The facilities are at best an “ehhh it’s food enough.” There are nice people here though that are making an honest effort, and who can argue with this places excellent location?

We stayed at site 14, which is on the other side of the island and is only accessible on a boat. We kayaked from the park office and boat launch. The route was difficult for me, the tide was coming in plus a strong wind, it took us about an hour to get to the island. The site itself was perfect, much better than the rest as much as we could see as we looked around. It's located in the woods with a nice shady clearing, its own very private little beach. We kayaked to the beach and walked around to see the ferry dock.

Make sure you know the tide schedule. The water levels are changing pretty dramatically during the day. 

We also experienced a  lot of mosquitoes during the night on the island, but it probably depends on the weather.

The fires are not allowed on the island, which requires some thoughts around cooking and reheating food. 

Overall I would say it was a very unique experience.

This is not a”campground” per se, but rather a large area of national forest where dispersed camping is allowed. This is about as close to nature as it gets! All primitive camping, no amenities at all. Beautiful natural surroundings. Watch out for snakes and alligators!

There are several different camping locations available throughout the base, all of which are free but must be reserved ahead of time. Base access required! They are all on the water, very peaceful. Many if the ponds are stocked for fishing. No hookups, but some sites do have a bathroom. No”hiking” trails around the campsites but lots of areas to walk and explore!

Love this park. Bear Island is only accessible by boat. So you have to pay a small fee for the ferry ride that takes you to Bear Island. Or you can canoe or kayak. You have to hike with all your camping gear less than a mile to the beach. There is not much shade on the hike there but it wasn't bad on a hot summer day. 

The beach camping spots are right in front of the dunes. We went on Labor Day weekend and there was no one there! So peaceful and serene. Lots of shells to find! And what a beautiful beach. There are nice bathrooms, water, and a snack bar that is open during the summer (cash only). Lots of picnic tables here as well.

Planning on coming back here next summer and staying longer! Such a unique camping experience!

When driving in it was beautiful. Looks can be deceiving. The only place to fill with water was the dump station and we were filling for 20 minutes and ran out after about an hour. The restrooms and showers were so discusting that we cancelled half of our reservation. We were to be there 3 days, go to Myrtle beach and go back for 4 more, but I could not bring myself to go back. I only time saw the campground host once in three days (at 6am smoking at his site), he was no where to be found otherwise. I called COE and told them they should not put this campground (it was not COE it was National Croatan Forest) on their site.

Cedar Point RA is a small campground along the White Oak River in the Croatan National Forest. The campground has 40 sites with electric hook up. The sites are level and have a paved parking pad that they are pretty strict on you keeping all wheels on and a gravel area with a picnic table, fire pit, and two lantern poles (that also work good for putting up a clothes line or dog zipline). The sites do not have water hook ups so make sure your RV fresh water tanks are topped off, or there are plenty of potable water points throughout the campground to fill up you jugs. The sites are large and separated by space, not trees, for privacy. The sites on the southeast side seemed to have more shade than those on the northwest side. Campground map is in my pictures. 

There is no office or signage for check-in, so we just drove in, found our reserved spot that had our name on the tag and set up. The Camp Host came around a little later and apparently we were supposed to know to check-in with him somehow. We stayed on site 24 on this visit. Lots of sun throughout the day until late evening, so a little miserable on this stay as the area had heat advisories every day. 

The bathhouse could use a little TLC. The bathrooms were functional but not very clean. The showers are separate from the bathroom and half were out of order on this stay. Additionally, in typical National Forest fashion, there is no heat or air or even a fan in the bathroom or showers, so again, pretty miserable on this stay as the area had heat advisories every day. The heat in the bathrooms and showers had to be over 100 degrees. Also, typical National Forest setup, the showers are push button, with no temperature control (you get what you get) and the water only flows for about 15 seconds with each push of the button. 

Firewood was available at the camp host. There is a full grocery store 5 minutes from the campground. The resort has many amenities like a boat ramp about a ¼ of a mile down the road and a hiking trail that loops for about 2 miles along the marshy shore line. There is a dump station and trash dumpster behind the camp hosts location. 

We found good cell phone service with Verizon throughout the property. The campground did not have wi-fi. 

While in the area we enjoyed the public beach on Emerald Isle, which is only 15 minutes from campground. There are lots of water sport rentals nearby and restaurants. Camp Lejeune is less than 30 minutes away and on some nights we could hear the artillery in the distance as the Marines trained. However, as a retired Army guy, the faint sound of freedom did not bother me at all. 

The heatwave during our stay really hindered us. Not sure we’d revisit in the middle of the summer again, but during the cooler month I’m sure it would be much more comfortable.

You must plan for this trip. You can ferry to sites or paddle there. Currently paddle is the only way as the ferry is down due to last years storms. Great sites on the island . Fantastic views quite the experience.

The sites are decent, but very little shade. There are no individual water hookups at each site. They are just scattered thruout the campground. The website does not specify this. Also, there is nowhere to wash dishes as they do not allow gray water at the water pumps, and there is no gray water dumpstation if you did happen to fill your holding tanks. There are only four shower stalls for the whole campground, and 2 were out of order during our stay…and could use a cleaning.