Best Campgrounds in North Carolina

This is a great spot to stop, I knew nothing about it ahead of time I picked it as a midway point between destinations. I stayed in one of the cabins on site and it was simple, but comfortable. There was one bed (either a queen or maybe a full) and a roll-away underneath, table with four chairs, mini refrigerator, Keurig, window AC unit and ceiling fan/light. There was also a porch bench, picnic table and a fire pit.

I arrived after hours but checking in was a breeze and all paperwork was very clear.

Bathrooms are dated, but well maintained and clean.

I have the same cabin booked for my return trip and am really looking forward to coming back!

We stayed at Site 1 and it was lovely. The rushing water (mini waterfall?) is the highlight of the site and our stay. There is much privacy between sites and the hosts visited and made us feel welcome. The obvious tent site is quite sloped and if we stay again, we will set up closer to the road to find a more level spot. The tree canopy by the water allowed us to enjoy a bonfire even in a light rain. The composting toilet is a bit of a walk so we mostly took care of business at our site in our luggable loo. There did not seem to be a trash receptacle on site so we took our garbage home for disposal. Apparently this site is also listed on Hip Camp and there seems to be a reservation integration challenge. They were double booked for the site on the second night but the second party was accommodated by a space in the pasture.

Horse cove was a gorgeous campsite. There are two “areas”, the campground near the check in station and dispersed camping along the road. We stayed in May 2025.

We chose to camp in the campground. It had a picnic table, fire ring, and lantern poles. It was a rainy weekend so we didn’t have many neighbors which made it perfect. The campground use to have two sections to camp but one has been closed down for quite a bit of time (there have fallen trees). There were only about 6-8 campsites all close to each other on the campground along the river.

The other option is to find campsites along the river. There were maybe 3-4 rv friendly sites from the campground to the boat dock (mostly tent options). There’s probably more past the boat dock but we didn’t check.

There’s probably river was loud but beautiful. No electric. There was a water pump but I didn’t see if it worked. There was an abundance of firewood in the campground and along the road. We decided to go hike Joyce Kilmore Forest which was a small trek from the campground. Felt like we were camping in a rainforest!

Toilet: enclosed toilet with thin toilet paper just like a porta potty. Smelled bad.

My fiance and I camped out a little longer than the actually extension period for individuals, but never had a problem. Several others have showed up to camp out a couple days but were gone shortly. For the most part it was just us. And whatever it is running around in the woods. I heard many coyotes elks and a an owl but nothing never stumbled to our campsite close enough to get a look at it other than one young fox which was running away when we pulled in one late night. I think the animals are aware that the campground is human territory so they stay away. It's at 10 different spots to set up with your car parked right next to your tent. Our Boost mobile wi-fi worked perfectly fine. There is a lake 2 mins away one way and another 7 mins away the other way. The city dump is also 2 mins away. And town is 5 mins away. I wish the gates never closed because we would still be there.