the dyrt
Standard (tent/RV)
Dispersed
Group
RV Sites
Tent Sites
Fires Allowed
Pets Allowed
Drinking Water
About
Badin Lake Recreation Area
Badin Lake Recreation Area offers swimming, boating, fishing, hunting, hiking trails, equestrian trails, four-wheel drive trails, mountain biking trails & camping opportunities. Please pick up your trash! Trash cans are at all recreation sites.
Camping in Badin Lake Recreation Area
There are 4 developed campgrounds for tents, camping trailers, & RVs with flush toilets and showers & 1 tent only campground within the Badin Lake Recreation Area. For people that want electricity, flush toilets, showers & a dump station there are 2 campgrounds with these amenities. Arrowhead Campground has 48 sites for the public to use with electrical hookups at sites 12-45. These sites have 50 amp, 30 amp & 110 volt outlets. Sites 1-11 & 46-50 do not have power. Canebrake Horse Camp has 28 sites available to the public. All sites have electrical hookups with 50 amp, 30 amp & 110 volt outlets. This campground has amenities for horse use but is not exclusive to horseback riders. Some of these horse amenities are a horse washing station, hitching posts, tack tables & direct access to the trails.
Badin Lake Campground offers 34 sites for tent, camping trailer or RV camping. There are several campsites on the lakeshore of Badin Lake, which can be accessed via boat, canoe, or kayak. This campground offers flush toilets, showers & drinking water hydrants. There is no electricity and no dump station at this campground. Badin Lake Group Camp offers 3 sites for up to 50 people each. There are flush toilets, vault toilets, showers & 3 drinking water hydrants. There are no electrical hookups and there is no dump station. This campground is available by reservation only. To make reservations for any of the above listed campgrounds please call Recreation.Gov at 877-444-6777; TDD: 877-833-6777; International: 518-885-3639; or go to their website: www.recreation.gov.
The last campground in the Badin Lake Recreation Area is called Uwharrie Hunt Camp. This campground is rustic & it has 8 tent only campsites that can be accessed by a very short walk from the parking lot. There are 2 vault toilets & drinking water hydrants. Each site has a tent pad, picnic table, fire ring, grill, & lantern post.
Recreating in the Badin Lake Recreation Area
The Badin Lake Recreation Area offers a myriad of recreational opportunities. There are 17 miles of Off-Highway Vehicle (OHV) or motorized trails available for dirt bikes, ATVs, and full-sized 4-WD vehicles with the purchase of a trail pass. Primitive camping or dispersed camping can be done along the trails & at the Art Lilley Campground that is located in the Badin Lake OHV Trail Complex.
Additionally, there are approximately 40 miles of non-motorized trails available for horseback riding, mountain biking, and hiking. These trails range from easy to difficult as they traverse beautifully wooded areas, rocky outcrops, follow the Uwharrie River & many of its tributaries.
The Cove Boat Launch is located on Cove Road near Arrowhead Campground & offers access to Badin Lake for trailered boats. There is a vault toilet. There are 2 day use areas for picnicking & fishing. The King's Mt. Point Day Use Area offers 34 picnic sites, a picnic pavilion, 4 accessible fishing piers and 4 vault toilets & 2 flush toilets. Holt's Picnic Area is more rustic with a vault toilet, fishing from the shore, grills & picnic tables available.
Sites
34
Price
$20.00 - $40.00
Operator
National Forest
Access
Drive In
Walk In
Boat In
Features
ADA Accessible
Drinking Water
Fires Allowed
No Market
Pets Allowed
Phone Service
Picnic Table
Reservable
Sanitary Dump
Showers
Toilets
Trash Available
Contact
Location
Badin Lake Recreation Area
is located in
North Carolina
Directions
From Troy, North Carolina, take State Highway 109 north for approximately 10 miles. Turn left onto Mullinix Road (County Highway 1154), and travel approximately 1.5 miles to a stop sign and "T" intersection. Turn right, and go approximately 2 miles to another stop sign and "T" intersection. Turn right, then make a quick left and travel about 1 mile to the campground.
7 Reviews of Badin Lake Recreation Area
A relaxing lakeside atmosphere
Uwharrie National Forest-Badin Lake Campground, New London, NC.
https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/nfsnc/recarea/?recid=48934
https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprdb5368418.pdf
Campground Overview: 34 sites, two loops…upper loop and lakeside loop. Relatively large sites with vegetation that blocks constant view of neighbors.
Each site has a gravel parking pad and separate gravel tent pad, a standing charcoal grill, firepit with adjustable grate, a picnic table and a metal pole for hanging lanterns, etc. I would advise securing online reservations, but they do have an Iron Ranger to drop your payment in should you find an empty site. Note: There are warnings that online reservations take precedence, so if you use the Iron Ranger payment drop chute and someone reserved the same campsite…you will be required to move to a different location when the online reservation campers arrive. Just so you know.
No electric.
Oddly, no firewood for sale…although scrounging produced plenty of things and fallen branches to keep a fire going.
I preferred the lower loop as nearly every outer site was on the lake with great views and lake access and sites are spread out. The inside sites of the lower loop are pretty spacious and deep. Water spigots were spaced out around the loop, so a short walk as we were equal distance between two.
Restroom/showerhouses were quad door buildings. Separate men’s and women’s restrooms and two separate shower rooms. Facilities were kept clean and stocked by resident hosts.
With Verizon, I never lost signal…a plus for a National Forest!
The upper loop appeared to offer a little more solitude than the lower lake loop…but no lake views.
The lake loop trail crosses the main campground roadway between the two loops. This trail is relatively flat and meanders around the lake and it’s many fingers…offering lovely lake views and some nice fishing locations.
During my midweek visit it was quiet day and night. The sunset across the lake was gorgeous and relaxing. Loud powerboat noise was minimal as only a couple bass boats thought it essential to travel at high speeds from location to location. Next visit my canoe and mountain one will accompany me.
What I enjoyed: as much as I dislike tree rats, I was entertained by two feuding squirrels that chased each other relentlessly and knocking each other out of tree tops. Woodpecker and Turkey wake up calls.
For a National Forest, I was surprised by the level of daytime industrial noise nearby.
Overall, a fantastic location relatively close to Raleigh/Durham and Fayetteville for a great camping getaway. I was only able to stay one night as the campground was booked, all reserved in advance. So plan ahead.
Fun fishing
We went fishing for part of the day here. My son thought he was cool because he was the only one to catch fish. The dog was not thrilled!!
Very nice campground.
I camped here with a friend and the dogs over the weekend. I've been multiple times at Badin Lake before and always wanted to camp here. We had campsite 002 which was nice and shady and very private. It's a short walk over to the lake where the dogs enjoyed their swimming. The camp hosts were fantastic. Multiple times they made sure we have everything we need. Only the bathrooms need a little update. They seemed pretty run down and very buggy. Overall we would definitely stay here again. It's a beautiful and quiet piece of nature.
Great campground for kayaking and fishing
We have stayed at Badin Lake campground a couple times and would recommend it to anyone that likes to kayak and fish. Being able to camp on the water and just slide the kayaks in and out is great. There are trails around the lake to explore and the sites are nice size so you don’t feel like you are on top of other campers
Week of Relaxation
This is an awesome campground. Great access to Badin Lake for kayaking, swimming and fishing. Our group explored the the trails which were scenic and easy to transverse. The bathrooms are well maintained and good freshwater source. The sites do not have power but we were able to work around it!
Sites on the Lake, clean and easy access
I rented my site online and was pleased by the low price for a campsite on a lake. The road in is a little rough but not too crazy. There is not an office or anything once you arrive (so no last minute supplies) but there is a paystation if you show up and want to camp. The camp host puts out signs of when the sites are rented so that you can find an empty site for a night.
Bathrooms were clean and well lite. There is a trail that takes you around the lake edge, easy walking. Not a lots if fishing right from the edge by the campsites due to tall grasses but there is a great fishing area with docks in a short drive or 20 min walk.
Was on site 18…we had 2 tents and 2 cars and plenty of room.
Don’t miss out on this place!
I was with a rather large group who took up 5 sites. We were in the area for a Land Rover Rally. This camp was perfectly clean. The group bathroom and shower were clean. The grounds were clean. Great little trails down to the beautiful lake. We go there every year and absolutely love the place.
