Cedar Point Campground

Do NOT stay here!! The hosts do not follow the published USFS/recreation.gov rules, oe even their own posted rules. FFS sites are in fact booked IN ADVANCE. You can book them for days at a time, anytime. The app is INACCURATE. The hosts simply do whatever they want, then argue when presented with published rules and policies. Additionally, no handicapped placard or other disability proof is required to rent the wheelchair accesssible sites across from the bath house and all were filled with able-bodied persons in huge RVs. Horrible experience and OUTRAGEOUS $8 reservation fee and $10-$18 cancellation fee. Furthermore, there are serious issues with the electric connections, which you have no choice but to pay for. We were only able to occasionally have reliable electricity, resulting in even small 5V items not charging. The biggest issue was inconsistent/incomplete charging of wheelchair batteries. We had to rely on vehicle power charging for most things. The campsites are also poorly arranged, forcing tents to be placed within 2-3’ of fire rings, which is ridiculously unsafe. The sites are also full of fire ant beds - including on the tent/table pad itself. One of the poorest managed campgrounds I have ever stayed in.

Stayed 3 nights here. Nice quiet federal campground. Quiet and maintained. Definitely need water at sites. Can't adjust water temp in showers here. Fortunately not freezing water and one night had hot water. With these improvements, would give 5 stars. Can't beat price. Would definitely stay again. Close enough to beach and things we like to do. Had a great breakfast at Angie's Diner near by.

Camping in the winter and a newbie, but this place was great. Showers and bathrooms were exceptionally clean. Dog friendly, electric and good clean drinking water on site. Can only stay 14 days at a time.

Great place to hangout and it’s near Emerald Isle and the Crystal Coast. Nice place to throw a line into the water and relax!

We live about 5 miles away and like to camp here to get away. The nature trail has nice walkways over the marsh. You can walk from the campground to boat launch, picnic area and nature trail.

38 paved, level sites with 20/30/50A electric. Water and dump station available. Some sites are really huge! A fair amount of military activity in the area - the sounds of freedom!

 we are quite happy with her campsite. Lots of space and shade and even the ability to pull in without reservation. We are sitting by the campfire watching the fireflies

Very well cared for campground. Sites are neat and spacious, with clearance for larger rigs. All sites have electric. Four sites are FF. We arrived on a Monday at noon and 3 of those were open. Showers were clean and hot. Good Verizon 4G service.

The Market at Cedar Point is an excellent small grocery with local produce and healthy foods.

We rolled in on Friday of Halloween weekend , no reservation, hoping to get a FCFS site. None were available but we were lucky to snag one night at a site that wasn’t reserved until the following night. Hosts were very pleasant and helpful. With National park senior pass very reasonable at $17. Sites all very large and well spaced.

My wife and I stayed at this campground many years ago, and when I came this time, the changes were mind blowing. The first time, it was rustic with high grass, a dirt entry road, and most campers were in tents. This time, the landscaping was well manicured, there were paved roads throughout, and most campers were in RVs. Wow!!!! What an upgrade! However, I had a tent and I felt out of place. I guess I was expecting a campground more like federal campgrounds I have been to in the past where there is more privacy and space between the campsites. With that said, the tent was on grass and there were no hookups. Essentially, it was a grassy, level place to pitch a tent. The one redeeming factor was that it was close to the bath house. The facilities were fairly new. For example, the bath house looked as if it had been built recently, and the concrete looked fresh. Inside, there are individual showers separate from the toilets. Both are modern and something I am not used to seeing except at privately owned campgrounds. The main attraction here is the Cedar Point Tideland Trail which takes you through the estuaries close to the ocean and the Intracoastal Waterway. This area is a photographer’s dream, especially if you like photographing the native habitat and creatures. I was able to get photos of birds, soft shell crabs, and closeup photos of dragonflies. The estuary itself is worth taking pictures of, especially at sunset. Another attraction is its proximity to Emerald Isle and the ocean, which is about two to three miles away. If you are a kayaker like I am, or a boater, there is access to the White Oak River by way of a boat launch. Personally, I had rather be in a more remote wilderness type area, but I understand that some people love this type of closeness to their neighbors and the modern facilities. Don’t get me wrong. All you have to do is drive a few hundred yards, and you will be in a wilderness type area(the Tideland Trail). Overall, this is a great little campground for RVs(and tents if you spend most of your time exploring the Tideland Trail and surrounding areas), and I highly recommend it… IF you can get a spot. All of the sites are by reservation only except for five first come/first serve spots.

Nothing too special but it was nice enough. No water hookup but they have water on site to fill your tank and fresh water pumps near the site.

We could not have Christmas with our kids, so we went camping. Where? To our new favorite campground, of course!

Back to CP. We were in site 11 on this trip and we reserved it because it is close to the bath house.

The campground has only had about 12-15 campers in it this week. We love the quietness and the wind in the trees. It turned off really cold....I MEAN REALLY COLD, so I have spent a LOT of time inside the camper.

Here are some of our favorite things from this trip:

• Clam Chowder (yes, buy the BIG ONE) from Swansboro Food & Beverage in Swansboro

• Lazzara’s Pizza on Emerald Isle has some AMAZING thin crust pizza (save yourself and don’t settle for Michangelo’s pizza.... not even close to the deliciousness of Lazzara’s)

I did a silent video that show several sites and how big and well kept they are. I showed the end of the nice bath house and captured a few scattered campers and a brave tent camper......brrrrrrr too cold.

We came back for Thanksgiving week and had a blast! We were in site 1 and it was awesome! It is bigger than site 17 and you only have a neighbor on one side.

We rode bikes on the marsh trail which is just down the road the campground is on and watched kayakers and fishermen launch from the pier.

All the items I touched on in my October review are still true. Bath house clean, grounds well kept and host friendly.

FOODIE TIP:

If you have the chance while in season and while camping....call Bekah Bay Oyster Company and order some of her farm raised oysters....so clean and such a sweet taste. We opened ours on the half shell and grilled them in the shell with butter and Bull Hot Sauce.

We camped here in October 2020 and stayed in site 17. It is a great site with lots of room between you and the next camper.

The bath facility is in a very nice building, is heated and has individual locking shower rooms so you have total privacy and security. The roads are paved and the paved pads accommodate up to a 70 ft camper/vehicle. Each site has a smooth, flat, gravel area equipped with 2 lantern poles, one large picnic table, and a fire ring with swing away cooking grate. Beyond the gravel areas are flat level areas of grass. The campsites are shaded by large, tall pines and other assorted trees.

The bath facility was very clean and well kept. The host was very friendly and helpful. The grounds throughout the park are extremely well kept.

Upon arrival, you check in with the host, drive to water fill area and fill up your fresh water tank. There are additional water fill faucets throughout the park. Your site is equipped for both 30 or 50 amp campers.

We really like this little campground and plan to come back again soon.

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?

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.

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.

Great location. Easy to get to the beach or check out the river or trails. Power only hook ups with a water and sanitation station for the whole Campground. The “host” sucks and will drive by 10 times a day making sure no one is breaking any rules. Well trained dog off the leash for a few minutes well away from everyone so he can retrieve a ball....nope. Not allowed. Drive 10mph in a 5. Get threatened to be kicked out? Meanwhile the bathrooms /showers haven’t been cleaned this year.

We stayed here while visiting friends in Swansboro. We had to pay full hook up prices even though we were just tent camping but that wasn’t a huge deal. The area was kept really clean (bathrooms could use a little TLC) loved the views on the hiking trail which was close to the camping sites. Dog friendly! Our kids loved it. Beaches in driving distance.

Great birding including Chuck-will's-widow, Croatan Nat Forest, close to Cape Hatteras and Hatteras Island by ferry. Nice breeze, morning fog is usual.

We stayed here last year and it was relaxing. Boat ramp and hiking close by.no frills park

Another great National Forest campsite. All sites are paved; minimal leveling required. Lots of trees and shade -- plenty of room for the hamock and screenhouse. No individual water at sites, but potable water available at the dump station. Hosts were visible and attentive.

Bathhouse was clean with large, individual showers.

Mostly TTs and big rigs -- only saw 2 tents. Hiking trails and boat ramp located 0.5 miles away, within the park. There is a marine airfield nearby, so you will hear planes and "booms" occasionally. Would have given this one a "10" if it had water hookups.

Beautiful water ways open for canoeing and kayaking. The camp spots are a little close together but being right off the water is worth it. All the amenities here. Trails as well

This was our first camping trip with our boy, Cooper. This was a great spot for him to explore and get used to the idea of spending a few nights under the stars. While the campground was busy (early May) it didn't feel over crowded. The sites are nicely spread out and accommodate both tents and RVs easily.

Water spigots are located throughout the campground and were only a short walk form our campsite. The restrooms were clean and the showers were nice and hot. We were able to pack up our things each morning and head out for a day of exploring. It seemed as if everything we wanted to do was only a short drive from the campground (including batting cages and mini golf).

Bottom line, it's nice and close enough to explore the Cape Lookout National Seashore and so many other cool spots!

We loved our stay here! It is a well run campground and the area is so convenient! Plenty of hiking trails, boat access and woods all right here in this park. The boat access and pier are just a brief walk away from the campground. I wouldn't say the sites are secluded but you will definitely have more privacy on the outer edge of the campground. Definitely worth a shot and super convenient to Morehead City, Swansboro, Emerald Isle, etc.

This is the best camping you will find on the east side of the Carolinas. Amenities are well maintained throughout the year. Has alot to offer wether you would like to camp on the beach or in the shade. This is the trailhead for the Neusiock trail. One of my favorites. Be certain to go for a day hike and have a swim after. Highly recommend!