great location with great hiking trails and place to kayak

What a treat. This park is at milepost 297.1 of the Blue Ridge Parkway. Our campsite E02 was on one side of the parkway, the Julian Price Lake was on the other side. This was not a problem, easy to cross. Probably one of my all time favorite hikes- Boone Fork Trail. We have a dog that could have gone w us, but the hike would have been tough on her (10 years old) we were glad she wasn't with us. Rocks to climb over, ladders, etc.  The canoe rental on the lake was great! We fished for brim, had a ball. There is Wifi at the lake/boat rental. Connectivity was null otherwise! We loved this campground, picturesque, friendly, space between sites was generous. Our site was the entry site for all of E loop and F loop= lots of traffic, but we booked late and was glad to have it. No hookups, so you must be self contained. Dump and potable water is available at the entrance. Firewood to buy from the boat rental at the lake. All was spectacular!

This campground is minutes from Blowing Rock NC, which makes it super popular. There are restaurants and grocery stores nearby. There are two sides: the A-side is next to the lake but has no showers, just flush toilets, water spigots, and a food storage area. The other side has newer bathhouses.

RV spots have electric hookups, tent spots do not. Many on lakeside have to be reserved in advance and are not as isolated as they may appear on the recreation.gov website. If you are thinking the “first come first served campsites” that are lakeside will be up for grabs at any given time you will be disappointed. I would recommend reserving one if possible. Tent pads are decent and will have some small gravel in them, they will for a standard six persons tent but that’s about it. Fire rings are standard size and sites have a lantern post, along with a cement top picnic table.

Note that if you are towing a trailer and tenting you may have issues finding a place to park. Solid campground with friendly staff.

Great family campground, with enough separation from other tent sites. Camp here every year with the family and always have a great time. Never have issues with neighbors, bath house is new, and close to plenty of hiking/recreation activities.

My husband and I have camped at Julian Price three times, most recently in July. Obviously we like it. We’ve always been in the RV section in our camper van so I can’t comment on the tent section other than to say it’s well away from the RVs and looks quite nice. The campground is right on the Blue Ridge Parkway just five miles from Blowing Rock. Lots of hikes nearby including a loop from the campground. Bathrooms are fine. Showers are located in the tent section—private, nice. Sites are nice sized and most are private. One negative is all the moss growth on picnic tables. Most RV sites are heavily shaded plus the campground just reopened so I realize lack of humans resulted in the moss flourishing. ;)

My wife is new to camping, so I took her tent camping here to see how well she would adapt to being outside and away from her blow dryer. She did amazing and this trip kicked off our adventure of moving on to a tear drop trailer and then to a class c motorhome. As I do, she loves camping and we are having the time of our lives. Thank you to this great campground, the trails, kayaking, and the waterfalls. Wonderful campground. I highly recommend you give it a try.

https://vimeo.com/280421297

Gorgeous campgrounds w lakeside Mountain View. Spacious campsites and moderate hiking trails around the lake.

This campground is located along the beautiful Blue Ridge Parkway. We saw wildlife when we woke up in the mornings and before we went to bed in the evenings. The bath house in the tent only loop has private bathrooms with showers. The bath house is also cleaned daily.

There are a LOT of sites at this campground. First come first served sites are available on the lake and thought the campground. Many sites are reservible as well. There is hiking and fishing within the campground. Additionally, it is convenient to the towns of Blowing Rock and Boon as well as Moses H. Cone Memorial Park. The sites on the lake are small but fairly private. Many of the sites a cross the street from the lake are larger and some are fairly private as well. Showers and restrooms can be a bit dirty at times, but showers are hot

Julian Price Campground is part of the Julian Price Memorial Park, which is along the Blue Ridge Parkway in the northern part of North Carolina. I have heard about this park for many years, so I wanted to finally camp there. It is an older park, and it shows. We stayed at site A4, and I chose this site for a few reasons. It was close to the lake, but unfortunately, we couldn’t see the lake from the site. Many of the sites in the A loop are reservable, and they have been reserved for several weeks(maybe months) in advance. They are the best sites as far as seeing the lake and sometimes because they are larger. The worst part I discovered about sites in the A loop is that you can hear traffic from the Blue Ridge Parkway all day long except for two to three hours in the middle of the night(about 1:30 to 4:30). On average, you can count on about twenty-five vehicles every five minutes(I know because I counted). It doesn’t help that the parkway is under construction and the road is gravel, which makes the sounds of vehicles even louder. The restrooms in A loop are old and need updating. There are no showers in A loop. The only showers are between B and D loops, which are on the other side of the Blue Ridge Parkway. On the positive side, the showers in a new bath house, and they are private shower/restroom units. We rode through all of the loops to see what the other sites were like, and some of the sites are seldom used if the picnic tables and surrounding vegetation is any indication. Some of the picnic tables are covered in moss. Those were mostly in the sites that were small or sloped. For that reason, it is a good idea to look at the photos on the website for each site before reserving. Many of the sites are walk-in sites and you can set up before the 3:00 time for reservable sites. As far as activities, there is no swimming, but fishing is allowed. There is also a boat ramp, and you can rent canoes, kayaks, and SUPs. The lake is hatchery supported, and I did witness someone catching a fish as we walked along the lake trail. While we were in this area, we saw several small deer, including one that came through our campsite. Our campsite was spacious, and it had a concrete picnic table, a fire ring, a lantern pole, and a tent pad. The tent pad needed some maintenance since the dirt had washed onto it and made it slightly sloped. Not until later did I discover that there was a tall dead tree next to our tent. Only the top part was dead, but it could be a potential danger. The site next to ours was sectioned off because of a dead tree. If you are staying in A loop, I give it two stars, especially since the sites and bath house need maintenance, and because of the road noise. If you are staying in B or D loop, I would give it three or four stars. The sites in E loop are mainly for RVs and have less shade. One section in the A loop also is an open field and has limited shade. Overall, it’s not a bad choice for a campground, but it needs updating. What it has going for it is location. It is along the Blue Ridge Parkway, and Cone Memorial Park is down the road, which is a great destination in itself. There are lots of hiking trails and the beauty of the mountains is spectacular.