There are 9 sites at the campground you can reserve a spot at. There is water, bathrooms, and all 9 spots are easy to get to from the parking lot.

The rangers require that all camping be on the the tent pads, this includes hammocks. With that said the aphids and acid rain destroyed the canopy cover that was there just 20 years ago. There are only 2 sites here that have trees large enough for hammocks any more.

Be careful in researching the trails here as well, you will see the hike guides saying to use the old Mitchell trail from the campsite to the summit, that is not the trail you will be on though from the main site. You will be on the campsite spur trail... just shy of 1 mile to the summit.

There are several sites throughout the park, Deep Gap being the easiest to get to, 4.5 miles from the Mitchell Summit parking lot over both Mount Craig and Big Tom. The trail there can be hard at points with more stairs than you want to count and several areas where you are hiking on boulders. In the dry weather pretty easy, get caught in the rain and it's pretty slick. I have seen 4 year old hike this trail though, and families go to Big Tom with infants on their backs all the time. My last trek there I sat with a man in his late 80's at the summit of Mount Craig.

All of the water in the park is listed as "non potable" but it's because of the laws defining the pipes and the flow of water, as the pipes are in granite they can't make the modification needed to label it at potable by current standards. The entire mountain system is fed by the same springs and is slightly chlorinated and safe to drink.

Campsites 4 and 5 have the best veiw of Mount Mitchell

Campsite 1 has a easy ramp access from the parking lot and is the most isolated

Campsite 8 is the smallest site due to the weirdly shaped tree next to the tent pad

Currently there is free wood there as they are felling the dead trees and leaving the wood split in the sites for free. There is enough dead wood there that they are guessing this will continue till 2020.

There are no shower facilities at this camp.

The bear boxes do leak so don't think they are water proof.

The rangers do patrol the campgrounds several times each night, and take the alcohol ban very seriously.