Camping near Cherokee National Forest

-absolutely gorgeous campsite #6! -creek running through the culvert under our driveway. Concrete picnic table, rocky terrain, a legit fire ring with two grill options, and a nice packed tent pad

-didn’t get lucky tonight as far as neighbors go, super loud and annoying groups at two of the sites nearby. One group in particular drove up at 10:30pm, it was a couple with, what sounded like, at least 3 little kids. They lit their smoky fire at 11:30pm and were jacked up on candy or something. The kids were so rowdy and disrespectful and kept the whole campgrounds up by YELLING non stop until 1AM. At one point they were all so loud that I yelled across the campground “SHUT THE F*CK UP! PLEASE STOP YELLING!! BE COOL!!” And their sassy kid said back, “We’re just talking!” But I swear, there were pterodactyl childish screams again and again, kids yelling at each other, mom yelling at the kids, at least the dad would calmly tell the kids to settle down, butt whippins, mom yelling “Shut Up!” at the kids, they were seriously the worst neighbors I’ve ever encountered while camping. Finally going to sleep now 1:09am

This place is nice. It is in the middle of nowhere. Since there were reported construction delays on I 40, I took the alternative route offered by google maps. Do not go that way. The roads were very bad and when I was 1 mile from making one of my last two turns, the road was closed. I went around the signs and came to an area of the road washed out by the hurricaine. They was a crew working on the road. I asked if I could get through to make my turn a mile ahead and a very nice fellow said I could, but at my own risk. I had barely enogh room to drive my van past the washed out area that was about 500 feet above a river with a sheer drop. The gate to this camp is locked but they email you the combination with your booking confirmation. The lock is a little hard to open. You have to pull and push on it once you have the right numbers dialed in. There is a horse camp here to the right at an intersection, the regular campground is to the left. Very nice picnic tables in the sites . I believe there is a trash dump here someplace, but have not looked for it yet. You need to be self contained to camp out here. The nice thing is , the camp is at 3144 feet in elevation according to my altimiter app so it is nice and cool. If not for the picnic table and trash dump, this would be about the same as a dispersed camping area. Price was good, $7.50/night with lifetime pass. A very remote campground but it is very, very quiet, at least it was last night which was a Thursday.

Campground has been open at least since June 2025. Nice, secluded campground. Some sites are a bit close, but as long as campers observe quiet hours (10 PM - 6 AM) and are aware that generators are allowed (60 dB max) to be run from 8 AM to 8 PM, all should be good. Wildlife is present and being over a mile high, temperatures can be cool, even in summer, for a great relief from temperatures in lower elevations. There are two sets of restrooms and a dishwashing station. There's no electricity, so no lights or hot water, so be ready to rough it a bit.

The creek was beautiful and the restrooms were clean... but the sites were so small that our awning came out just to the edge of the site and the next camper slide was just inches away from the awning. Our slide on the other side reach to the edge of that side of the site. The owner told us there were no mosquitos because they were so high in the mountains..... I was bitten by no-see-ums over both legs and arms and so were the other campers. There was no internet, the TV sporadically worked with a few channels, and we had intermittent cell service with only 1 bar. We forfeited our deposits and a few days of rent to leave and go to Cross Creek in Maggie Valley. We are still there and it is lovely with everything that Moonshine Creek wasn't. Oh, and Moonshine Creek is the most expensive over other camp grounds in the area. Shame on you Moonshine Creek!!!

First of all, GSMNP is amazing and blew us away. And the river running along the campground was great. We even had elk walk through one morning.

However this campground is way too cramped and too loud. The sites are on top of each other. Two nights our neighbors were starting up their fire with some device that made it roar several feet tall. The first time we actually thought our tent was on fire because their pit is so close to our tent pad and it was so bright lol.

Oh and about the fires, if you’re sensitive to smoke, avoid this one. The loop is in sort of a bowl and without wind all of the smoke from all the fires just sits there. I ended up wearing a mask most of one evening.

There is no enforcement of quiet hours at this campground. Every night people nearby (two separate groups covering all nights at two different sites) were talking loudly for much of the night. I’m a light sleeper and with ear plugs and my phone blasting white noise next to my ears, I still didn’t get any sleep.

I know it sounds like I’m just a whiner and shouldn’t be camping, but we camp a lot… not for the “camping experience” but just because we travel a lot and it’s cheaper and I do enjoy being in nature. I do fine at most campgrounds but this one was just too crowded for me.

I will say, though, that this side of the park was quieter than the other and I liked the Cherokee vibe more than the Las Vegas - style Gatlinburg.

Highlight hike was Alum Cave. Super cool!