Best Dispersed Camping near Heiskell, TN

Campground Review:

The Nantahala National Forest, due south of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, is chock full of free semi-developed campsites – some are drive-up, some are boat-up, and are there are even a few large enough for sizable RV’s. J8 is one of those larger sites.

Our site has been very well-kept and is right next to the boat launch on Lake Santeetlah, at Avey Creek. This is a beautiful reservoir for fishing, canoeing, SUPing, or sea kayaking, and very close to some great hiking in the Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest. The famous Tail of the Dragon (Highway 129) between here and Tennessee, with twists and turns and beautiful views…very popular among both cyclists and motorcyclists. The closest town is Robbinsville, NC which is about 30 minutes away and has all the basics you need. Nothing fancy or special, though the people are extremely nice.

Each of the free sites we’ve seen appear to be well-maintained with nice flat, well-drained tent pads, a fire pit, a picnic table, and 2 poles to hang lanterns, shower bags, etc. Lots of trees around for hanging hammocks, too. There are no toilets or drinking water available, so just come prepared! And, please Leave No Trace!

No reservations necessary, or even possible. These are free first-come, first-served campsites which probably fill quickly during the main season. Given that we are here in early March, the skies the limit! Check out our blog on The Dyrt's Online Magazine about our experience in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Product Review:

As Rangers with The Dyrt, we’ve been taking this solar panel out on a test drive as we’ve camped in various places throughout the southeast this winter. It plugged right into our existing system, and after some retrofitting needed to attach it to the tonneau cover on our truck, we were good to go! So far, we love it!

We’ve been traveling across the country with one 80-watt solar panel mounted on the back of our Nissan Frontier for the past 5.5 years. This panel charged a deep cycle marine battery, and we used an inverter to convert the power to AC to run some of our lights, charge our laptops, charge batteries; or we simply used DC power directly from the battery to charge our cell phone, run our 12-volt fan and lights. We like having it on our truck (and removable) so that we can park our camper in the shade during the warmer months, but put the panel in the sun with an extension cord. Whether we are parked at a campground or driving down the road, if the panel is illuminated, we are gathering solar power.

The amount of power is a simple equation between how much you can collect (with your panel) and store (with your battery), and then how much you use. If you need to convert the type of electricity to AC to charge up something with a standard 3-prong plug, you lose a bit in the conversion from DC to AC. If you just need DC power to run a 12-volt fan, lights, or charge your cell phone with a USB, you get more bang for your power buck.

What we like about this product:

· It has a larger capacity than our previous panel, but with a slimmer profile and just a slightly larger footprint.

· It’s easier to manage because it folds in half for storage, if that is what you plan to do when you are not using it, and it comes with its own carrying case.

· It comes with its own kickstand! Previously, we used Hutch’s guitar stand and bungee cords to put the panel in the right orientation to the sun. Now, we just pull out the stand, set it up, and start charging.

· The carrying handle is firmly integrated into the side, making for an easy place to loop a cable through to lock it down when we leave for the day.

What could be improved:

Honestly, so far…nothing that we’ve found. It’s easy to use, robust, and does the job of collecting power from the sun.

Product Link: https://www.renogy.com/renogy-100-watt-12-volt-monocrystalline-foldable-solar-suitcase-w-o-controller/

Product Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8udSRefnwmQ&t=78s

It was beautiful everything about it. We put our boat in at the magazine branch boat dock and only had to canoe maybe 30 minutes to the first camp spot (which on a friday afternoon we were very fortunate to get). Unlike the other camp sites we’ve seen there camp site one doesn’t have any picnic tables, which is the only downside to it. You are right in the little slickrock cover with waterfalls as white noise. unlike the other sites this one is also very flat which is best for walking. if you enjoy hiking campsite one is right on the slickrock trail and if you take it about 1.5 miles you’ll reach wolfcat falls which has a big swimming hole at the bottom. lots of fun! slickrock trial also has about 7 more sites that we pasted on that 1.5 mile hike. lots to do here and absolutely beautiful and for the middle of june an amazing temperature.

Happy Camping!🏕

Note that there are multiple campsites on this lake, some are drive up, some you have to walk to. There is also a campground called "Lake Santeetlah" that is not free. The site by the boat launch was quiet, free, and had beautiful views of the lake. I arrived right before sunset on a week day and found it unoccupied. There was a picnic table, and established flat area to set up a tent. No bathrooms or running water available.

Warning: the road to get to Lake Santeetlah has endless sharp turns & drop-offs, would not recommend driving this in the dark.

We arrived at this dispersed campground at around 7:30 on a Saturday evening in July. It was pretty packed but since we were planning on leaving early the next morning, we took a family’s offer of taking over their spot as they left.

We use a roof top tent so unfortunately we weren’t able to camp at the actual site, instead we set up on an almost level gravel parking area that had a private trail to the actual camp site. There were garbage cans and a port-a-potty set up right there, which is why this site lost some stars. Even though these facilities were provided, people didn’t use the garbages and there was a lot of garbage on the ground, including broken glass that made us worry about our pup’s paws. Also, the port-a-potty was pretty yucky..neither my husband nor I were willing to use it.

Now, I want to reiterate that this is a geographically beautiful spot! Humans just need to take better care of it 💚

From what i saw, there seemed to be two camp sites at Harold Parrish lower camp. one had the sign and was a bit off the river and the other one was down just a little bit but visible from the first site and right at the water. i have both pictured below. The hike in is quite difficult. we boated into slickrock cove off of Calderwood lake and walked from there to the sites. which was only about 1.5 miles. so a lot easier than the whole 13.5 mile hike. Wolfcat falls is really pretty with a huge swimming hole. Lots of fun and not far at all from the Lower camp sites. if you’re thinking of kayaking or canoeing to these sites it’s impossible because of the amount of small falls so you’ll have to park your boat at the cove and leave it. No way to get it to the campsite.

Happy Camping! 🏕

So we weren't sure what we would end up finding here. I will say that there are a lot of places to camp, many many many options away from the porta potties. If you get within about 20-30 feet of those they are a bit stinky. The one camp site we chose was a great place, tons of space and well manicured. A lot of options for pull up to your campsite or park and walk to campsite spots.

My only complaints are about the campers that stay there. The litter isn't horrible, but it's not great. It is a leave no trace place. Apparently some people have difficulty with throwing away their trash.

When we stayed last night there was a person that kept peeling out up and down the gravel road (3/4 times) in a diesel truck at 10:00 at night. Not very courteous to all of us at the campground.

And I was awakened at 2:00 a.m. by our camping neighbors when they were playing loud music. Also not cool, thankfully they stopped shortly after

Overall we were very pleased with this campground, beautiful views, it was hard choosing one spot. We will be coming back, and hopefully we won't have loud campers next time.

Campsite #1 is an easily accessible backcountry campsite that is only a mile hike from the Abrams Creek campground. My husband and I were able to hike this carrying our 26 pound toddler and all our gear. The site is next to a small creek that is a great water source (at least in May) and spot for playing. There is lots of room for tents and the ground is level and soft because of the pine. Our daughter had a fantastic time exploring and poking around and because it’s not next to a river or cliffs we didn’t have to be hyper vigilant. We hiked to Abrams Falls the next day (about 8 miles round trip).

Should go without saying, but if you’re planning to take a small child camping, be super careful, prepared, and alert.

The GPS coordinates will get you directly to where you want to go there's probably about 10 to 15 campsites there was trash on a few of them. Overall it was a nice place to just go and get away. It is a hunter's Camp first and foremost so there were quite a few people setting up for this week's opening day but the ones I did talk to were all friendly even went and had a couple beers with one of them.

My dog snd I stayed for 2 nights and 2 days. Lots of wildlife sounds at night.

Also a random heard of cattle strols through every now and again.

I'd definitely come back around this time of year!

This campground is absolutely gorgeous, the views of the lake are breathtaking. Especially, in the early morning. We ended up staying an extra night here because it was so peaceful and laid back. Dog friendly. The bathrooms & showers (free) can be a bit of a hike, but the lake makes it all worth it. There are sites you can boat up to and keep your boat “docked”. Had some severe thunderstorms in July.

I drove over an hour to get here to find that it is “closed to public for vandalism”. I was very upset by this but obviously nothing I could do. Just wish I knew how to check before driving all the way. But the drive! Woah! So beautiful, I wish there was a way I could find out when it opens back up because I was very much looking forward to camping here.

I rode all the way over here from Greeneville to check out the area in order to bring a group of friends camping next weekend.

BUT the entire campground is closed. When I pulled up to the iron gate and saw the sign, it read "CLOSED TO THE PUBLIC DUE TO VANDALISM AND UNAUTHORIZED ACTIVITY"

Lots of lil cozy pull offs on an easy gravel road. Lots of longer term people staying it seemed like (or just really full send camping friends lol). Many fire rings and spots by the lake. Unfortunately the other reviews are right - A decent amount of trash. There are trash cans and porta potties. I’ve seen worse porta potties at festivals but there were a few stinky ones.

Great location. Not crowded. But could use a cleaning. PortaJons are nasty.

Didn’t stay. To far out for me. Lots of knats. Dirt rd I , washboard out was north to Rock Creek campground steep downhill grade narrow. My opinion not for 5th wheel. No cell for miles

I’d like to say this spot is beautiful, but I’ve seen better. Rifle season starts Nov 20. I’m 10 days early, and was a bit surprised just how many hunters are already here. I feel like I’m the only solo woman here, also seem to be the only Van lifer. Lots of RVs. The camp was pretty easy to find. There are fire pits, mine is full of garbage. The spots are pretty spacious but there’s no privacy. I won’t be staying here long.

This area is beautiful almost all times of the year! Plenty of wildlife and lots of shady areas. Alcohol is allowed in designated camping areas. Only saw one other camper on our trip this weekend so it was very peaceful. There was no accessible water near by so make sure you bring your own provisions. Haven’t got to explore much around the area by hiking. Found a nice creek a few miles on down the road. Other then that, great area and will most definitely be back soon!

Had and idea at 2 am the night before to go camping. Next morning packed up and head here. Found this nice place. I’m kinda reluctant to tell people about it because it a small paradise nestled along the banks. I’ve never really enjoyed the mountains, but after staying here I do t think I’ll ever get enough.

If you are willing to bring everything with you, pack everything out, and paddle multiple miles on a nonmotorized finger lake, this is this place for you! I kind of even hesitate to mention this place because of how pristine i would like for it to stay

Stayed at the site next to the marina on the North side. Lake sudd access and can park next to the site. Also has a toilet facility. Cell phone service with Verizon was 1 to 2 bars. Sometimes good others not so.