Best Tent Camping near Mountain City, TN

My teen daughter and I had a last minute midweek opportunity to go tent camping and they were so accommodating and friendly here. Beautiful riverfront grassy tent sites are serene and peaceful. Highly recommended

We really like camping there. We tent camp and it is clean and has a handful of things for the kids. The only down side is that the tent sites are road side…so when the campers pull in and out you hear them hitting the gas. Every now and again people will peel out on the road. 😕 Otherwise 👍🏻 and enjoy the friendly staff, CLEAN bathrooms and campground.

Remote, quiet family friendly campground. It is a basic campground with both tent sites and hook-ups. We enjoy tent camping here on the large field where fireflies light up the night sky! There are sites that are close to water so you can fall asleep listening to the gurgle of the creek - and sites near the woods. The bathhouse includes toilets and sinks with a hand dryer. You can drive to the falls or drive to the visitor center and hike to the falls - a great campground!

We camped in this quiet and comfortable campground for 4 nights. We really appreciated the warm shower rooms, large, clean and private. Though we have a 28’ Open Range with shower and septic hookup, we preferred the shower rooms. There is a beautiful area for tent camping with lovely tent sites. And some were occupied by campers who braved a couple of below freezing nights and the first snowfall. The owners are so friendly and helpful you feel like a long-time neighbor. Fully functional septic, electricity and water. Well maintained.

Primitive tent camp site. Water but no electric. Nice grassy area around the gravel tent pad. We had one tree for shade. Fire ring and table. Clean showers and bathrooms. We stayed here specifically for the sliding rock at widow creek falls. But we did hike Stone Mountain falls trail. There are 432 steps going up to the parking area from the bottom of the falls. Beautiful shaded trail. Mountain to sea trail runs through for a little bit. Dogs welcome leashes. Fairly busy trail.

We have been to this campground numerous times. The people and the place bring us back. There are mostly RV's here but we tent camp and there are plenty of spots available. There are about 8-10 sites that are right behind the pool and more sites down a short hill all along the river. This campground accommodates tents, pop ups and RV's comfortably. There is a small pool, but very clean and nice. The showers / restrooms are close by and nice. There is a store to purchase extras and firewood. Great family place to camp. The 5 mph speed limit is strictly enforced! The river is perfect! It's not too deep so the kids can play in it. Fairly easily accessed from many areas at the campground. Tent sites behind the pool have water and electric. If you go on any holiday, there are usually holiday related activities for the whole family. October was great for costumes, trick or treating, fall activities and parties! Many sites were decorated. Summer at this campground had plenty of water activities fun for all ages.

Sites #1-40 are for tent camping and the rest are for RVs. We camped with tents in the RV section because it was all that was available. It was definitely tough to find places to put our tents in our site (86), but the designated tent sites were large and flat. It was pretty crowded while we were there and campsites are close together.

The campground has lots of amenities—a pool, amphitheater, camp store with firewood and ice for sale, flush toilets, laundry machines, etc. They put on lots of fun activities like group hikes and educational talks. We went to the see the live music at the amphitheater Saturday night and it was charming. There are lots of hiking trails you can walk to, but we didn‘t have time to check them out.

The highlight of the trip was hiking the grassy balds starting at Carver’s Gap. Get there early! Parking was tricky when we got there at 9:30am and impossible when we left around 2pm. The scenery was absolutely beautiful. Overall a nice weekend in Roan Mountain State Park!

The tent sites are built into a hill that provides an abundance of trees to hang hammocks and to keep well protected from the sun. The RV spots are located out in the open area and one loop sits right on a creek. The RV spots are sunnier with limited trees to shade from the sun during the summer months. For a NC state park, the bathroom and shower amenities are clean, warm and well stocked with toilet paper. The tent spots are a perfect place to hang hammocks and the tent pads are pretty sizable!

I am giving this review a 5 based on 2 different elements: 1) cleanliness of the camp site was beyond expectation. Not all campground hosts clean out the fire pit on a daily basis. When arriving, there was no trace of the former camper at all. No micro trash, no left over spikes and the campsite was freshly raked and all coals/ash were swept out of the fire ring. 2) welcoming personalities of the camp ground host and and employees. The campground host stopped to ask if we needed anything and to remind us the program that was taking place the next morning.

For tent camping, choose the following sites if you need to park 2 cars at the campsite: #7, #9, #14 and #18. The other campsites have enough space for one car at each site.

Campground Review: R&D Campground in Mountain City, TN is located in the far north east corner of the state almost directly in between Boone, NC and Demascus, VA. It sits at the base of Doe Mt and has access to all the trails which are well known for four-wheeling, horseback riding, biking, or just hiking. Be sure and ask for a trail map when you check in, it has a color coded and numbered system that shows you distance and which trails are friendly for each activity. The campground has 19 total sites, 1-9 are full hookups with water and electricity, sites 10-19 are primitive tent sites. Not far from either is the bathhouse and a pavilion with a fire pit which is great for lounging and getting to know some of the other campers and guest. A few of the tent sites back up to a cascading creek and I would definitely suggest reserving one of these. I think its 13 or 14, Dennis one of the owners can point you in the right direction. The campground is also only 20 to 30 minutes from Lake Watauga and is surrounded by good trout fishing.

Gear Review: As a Ranger for The Dyrt, I get products to test from time to time - today I am testing the Grand Trunk Skeeter Beeter Pro Hammock. This hammock comes with a weight capacity of 400, a net suspension kit, a starter rope kit for smaller trees in tight spaces and carabiners. I also bought a pair of Trunk Straps which come in at 10 feet, and that really opens up your hanging options. I was impressed with the materials and everything about the hammock, the only suggestion I have would be to include or add an attachment to the end of the elastic suspension lines for the netting ( a small plastic figure 8 would do). I used this hammock a little early in the season for mosquito but I like keeping the other insects and spiders off of me just as well. https://www.grandtrunk.com/products/skeeter-beeter-pro

Love tent camping here, awesome views and great prices

I'd have given RM a 5 star review except for the RV sites are small and so close together. We have a small camper, 15" including the tongue and I felt the site too small. The tent sites are lovely., large and more private. Next time we''ll see if we can get a tent site since our camper is so small. No hook ups on the tent sites, but hey we're camping. The staff was friendly and extremely accommodating. We had some severe weather during our visit. 45mph, horizontal rain and a power outage. The staff was right out after the storm to clean up and help out. Our traveling companions were in a tent and their site was in standing water. The staff hauled in gravel and made an elevated pad as well as helping to move the tent. Great service! The area is spectacular and has something for everyone.

We have tent camped and RV camped here. Great site with lots of space and kept up well. Views are great and area is beautiful.

Very nice and comfy! Don’t make the same mistake I did and tent camp outside in a huge storm - just stay inside!

My family went to tent camp and enjoyed our stay. We discovered others with campers that had wonderful campsites. The bathroom facilities are new and very clean. We enjoyed hiking. The location also had four bars of Verizon LTE. Amazing!

We have tent camped here many times and it is always a great time.
Nothing beats falling asleep and waking up to the sound of the creek. Small playground isn’t much to look at but my kids (10 and under) always use the heck out of it. They love riding their bikes along the gravel road and grassy hillside. If you’re tent camping the best spot is the far end, I believe number one and two. So secluded and private.
There’s a small beach area that you get kids can use as access to swim and rock throwing.
This campground is only a few miles from Stone Mountain state park. Lots of great hiking. In the summer you have to check out Widows Creek. Sliding rocks and waterfalls and a swimming hole only .2 miles off the road.

We love camping at this clean, simple campground.

We tent camped here in the Royal Oak section. Campsites in this section are tent only and very nice and have platforms. Rv sites are crowded. Clean bath houses, and plenty to do. The lake is beautiful and has boat rentals and a swimming beach! Great place to kayak! This place stays booked up, so reservations are suggested during the summer/fall months.

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.

Twin rivers campground is located in Crumpler NC on the river.  It is a primitive campground with both RV and tent sites.  The tent sites are found by following a dirt road around the base of the mountain, at river level, which left us a little wary that the road could wash out.  We followed the path a bit to a private site down a ways, just past a porta potty.  There is a bathhouse up in the RV section of this campground, but we were camping in primitive tent land. 

The site we were on was fantastic!  It was steps from the river, we had a flat, grassy spot with shrubs creating some privacy between us and our neighbor.  Our next neighbor was as far down as we could see!  

The campfire was perfect, our site was superb and we had a great night sleep!  

(PLEASE NOTE!  THE CAMPGROUND HAS SINCE CHANGED OWNERSHIP AND SITES ARE NOW MUCH MUCH CLOSER TOGETHER)