River Valley Campground

We had a BLAST tubing and fishing on the river. We chose a site that was right on the river and we couldn’t have been more pleased! The little market they had on site was complete with all the essentials!! Can’t wait to go back!

A rating for this campground can be ambiguous. For tent campers, I would give it two stars. For RVs and travel trailers, I would give it at least four stars. With that said, it gets three stars, but with considerations of how you are camping. 

Many of the sites have concrete pads, so there is very little grass to deal with. The sites have very little space between them, so there is not much privacy. Some of the sites have gravel. If you are tent camping, there is a small area that has grass, but many of the sites with hookups are on gravel. The good thing is that even though many of the sites are gravel, they are beside the river. If you want to camp beside the river in a tent, take my advice: put a couple of ground cloths under your tent. Otherwise, if you are in a small camper, you will be all right. 

As far as amenities, this campground has the largest laundry I have ever seen at a campground. There is also an arcade and a game room. The biggest attraction, other than its proximity to places like Mingo Falls, is the fishing and to see the elk. As a matter of fact, I saw one beside the road on the morning when I left. However, if you really want to see the elk, there will be plenty at the Oconaluftee Visitors Center during the evening, which is only a ten minute drive. You can also see them farther down the river sometimes. 

I felt secure staying at this campground since there is somebody at the entrance to check to see who is coming in. I’d rather have somebody there than not. 

Overall, I would recommend this campground for those who are staying in RVs or travel trailers. As far as tent camping, it would not be my first choice.

We didn’t have reservations and got to the area later than planned, so we were lucky to get the last spot at this campground. The view of the river here is amazing. We camped right on the edge of the river and the sound of it rushing was so peaceful.

The facilities were immaculate. We didn’t use the laundry room or the game room but as far as I could tell they were also very clean.

The only drawbacks are how close the sites are to the edge of the river. There was very little space between the fire ring and the river’s edge; so little we couldn’t walk all the way around the fire ring. Also, some sites have a small fire rings that leave a lot to be desired. It would have also been nice to have access to a permanent grill.