Best Tent Camping near Catawba, VA

North Carolina certainly puts its state park system as a priority! I am very impressed. This park is beautifully maintained, has myriad opportunities for recreation, and is in a scenic setting along Lake James and the Catawba River at the base of the Blue Ridge mountains. The park is quite large, and has an extensive set of trails for mountain biking as well as hiking, and the National Intermountain Historic Hiking trail also runs through the park. Water recreation includes kayaking, canoeing and boating with rentals available right in the oark, fishing, including trout fishing on the Catawba and feeder streams to it, and just lying on their beautiful beach—yes, even in December! Ranger led park programs are offered year round, this week included a natural history boat tour in the lake, and a naturalist talk on loons. The park encompasses several peninsulas and bays on Lake James, we were at Paddy Creek where there are nice drive in tent sites, but there are also more secluded walk in or hike in tent site options. The drive-in tent campground has a year round campground host, a brand new shower house and nice bathrooms, plentiful water pumps, and each tent site has a picnic table, steel fire ring, tent pad, and a well built “Bear Box.” Yes, this is bear country! Your food needs to be locked away in a bear box or you will have visitors

Lakeside camping in a tent is great when fishing and being next to the rods. Level sites, can get flooded after heavy rains as I found out. Quiet sites even at peak times, good showers and hot water. Lake has some nice fish to be caught. Take your own firewood as no store on site.

We’ve been here twice. Once for our anniversary and we stayed in one of the cabins with our dog, and once tent camping. The cabin was reasonably priced and comfortable. They are all grouped together and could be fun for a family reunion or some larger gathering with friends. The tent camping experience was with our kids, and it was a little hard to keep them entertained. The hiking trails were a short distraction, but not long or difficult enough to wear them out.

Awesome place. Crazy raccoons.

Boat in sites. Tent camping. Reserve early, especially weekends.

Have fun!

Loved it went tent camping they have electrical hook ups, water, bathrooms clean, shower house clean. Dogs allowed very peaceful and quiet will be going back.

Stayed in tent sites…Overlanding in my Jeep…single woman..felt safe Campground hosts were wonderful! Clean area

A lot of effort was put into remodeling the bathhouses, making them surprisingly welcoming. Many variations of tent sites available and sites are easily located.

We arrived during the day just after a rain storm. We tent camped and it was pretty muddy. The sites were nice and private for tent campers. RVs was a different story. The bathroom was a good walk up the hill so bring your bikes. We would definitely go back though!

The park itself is well maintained. Bath houses were clean. Tent sites are really close together. A little overpriced for what you’re getting compared to other areas in my opinion.

Great tent campsite close to water and boat launch on Kerr Lake. The shower rooms are very clean.

The “C” campground has RV sites that you can tent camp at as well that are site specific and lake front. Great for renting a pontoon boat or putting a kayak in the water. They have added a splash park for the kids which helps in the summer.

We tent camped at site A1 and had so much room and privacy. Sites are backed up against pond so there were people fishing here and there, but we weren't too bothered after a certain time. Campground offers family showers and a few kid friendly activities.

The tent sites were large and shaded. We were right by the fishing pond and it was a short walk to the playground, pool, jump pad, and very clean, private bathrooms. It stormed our first night, and the raised gravel tent platforms prevented us from flooding. It was quiet and peaceful, and we will definitely be back!

This campground is good for horse back riding (have stables you can rent) or tubing down the James River (have tubes you can rent). They'll take you to the drop off and you can float down. Have to be 6 or older (we had a 4 yr old), the grass at all sites was 6-10" high making it not fun for anyone, esp. kids (we have 2). They were mowing on the day we left.

As far as the tent sites by the river it's a good 50 to 75 feet from the campsite to your vehicle. There is not really good access to the river from camp sites except for two of them. There is plenty of room at the campsite and some trees for shade. Unless you are bringing horses and staying there, the showers and nice bathrooms are a drive away. Tent sites have permanent holes in the ground and no running water. if you know what you getting into it would be OK.

It was still off season when we stayed and it was very quiet. The staff was extremely friendly and the campground was super clean! There was plenty for kids to do playground, pool, jump pillow, fishing pond and hiking trails. The tent site was amazing right by the pond. The fire pit has a grate for cooking. It is very close to many hiking trails. We will definitely go back again.

I stay here at least once every summer. Has beautiful pool and lake, playground, arcade, and boat rentals. Fishing, hiking, basketball. Very friendly staff all the time. Close to stores and restaurants but far enough out to not hear any noise. Phone service is superb. Clean shower and restrooms. Hot water. Electric tent sites!!! Has everything I live and will continue to go here as long as I’m in the state of Va. def recommended

Tent sites are shady, although some can be VERY close to one another. There’s a nice beach area and the park seems to offer boat rentals (unsure of COVID policies at the moment, though). 🛶

The playgrounds and amenities for kids are cute, and the bathrooms are clean. The park sells wood and has a little mini outdoor library and charging station which is adorable and something I don’t see often 💜

We stayed in 2020, first time at this campground and will definitely stay again. Very close to the Blue Ridge Parkway, plenty of places to hike, and Natural Bridge is a must see. Plenty to do at the campground - corn hole, pool, playground, etc. We stayed in a pull-thru full-hookup site, they also have tent sites and cabins. The campsites are close together, but a nice place; staff are very nice. We have a toy-hauler and this is a great place to bring your motorcycles if you want to enjoy a great ride with beautiful scenery!

Paddys Creek Drive-in Tent Camping 

I know you can't control the weather but the night we tried to stay here, it POURED! I'll get to why it is an issue in a bit. The park and campground are one of the newest in North Carolina. The facilities are nice, new and clean. The campsites are big but on a hill with parking below the sites. The camp pad is surrounded by a wood frame. That is the catch - the wood frame! When it started to rain, the water pooled up in the camp pad area since it had no where to drain. In a matter of minutes, our tent was floating in 6 inches of water. We could have toughed it out but at this point it was early enough in the night to just pack up, mud, wet tent, wet dog and all. I would try again but I hope it doesn't rain.

This park was well maintained, as most state parks have been.  However, the sites were a good size but were very difficult to get even a small trailer into the site due to the narrow roads.  We were tent camping, in the beginning of May, and the weather was cold and wet.  The swimming area was nice for the kids, but no lifeguard was on duty at that time.  No luck with shore fishing from everyone I talked to.  The sites were a good combination of sun and shade, great view of stars on clear nights.  Common areas can fill up with groups during the day on weekends.  Courthouse was only about 15min away and offered a very interesting visit of a historical site.   Overall, not our favorite campground, but this was mainly to the pain getting into a site.

Tent sites are a bit confusing as some share the same car access but split into two lower.

Some of the lots are marked as tent OR RV which I guess they are but we would probably not boondock here again as it isn't flat but the RV sites look amazing.

Bathrooms: 5/5 clean & air-conditioning in all of them.

Sites: 3/5 just average/fine

Pools: 0/5 no pool

Beach: 3/5 private beach but not upkept. Loads of rock/Carolina clay/trash sea grass

Waterfrontness: 5/5 weird water but pretty to look at

Closeness to other sites: 1/5 you are up each other's buttcracks

Dog rating: 4/5 no problem but also SO dog friendly we had to be very mindful of others not having their dogs on leash.

We went off season in March of 2018. It was the perfect time to go as it was still "wintery", but had days of mild weather to allow for hiking. The lake is huge and allows for boating and fishing. There's a beach that you can swim from. They have several cabins that are well maintained and clean. We stayed in a cabin. But, we also checked out the tent camping pads. I would not recommend for camping with a tent as the sites are stacked on top of each other offering little to no privacy. The RV/camper sites might be better. I can't say for sure as I don't rv camp. The cabins were phenomenal. They offer a clean and basic setup with a wood stove. The exterior has a porch/deck, grill, firepit, and picnic table. Some of the cabins backup to the lake. The cabins are spread so that their is ample space between them offering privacy. Beautifully maintained, the park was pristine. The visitor center is large and offers education, camp store, literature. I am going back!

This was a great campground.  We were tent camping, so the humidity was a bit rough the first week of June.  The camp sites were very well maintained and the bathrooms were clean, although lacking some hot water for showers.  The camp site map can be a bit confusing as the colors don't always match, which can be misleading for getting a site on the water.  I suggest getting a site specific site to guarantee your spot on the water.  The bugs were a bit much, but manageable.  The splash pad was a great option for kids, but could get a bit crowded mid afternoon on the weekend.   There are plenty of boat launches; not much good shore fishing in off season, but boaters seemed to be doing well.   Most, if not all the sites, were very well shaded and most were very good in size.  Overall great campground with plenty to offer.

We got a non-electric site and in November is was in the 30's at night - pretty cold for tent camping! But we bundled up and made lots of fires! Fire wood is available at the visitors center for a fee. The campsites come with a fire ring, picnic table, room for two cars. We have a pretty large tent so I was a little concerned we weren't going to be able to fit, but were able to squeeze two tents on the tent pad, it worked out just fine. The amenities are great. Bathrooms are within walking distance from all campsites. Ours was a bit of a walk uphill but not bad. Nice clean, hot showers! Lots of friendly families camping here but was overall very quiet and peaceful. The visitors center is awesome! We didn't try it this time, but you can rent a telescope for free to view the stars! They have a huge gift shop as well. And a fun playground that the kids enjoyed. We made a reservation here because the park is an International Dark Sky park and we wanted a great view of the stars. Boy did it deliver! Beautiful starry skies! And some great views of the river and hiking close to the campground was awesome as well. Would love to come back again soon!