Best Tent Camping near Ewing, VA

Cherokee Dam campground is literally one of the most beautiful campgrounds in the area! The grounds are so well-kept, and the lake is just breathtaking. The campground is near town, so you can grab some bbq or hit the local hardware store for anything you need. The campground also had a camp store for essentials. They even delivered firewood to our site.

The people running the campground were just amazing. So nice and helpful. Most of the sites have lake views. We were in site #36, and we were in our camper. Lots of space, no shade at all in this one. Most of the sites had some shade though. Picnic tables and fire rings at all.

I’ve noticed the TVA campgrounds don’t have many showers, so I was glad to have that in our camper, just be aware, you might have to wait for one if you are tent camping. The tent sites were awesome, right on the water, and a short walk from the parking lot. If you have a rooftop tent, you won’t be able to park at your site, so you’ll be sleeping in the parking lot, but you could make it work.

There’s a swimming area, boat launch, and walking trails. This is a great spot to have a great time on the lake!

Very unique state park. Expensive tent camping $40/night no hookups Visit tunnel at night if open

Went on a stag tent camping trip. Decent facility for state park. Sites are small wouldn’t recommend large rigs.

Good tent camping sites. Lots of trees; level sites; fire pit; picnic table. Very clean & well supplied restrooms. Great individual private room showers with plenty of good hot water.

The tent sites can be decent or real bad. T9 and T14 were horrible sites at the bottom of a hill where all rainwater runs through. T7 and T8 are ok sites. They are fairly flat.

Tent camped for a weekend to hike Devil’s bathtub. Campgrounds were well kept. We had water and electric at our site. Fire ring and table. Level gravel tent pad. Bathhouse very clean. We hiked down to the tunnel. Beautiful. The chair lift was running and the kids loved that. (We rode just for fun) park rangers were friendly. Dogs were welcome leashed.

A couple of the tent sites are waterfront and ideal for a tenter like me. The rest seem a little packed together, though some offer a little bit of seclusion. Decent facilities and easy access to Devil’s Backbone section of Cumberland trail.

We stayed at the main area but not much space or privacy so we put up a tent out side our door, but then moved to the tent camping site area the second night which was more secluded and private, but still close to the showers/bath house. So much hiking and a cool view of the dam is all within walking distance. Nice bath rooms and showers too.

I have tent camped here a couple of times in the past few years. The campground is clean and neat, and some sites offer great views of the lake and surrounding cliffs. It's a beautiful place to hang out at during sunset or sunrise. The shower and restrooms are clean, and the general store is nice and convenient. The laundry facilities are a nice place to get things cleaned up while you're on the road. The biggest problem I see with this area is the noise. A lot of the Wahweap workers live in an area of mobile homes above the campground, and they definitely like to party at night. A group of motorcyclists also thought it was a good idea to rev their Harleys up at 6 am one day. I am sure camping in and RV would isolate you from the noise, or maybe camping during a weekday would be better. Either way, I would stay here again. As for tent camping, some of the sites have zero shade, so be prepared with your own shelters. Just make sure you anchor them down; afternoons can bring some strong winds to the area.

I camped here back in June 2018. It was one of three sites I camped at that week on my trek to ten VA state parks in the south eastern of the state. This was my favorite of them all. It offered primitive, trailer and tent camping. Since I was by myself I choice the tent. Very clean, helpful and friendly folks. the site was easy to pull through with my truck. I been to some that were not so easy.

Campsites are nice but electric hookups only at certain sites. Its a national campground so its beautiful with nice bathouses but not much activities other than hiking. There are a limited amount of sites that would accommodate a large RV, mostly tent sites. It is first come first serve with no reservations. There is no rv parks close if the campground is full.

Overall this is a nice campground, clean bathrooms and good views of the dam and river. However, if you plan on staying in one of the three tent sites I suggest 59 as it appeared to be the only one with good spot for a tent. I stayed at 58 which wasn't level and had a lot of rocks and roots. Site 60 appeared to have a soft grassy area, but it still looked a little slanted.

We usually camp here at least 3 times every year. They have dedicated tent sites with electric and also a primitive tent area. It's open year around but in the summer season you can take a trail off of loop I that leads to the community pool to cool off. The campground organizes fun activities for the summer holidays like tie dying, camper's only pool party, bingo, best decorated campsite, etc. It always seems to pack out everytime we are there.

Great campground with very friendly and helpful rangers. Was pretty empty the night we were there. Very cool tent camping spots right on the small lake and RV spots all pretty much have a lake view. Full hookups and dump when you exit the campground. They do not have water at the sites in the winter. Bathrooms were clean enough and the showers were hot. Would definitely come back. Many trailheads near the campsite but the weather was bad when we were there. Drone photos courtesy of SweetDroneChicago on Instagram

I was a little underwhelmed compared to what I was expecting from camping at a national park. The positives are the cheap rates and there are bathroom and shower facilities. If you want old fashion tent camping the park does have some backcountry campsites.

The cons are the lack of actual campsites. They are more like parking spaces. Probably to appeal to the people who use campers. The noise of the highway was constant and annoying.

Overall I enjoyed my time staying here. Wish I could have done more backcountry camping but the weather didn't permit it.

Kingdom Come State Park is a little jewel in southeastern Kentucky! There are 6 tent sites (7 if they allow you to reserve the one next to the duck pond), each with a gravel drive, mulch tent pad big enough for two smallish tents, fire ring, and picnic table. The nearby shelter house provides restrooms and trash cans. The local ranger was most helpful in providing firewood (free!) and offering to bring us water to wash up with or for drinking (there is a water fountain across from the CG, but it wasn't turned on and there is running water in the restrooms). The area is known for bear activity, but we saw none. The surrounding mountains provide many short hikes that can be easily strung together to make for a longer trek if desired. We look forward to camping there again!

Campground Review:

If camping with a side of luxury is your thing, then this is the place to be. While this is a huge campground with over 200 campsites, they do a great job of separating tent sites from campers and RV's. There is at least one loop that is tent only, and another that is tents and small campers. The RV's were kept on the far side of the campground away from any possible tents. They also had great (for those who want it quiet) hours/restrictions for generators. Tent sites were level with picnic tables, fire rings, and each had some trees, though small in size, that were irrigated underground so you know they will survive the heat and blazing sun. Each loop had its own very clean and new looking bathroom, and showers were available at the campground general store/check in. I have to tell you, I still cannot believe how much time you get for showers- 15 minutes for $2!!!!!! This is a great location for playing on the lake, taking the dam tour (insert dam jokes here), going to Antelope Canyon (spectacular!!!), Horseshoe Bend, Grand Escalante Staircase, and even going to the Grand Canyon.

Gear Review:

As a Ranger for the Dyrt, from time to time I get to test products. On this camping trip I tested the Klymit Insulated Static V sleeping pad. I was looking for a new pad that was lighter and packed smaller than my old Thermarest. At 25 oz, I thought the Klymit was going to be a bit heavy, but it actually seems much lighter (and in fact is lighter and warmer than the thermarest). And can I just tell you about it's packability? The pad packs down to about the size of a nalgene bottle! I loved that I could roll onto my side and not have my bony hips jam into the ground. The pad was interesting to blow up as it looks huge when un-inflated, but it "shrinks" to the proper size as you add air. It took about 12-14 breaths to blow it up, which I think is reasonable. My friend struggled with the valve a bit, but I had no issues. She also had one night where the pad seemed to deflate some, but I truly think it was her operator error due to her dislike of the valve. Again, I had no problems, found it very easy to blow up to use and deflate for packing, and I'm looking forward to using this pad again on my next camping trip. My former pad has been put to rest, I have a new sleeping pad I love! https://www.klymit.com/insulated-static-v.html

Site/Surface: 

• Site 63 was an excellent site with great views and within feet of the water. Surface was nice/flat and plenty of grass for a tent

• Site 65 was an excellent site with great views and within feet of the water. Surface was nice/flat and plenty of grass for a tent

Cell Service: Verizon was a bit spotty

Shade: Not a ton of shade  during the day, but was overcast when we went

Firerings: Both sites had firerings, with grill grates. 

Onsite Grill: None 

Bathhouse: Bathhouse was close. It was cleaned early in the day and become very gross by the end of the day. 

Playground: Playground was close by, in great shape with a big field to run in.

Campstore: There was a campstore at the front of the park with ice/firewood/etc

Local Activites: Plenty to do at the main park, not a ton of great hiking, but lots of water. The Devil's Racetrack is within 5 minutes and has a beautiful view if you are looking to hike, also a few waterfalls along the way. Small town close by with plenty of supplies.

Overall: Decent ranger prescense during the day. Camground was fairly quiet at night, everyone we met were super friendly and the kids played together. Spot is right on the water and would be great to bring kayaks to or fish from. The worst thing about the campsite is that they didn't take advantage of some of the ridge views available elsewhere in the park.

We camped in site B-11.

Sites, even in the RV loops, are well spread out with mature trees separating them. Sites can be hilly, even the RV paved pads, so be cautious on site selection. That said, the roads and pads were recently re-paved and have nice curb stops at the ends to assist in backing in.

The bath houses are generally clean and updated, with separate shower facilities that are independent from the bathrooms. It’s not especially cold right now but it did seem that they’re at least heated.

We tent camp in an RV site since we have an EV, allowing us to charge. The power post on our site was typical with 120V 20A (5-20) and 30A (TT-30) connections as well as a 240V 50A (14-50). Power supplied was at 248V while pulling 32A.

Our site accommodated our larger 9-person tent (16’x9’) well, with only a slight slope on the back end of the site. This left plenty of space for the supplied table, fire ring, and parking in the paved pad. We are across the street from the bath house.

Note: Site B-10 across the street has a significant slope for the RV pad and the grassy area that could accommodate a tent is also significantly sloped.

None of the sites I’ve seen have water at the site- there is a spigot at the bath house.

The dumpster area is at the end of the B-loop road, and also has bottle and can recycling available.

We could occasionally hear traffic (mostly engine brakes when it happened), but I think that is more an issue in the further back loops. A-loop is furthest from the highway. As a tent camper, the HVAC units of neighboring RV’s were louder than the traffic (not an issue - we know what we’re signing up for in these sites. Just giving a comparison.)

As the owner of this rv park, I will not be tooting my own horn but will instead give you a little info that can be followed up by visiting our website or facebook page. Our little park was started to accommodate our bluegrass patrons and then we opened our doors to the public during the rest of the year. Most of our travelers find us by word of mouth or through mobile apps such as thedyrt.com. We offer a different kind of camping experience here. We are very laid back in our approach to camping as you will notice first thing upon arrival when you will probably find the office unoccupied. If that is the case, you can utilize self-registration and chose your own campsite. On the days that we have reservations, they will be posted on a board in front of our office. If we are able to greet you when you arrive, we will happily do so as we live just a few yards from the camping area and office. If you are looking for bells & whistles, you might want to keep traveling as we do not offer many of those. We have picnic tables & chairs in our pavilion but not on individual sites. We do offer a unique setting with lovely views along with peace & quiet (most of the time). We have restrooms with showers for your convenience. Currently, we do not allow tent camping except during festivals and special events. Our sites are large with a gravel base through which we have allowed the grass to grow. We can be flexible with parking situations for those of you traveling with larger rigs pulling trailers, etc. Our location is just over 20 miles from Knoxville's acclaimed Urban Wilderness to the west and just under that amount to Pigeon Forge to our south. We are 10 minutes from Douglas Lake, 30 minutes from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and a short drive to Sevierville. There are restaurants and gas stations 1 1/2 miles from us at exit 407 on I-40. Check out our website for more info. Thank you.