Nantahala National Forest

Hit the trail at Tsali Recreation Area. A popular destination amongst mountain bikers and horseback riders, it’s best known for its extensive trails and challenging terrain. RV and tent campsites are available just a hop, skip, and a jump from Fontana Lake, where you can motorboat, paddle, and fish. Read more...

Jackrabbit Campground is jumping with natural, beguiling charisma—and breathtaking panoramas of Lake Chatuge. And, with accessible showers and plumbing nearby, you can wash off after a long day out on the area’s lake-hugging hiking trails, where you'll be found wearing down your already heavily used hiking boots. Read more...

Much like the area’s other numerically named campgrounds, Joyce Kilmer Road NCSR #1134 is populated with dispersed, minimalist campsites. So pack your bags—and pack them full. Your growling stomach will thank you later. Read more...

Shake-’n’-bake time, baby! Rattler Ford Campground is shaking, for sure. Strung together with just a few large-capacity campsites, this area’s popular amongst anglers who fancy fantastic trout fishing from the area’s well-stocked waterway—so don’t be the last group to get there, be the first. Because, as we know, “if you ain’t first, you’re last. ”Read more...

Wake up under the trees, next to glistening Santeetlah Lake. Cheoah Point offers developed tent, RV, and cabin camping in a picturesque setting. There’s ample swimming, fishing, and boating on the lake, plus you can hike on the nearby Wauchecha Bald Trail, which offers access to the Appalachian Trail. Read more...

Pine Ridge Road NCSR #1147 is a string of comely, primitive campsites that lie in the heart of the towering hardwoods of Nantahala National Forest. Like most of the adjacent campgrounds, amenities are few and far between—so be sure to pack appropriately. Read more...

Ahh, sweet serenity—and not an illuminated smartphone screen for miles. Santeetlah Creek DR #81 is the thread that sews the surrounding, green vegetation together. Be sure to take your small, yet space-efficient backpack—because you’ll need to use every last nook and cranny of it for your solo venture out this way. Read more...

If there was ever one enveloping adjective to describe Fires Creek Recreational Area, it’d be this: remote. Hidden away within the secluded confines of the area’s like-named backcountry, Fires Creek Recreational Area is sure to spark your inner outdoorsman (or woman). Live up the twenty-five miles of pristine, beguiling hiking trails, then settle Read more...

Tucked away in the rhododendrons, under mature hardwood and spruce forest, Horse Cove Campground is near the entrance of Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest. Campsites are available next to the rushing Little Santeetlah Creek, where trout fishing is plentiful. Read more...

Sounds of cascading water resonate off the sedimentary rock formations from which they flow, pillowing the surrounding atmosphere with a clean, crisp mist. For those of you who found that creative short all too appealing, Cullasaja Gorge Campground is the realism outlet for you. However, being such a scenic draw to the photography-savvy camper, Cu Read more...

Blue Valley Dispersed Camping offers wonderfully chromatic shades of aqua blue. Located close to two melodious, awe-inspiring waterfalls (Glens Fall-Lower and Picklesimer Rock House Falls), the area’s primitive campsites offer an accessible home base for your Homerian adventures. And did we mention that the campground’s also manicured with gravele Read more...

Untamed, unbrushed Chattooga River is an outdoorsperson's natural playground; there are beguiling, leaf-littered hiking trails that snake through the endemic vegetation and numerous hydrophilic activities in which to partake for the more aquatic among us. However, Chattooga River isn’t your run-of-the-mill, backyard, slow-moving creek—it’s fast-fl Read more...

Fogged by the early morning white water dancing off rock faces and perfumed by the dew-swept breezes, Snowbird Creek is a place where adjectival writing becomes unrepresentative; a biotic oasis with no comparative lexicon. Snowbird Creek is an angler’s paradise, stocked with healthy populations of promiscuous game fish. And, if you’re one to shy a Read more...

Enveloping an area that branches into its three outlining states (North Carolina, Georgia, and South Carolina), Ellicott Rock Wilderness is an expanse of contrasting verdure, veined with the heartbeats of the endemic, rich animal fauna. Unfortunately, despite how pristine the vegetative landscape may look from your birds-eye view atop of Fork Moun Read more...

Much like its sister campground, Fires Creek Hunters Camp has little in the way of frills; all available campsites are primitive, without pump water or electricity. That being said, you’d be hard pressed to validate any phone-checking against the beautifully canvassed horizon enveloping the tree line, hued in the sweetest secondary colors. Read more...

Rise and shine in the lap of luxury! Surrounded by the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains, Balsam Lake Lodge presents the perfect setting for your next group getaway. With lakeside view and access, you can practice your castin’ and ‘yaking or take a stroll on the surrounding trails. Read more...

Often portrayed as the Yosemite of the East, Panthertown Valley is canvassed with the cool hues of North Carolina’s outlying Blue Ridge Mountains. Snaked with miles and miles of verdure-enveloped, fauna-filled hiking trails and only a few primitive campsites, this area’s a secluded jewel that’s sure to glimmer with tranquility and Instagram-worthy Read more...

Latticed by crisscrossing creeks that sit 5,000 feet above sea level, Standing Indian Campground is an alluring, well-equipped campground. Welcoming everyone from the RV savvy to the minimalistic, no-frills backpacker, this area’s infrastructured by both hook-up sites and more primitive, secluded campsites. And, inundated by the carving waters of Read more...

Sheltered under a mature hardwood forest, Cable Cove Recreation Area provides spacious, shaded tent camping sites next to a stream. Make some waves on the easily accessible Lake Fontana or leave some footprints on the nearby Appalachian Trail. Read more...

Drinking while horseback riding is, well, it’s just not a good idea. However, Wine Spring Horse Camp is an ideal spot for you and your sober endeavours. Strung together with just a few corrals that sit beautifully alongside the like-named trail, Wine Spring welcomes you and your heavy set quadropod to happily spend hours and hours trotting along w Read more...

Mountain Waters Scenic Byway is just that—a beguiling, inundated oasis (aka, scenic). Combed through the area’s towering hardwoods, this campground is ideal for the camper who finds their time outdoors best spent by hikes paved in panoramics littered with crimped leaves. Read more...

Situated within the scenic confines of the Nantahala National Forest, Van Hook Glade Campground is combed with accessible hiking trails and manicured by picturesque landscapes of the ascending highlands. While you’ll be hard pressed to find an electrical outlet, your inner nature man (or woman) will be vibrating from the vocalizations of the endem Read more...

Long Hungry FDR #2586 Campground will surely satiate your inner backpacker’s granola-heavy food pyramid. Dotted with numerous dispersed campsites, you’ll surely be without distraction while you're with Mother Nature—because you’ll be hard pressed to find any modern-day amenities. Read more...

A seemingly endless sea of tree tops and leaf litter, Snowbird Backcountry Area occupies nearly 8,000 acres of the Nantahala National Forest. And, snaked with over 30 miles of well-manicured hiking trails and capping off Big Snowbird Creek, this winsome natural area is a must for North Carolina natives and environmentally savvy visitors. Read more...

Rihanna sang it best: “You can stand under my umbrella, -ella, -ella. . . ” While gulf force winds would likely yank said umbrella from even the strongest of grips, Hurricane Creek Primitive Campground & Horse Camp isn’t likely to blow a breeze that strong—ever. Perfectly situated alongside dew-bathed meadows and just a wheel rotation away fro Read more...

Bear Creek Hunters Camp FDR#62 is a somewhat extravagant, long-tongued name. But, we can assure you, the campground is far from that—it’s frill-free. Dotting the area with dispersed campsites, Bear Creek Hunters Camps FDR#62 is meant to connect you with your inner wild man—or woman. Read more...

Yet another campground in the Nantahala Forest that can tote the #dispersed moniker. But, regardless of its surface level similarity with the others, there’s no superlative comparisons when it comes to the feeling of pitching up a tent under the company of the forest’s endemic, towering hardwoods. Read more...

Ready to get rustic? Stay a night (or two) at the primitive Swan Cabin. Built in 1931, the three-room log structure includes a loft, a wood stove, and nine rope-strung bed frames for you and your BFFs’ sleeping bags. Parched? You can fetch water from the nearby spring. Read more...

“Short, sweet, and to the point. ” Well, maybe not "short"—the sky's the limit at Ammons Branch Campground—but you get the idea. This 'ground consists of just a few primitive campsites that line the accessible Ellicott Rock Wilderness Trail. Aside from the close proximity to one of the Nantahala National Forest’s best hiking trails, there are also Read more...

Panther Creek DR #2604B is, like many of the other campgrounds in the area, dotted with dispersed campsites. And, what the area may lack in modern-day amenities, it more than makes up for in picturesque, beguiling views of the Nata National Forest. Read more...