National Forests In North Carolina Camping

Great mountain campground at 3,600 ft elevation. No hook-ups. Nice showers for a rustic campground. Great for small campers and tents. Not recommended for anything larger than a 30ft travel trailer and only approach campground from Highlands, NC. The road from Franklin, NC to the campground is very narrow, with lots of sharp curves. Also, site 20 and 21 are the only two sites that can easily accommodate larger campers. If you take either site, you do not need to circle the loop. Simply pull in past the bulletin board and the sites are on the left. Pull up the hill slightly and back right in. Lots of shade. Site 9 is the only full sun site, for those using solar. Site 9 is also only steps way from the shower house. A few sites are reservable. If you go during the week, there’s a good chance you can find several first-come, first-serve sites. We stayed in site 21. Very level side to side. Lots of room. It’s right beside the entrance and backs up to the main road. The road noise is pretty loud during the day, not too bad at night. Have to put a plug in for the campground host, Frank Dillon. Supper nice. He kept the bathhouse clean and was very accommodating

We have camped in the Hard Times loop of Lake Powhatan CG many times. It is just a 15 minutes drive from home for us but when we are finished setting up camp, it feels like we are on vacation far away. Cell reception is virtually non-existent, which is our preference when we camp. The mountain biking right out of your campsite, in Pisgah National Forest, is famous and always a blast. The camp hosts here keep busy tidying up the new-ish bath houses (hot showers!) and campsites between visitors. They do a great job. I highly recommend this campground.

The Pisgah National Forest where this campground is located is known for its abundance of waterfalls, and spectacular scenery. This is one of the prettiest campgrounds you'll visit, and well-kept and comfortable.