Get Out! - Finding the right camping spot this winter
Get Out! - Finding the right camping spot this winter
Elk Knob State Park
5564 Meat Camp Road, Todd
7am-6pm, daily; free
(828) 297-7261; ncparks.gov
Cost: $15 individual site, $45 group site
Permit: Elk Knob requires that all campers have a permit received from a ranger or from an onsite registration box.
FYI: Elk Knob is home to primitive backcountry campsites for organized groups and for individual camping parties. The park’s two group campsites are reservable in advance at ncparks.gov, or call ReserveAmerica, (877) 722-6792. The six individual sites are not reservable and available on a first-come, first-serve basis. Camp fires are not allowed, gas stoves only.
Grandfather Campground
125 Profile View Road, Banner Elk
9am-5pm, Monday-Thursday, Saturday; 9am-8pm, Friday; 9am-2pm, Sunday; free; (828) 355-4535; grandfatherrv.com
Cost: $18-$42 daily; $100-$252 weekly.
Permits: Permits aren’t required by the campground, but make sure to call to request a reservation.
FYI: The campground’s campsites range from tent sites to full service RV sites. Some cabins are also available. Make reservations in advance.
Grandfather Mountain State Park
9872 N.C. 105 S., Suite 6, Banner Elk; free
(828) 963-9522; ncparks.gov
Cost: $15 individual site, $35 group site
FYI: The park has thirteen primitive backcountry campsites including Hi-Balsam Shelter. Fires are permitted on existing fire rings at lower elevation sites but not on the ridgetop Grandfather Trail or at the shelter. Gas stoves are recommended for cooking. Three of the campsites are group sites. All campsites must be reserved in advance and are reservable online at ncparks.gov or call ReserveAmerica, (877) 722-6792. Hikers and campers must register at trailhead kiosks and have their permit with them.
Great Smoky Mountains National Park
107 Park Headquarters Road, Gatlinburg, TN
(865) 436-1200; nps.gov
Permit: Campers must have a permit to camp in the backcountry of the Smoky Mountains. Visit smokiespermits.nps.gov to apply for a permit and reserve campsites.
Mount Mitchell State Park
2388 NC-128, Burnsville
7am-10pm, daily; free
(828) 675-4611; ncparks.gov
Permit: During the summer, and during the winter if the Blue Ridge Parkway and the park road are open to vehicles, backpack campers leaving a car inside the park must fill out a permit at headquarters when entering.
FYI: Backpack camping is not permitted inside the state park, so only surrounding national forest land is open to camping. Since the roads into the park are often closed in winter due to snow and ice, a camper’s best bet is to hike to the peak on the Mount Mitchell Trail (and other nearby trails) from the vicinity of the US Forest Service’s Black Mountain Campground. That trail permits direct access to free, designated campsites at the Commissary Hill Primitive Camping area and the Deep Gap Primitive Camping area, both outside the state park. Call or visit the park’s website for more weather and road status information, or visit nchighpeaks.org.
Roan Mountain
1015 HWY 143, Roan Mountain, TN
(1-888) 867-2757; fs.usda.gov
Insider tip: From Carver’s Gap, Roan Mountain’s summer access road is gated in winter but open to skiing and hiking for access to the peaks and other trails (including the Appalachian Trail) across the mountain’s crest. To the east from Carver’s Gap, the AT also crosses the other peaks of the Roan Highlands with plentiful campsites on national forest land.
Stone Mountain State Park
3042 Frank Parkway, Roaring Gap
7am-6pm, daily; free
(336) 957-8185; ncparks.gov
Cost: $12 individual backpack sites
FYI: Stone Mountain offers tent, trailer and RV camping, and also has primitive backpack campsites and formal walk-in tent camping for large groups. There are four backpack campsites on the Widow’s Creek Trail, available on a first come first serve basis from a payment/registration kiosk at the trailhead.
Photographs courtesy of Visit NC & Randy Johnson