dianagraham

At 5300 feet, Balsam Mountain CG is the highest elevation campground in Smoky Mountain NP. This is a small, busy campground with a camp host. There are no FCFS sites, reservation only. The campground road follows the narrow ridge line with almost all parking parallel to the road. The sites are a combination of RV/tent, RV only, and tent only. Tent pads and picnic tables are accessed from the road. We were in site 43, the first site on the right when you enter the campground; so, all traffic in and out of the campground passed our site. It was a bit of a pain to navigate down five stone steps to our "sitting area" but it was out of sight of the road and gave us some privacy. Farther into the campground, past the camp host, it feels a little congested.

IF YOU ARE IN AN RV AND YOUR CLEARANCE IS HIGHER THEN 10', then you MUST access Balsam Mountain Road from Highway 19. This route puts you on the Blue Ridge Parkway a few miles (3 or so) north of the CG. You drive south and make a right onto Balsam Mountain Road. If you attempt to access the CG by driving north on the BRP and plan to make a left onto Balsam Mtn Rd, you will have to turn around to avoid the two lowest tunnels on the entire parkway: one is 10' and one is 11'1".

The campground road is narrow and when vehicles and RVs are camped on both sides of the street, it creates a narrow one lane road. We are in a truck camper that has a small slide on the drivers side and made sure to have our reflective roadside triangles in place.

Verizon coverage from site 43: varied from 2.60 mps to 16 mps download. 50 mps upload.

Despite some of the negatives, this is a nice campground in a beautiful area. Due to the trees, there are only limited views from the CG.

We spent three nights here with two other campers in sites 6, 7 and eight. The campground is configured in an oval with 10 pull through sites that are immediately next to each other. In that regard its more like an RV park. You pull into your site. On the passenger side is your pad with a picnic table fire pit and grill and immediately next to that is the pull through for the next site. There’s no plant separation or any other kind of barrier between the sites.

Having said that if you get lucky and have quiet neighbors it’s a really lovely little campground. It’s right on the lake with several nice little fishing piers that go down to the lake level. There’s also a big group site. The bathhouse was adequate - plenty of hot water and water pressure for showers. The camp host is very helpful. We had good solar in site 6 but 7 & 8 were shaded. Look at the photos in Google maps. There’s a couple of good ones that really show the campground part of the park. We saw lots of osprey and there is a Hawk nest right in the campground where the parents are feeding hatchlings. We went on a little paddle in our kayak and saw several alligator, great blue heron, green heron and a Marsh hen.

Be aware that the boat ramp sees lots of activity and there is a picnic shelter on that end of the park. The bathhouse is shared by campers, fishermen, and the public using the shelter.

Stayed 2 nights toward the end of February. This CG is a small county CG that stays busy, with locals and out of towners. We arrived early on a Sunday afternoon and had several sites to choose from. By late afternoon, most of the longer sites were full. If you’re small, like a tent, van or small class C, you’re probably fine to arrive anytime. We’re in a truck camper towing a cargo trailer for a combined length of 40 feet, 11’ 4” high and site 1 was perfect, E/W. The CG is basically a half circle. Most of the exterior sites don’t have trees and there were several big 5Ws. Interior sites have more trees. As others have mentioned, the boat ramp stays busy and the air boats are obnoxiously loud. But, hey, it’s Florida. Immediately down the road is a lovely pier, a walking trail with excellent exhibits about the Shell Cultures and the archeological site the CG is named for, plus a longer walking trail. The office is open and manned 7 days a week. Cash only. I didn’t do a speed test but we were able to stream with Verizon.

The RV park/marina is owned/operated by town of Charleston and is very well run. We were here for one week with a big group in September 2019, and I think the price reflects the group rate. The RV park is a big asphalt parking lot but it's right in the middle of things. We had a nice, big pull-through: getting in and out was a breeze. The docks and fishing vessels are a short walk away as are numerous restaurants and shops. The drive down Cape Arago Highway is absolutely beautiful-classic Oregon coast. Good hiking at Sunset Bay SP, with views of Cape Arago Lighthouse. Excellent hike at South Slough Estuarine Reserve. Verizon: 22.1 mps download, 5.08 upload

On short notice, we needed a safe place to park our 5th wheel so my husband could make an unexpected trip back to the east coast. Yes, there's lots of BLM camping near Lake Havasu, but no place I felt comfortable being alone with no transportation. At this time of year, January, every affordable RV park is fully booked. Lake Havasu SP overflow camping to the rescue! At $25/night for dry camping, it was a little pricey, but we were backed up to the lake with beautiful sunset views. The overflow camping is a large asphalt parking lot (2 spots = 1 site) and is close to the boat launch. No size restrictions. According to the ranger, the only time they have ever turned anyone away was during an event where the entire park was reserved, as was the case during the balloon festival. There is a lot of boat noise and exhaust, particularly on the weekend. But the location of the park, excellent showers, etc. made it great option. Rangers patrol the area numerous times per day.

This was our second time to spend an extended length of time (seven nights at each stay) at Ocracoke Campground: the first time was in our 40' 5W in May 2017; the second time was May 2022 in a truck camper. Ocracoke Island is truly one of my favorite places to visit and the Ocracoke beaches are among the best anywhere. If you're planning a trip, be aware that the weather rules supreme on the Outer Banks. We took the Cedar Island to Ocracoke ferry - I made my reservation several months in advance due to our combined length of 45' with our Jeep. We thought we were going to have to postpone our arrival date due to a strong nor'easter that closed all the ferries and washed over Highway 12 in Rodanthe and closed the highway - resulting in NO ACCESS to Ocracoke for several days. This also happened in 1980, for my first tent camping experience on Ocracoke in March. If you're planning a trip during hurricane season, it's especially crucial to watch the weather - all ferries stop running and evacuation is mandatory. I recommend that you arrive with groceries if you're staying a few days. The Ocracoke Variety Store, the local grocer, was badly damaged in 2019 from Hurricane Dorian and still hasn't replaced all of the freezers and refrigerated coolers.

The campground itself is well laid out with large sites and good separation from neighbors. The closer you are to the beach, the better the breeze. Loop D is a no-generator loop. If you're camping in a tent or planning to set up a screen tent, bring extra stakes and tie-downs because of the winds, which can be quite strong (we left our awning unattended and it sustained some damage). There are no trees and no protection from the sun. Ocracoke Village is a fun town to explore on bicycle. The 1-mile nature trail across the street from the campground is open although none of the boardwalks have been repaired from hurricane damage in 2019 - after a heavy rain, the path is muddy is spots. There are cold showers but be aware that they are in a small free-standing building and the shower doors are bathroom stall doors - open at the top and bottom. Verizon cell phone strength was good during the week but as we approached the weekend and the campground got busier the signal was not reliable. But there is good coverage in town.

In spite of the potential difficulties with getting there, if you're looking for quality beach time in a charming coastal village, this is it.

We stopped off at Chiriaco Summit for a quick overnight and ended up staying two nights, in Jan. 2020. We tow a 40 foot fifth wheel and could have backed into several sites but realized the first campsite on the left is a long pull-through. The site is level and we didn't unhitch. We arrived with enough water to get us to our destination, so I don't know if there's fresh water or dump facilities at the Chevron. There were quite a few tractor trailers parked for the night just beyond the Chevron. The diner was quite good. Verizon was fast: 48mps download, 53 mps upload.

This little campground was exactly what the doctor ordered. After almost 6 weeks of nonstop cities and people (visiting family), we desperately needed some beautiful nature and some quiet. Shired Beach CG delivered on both counts. We arrived on a Saturday in January hopeful that we would be able to get one of the FCFS sites. It's a small CG but we had no trouble getting our 40 feet (combined length of our truck camper and utility trailer) into Site 1, by the bathroom, not the ideal site but it worked. The day we arrived it was very windy (winds 16+ mph) but there were still quite a few day visitors. Although there was less wind on Sunday, the place cleared out with just a few campers staying overnight. The CG is roughly configured in a circle with two sites sharing an electric pedestal next to a picnic pavilion. It's a little odd so walk around first and identify the sites. The Dixie County web site says there are 21 sites but it appears that only 12 are electric, 30 amp. There is NO potable water on site but there is a dump. Bathrooms have a shower, sink, and two stalls - all very dated but clean. There's a nice pier and a tiny slice of white sand beach. When the tide is out, it's quite mucky.

I grew up on the Gulf Coast of Florida and love the "old Florida" feel of this area, maybe one of the last areas to escape development. All of the surrounding area is protected Wildlife Refuge. This is not the part of the state to visit if you're after a white sand beach - this is more tidal creeks and extensive marsh.

We stayed at this park in September, 2019. The park is a mix of grass, dirt, and asphalt sites of all sizes. A little tight but workable. Bathhouse is dated but clean. We had a nice pull through right next to the creek. Convenient to Ashland and I-5. Verizon: 22.3 mps download, 24.1 upload. It is an older park, which, unfortunately, is what $38/night will get you.

On Recreation.gov it appeared that we would have no problem getting our big rig into one of Bluebill's extra-long sites. Unfortunately the narrow campground road isn't wide enough to allow for the necessary jack knife of rig-truck AND our walk-up site (16) was lined with those blasted concrete bollards. A key bollard had been taken out by a previous camper or we could not have gotten in. As it was, the lug nuts on the truck's front drivers side tire literally scraped the concrete of the bollard while the entire right side of our fifth wheel scraped the high hedge just to the side of the driveway. And the drive was on the "wrong" side of the site for a back-in; our door and windows faced a tall hedge and we had to walk around the rig to access the concrete pad and picnic table.

That said, once we got settled, we loved this little campground. We were here for seven days in mid-September. The 1.25 mile Bluebill Lake trail is immediately accessible from the campground with lovely views of the lake, dunes, and forest. Horsfall Beach is about 1.5 miles farther down the road with a nice big parking lot. (There is dry camping right at the beach to the left and rear of the parking lot, but it is mainly used by OHVers.) We watched the sunset at the beach one evening and then walked up to the parking lot and the large wooden observation deck to watch the moon rise from the east. The town of Coos Bay is just a few miles away with all the services you could need. Verizon signal is decent with 12.8 mps download, 0.47 mps upload.

I imagine mosquitos could be bad in the summer because of the high water/swamp that surrounds the campground but it was not an issue in September. There is a threaded water spigot around the bend from the camp host; no dump. We could definitely hear OHVs from Bluebill and OHVs are allowed on the beach from Hosefall Beach and going north.