Peaks of Otter Campground

We visited this campground over Memorial Day weekend to reconnect with old friends. Despite being a holiday weekend, there was plenty of sites. There are some pull through sites right on the road and others are back-in. There are picnic tables and fire rings at every site.

Its a really nice spot that has tons of shade. There are certainly better sites than others in the campground, but overall, the ones that we scoped out were pretty decent. They have flushing toilets, dump station and water fill station. There are no individual site electric, water, or sewer hook ups. There is tons of hiking to be done, a lodge that has a full service restaurant that is within walking distance of the campground. BTW, there is no cell signal in the campground or wi-fi. I did get a 1 bar near the lake, but was unable to get a call out. Plan on disconnecting from the world when you are here....which is what you should do every once in awhile.

Site Details: We stayed in site #7, in the trailer loop. It was a pull-through site with an additional area containing a picnic table and fire ring, accessible via a small set of steps up the hill. The whole campground is kind of “carved” out of the mountain, and is therefore quite terraced in appearance, so a lot of sites had a similar setup to ours (as in, a lower pull-through space for trailer and TV plus an upper “walk-up” area). I hadn’t seen anything like it before, and I thought it was really neat. The setting was heavily wooded, so the shade combined with the higher elevation made for a very cool, pleasant retreat from the July heat.

Facilities/Overall Park: Bath house was decent. On the ladies’ side, there were three flush toilets, two sinks with cold water only, and no soap. Was pretty old, but reasonably clean and adequate for our needs, since we were just passing through for one night. The CG as a whole looked kind of overgrown and neglected, but for some reason that added to its charm for me. The overgrowth made everything look extra green and lush, and I really like the heavily forested, secluded feel.

Surrounding Area/Attractions: The Peaks of Otter area seems to be a pretty popular destination on the Blue Ridge Parkway. There is a nice-looking lodge and restaurant on the (gorgeous) lake right around the corner from the campground, as well as an NPS visitor center, hiking trails, and a shuttle bus service that takes you to the top of one of the three peaks for which the area is named. We didn’t partake in any of these activities, since we were just passing through on our way down to the Smokies, but it would have been nice to explore a bit more.

Overall, I felt this was a very pretty, peaceful, and perfectly serviceable campground for an overnight stop, and would make a nice weekend destination. Not sure there is enough going on in the area to keep one occupied for more than a few days, and I know I personally would need at least electric hookups and showers for any type of extended stay. However, I wouldn’t hesitate to return for a night or two!

We stayed here in late October at the peak of Fall Colors. Great spot to stop for a night traveling the Blue Ridge Parkway. It's close to hiking trails, a restaurant, a little shop. Our site was a pull-through, just wide enough to pull our slides out. They were really close to the road, so the very nice campground host loaned us an orange cone. It's a beautiful campground with lots of deer. The site was level and the picnic table and fire ring were up a set of about 10 stairs. The only negative was the condition of the roads - washed out and lots of pot holes.

While very conveniently located off the Blue Ridge Parkway. This is not the nicest campground you will ever encounter. The site are run down and the whole campground is not very well maintained. When we arrived there wasn’t even anyone at the registration building. This was a rare time where I was disappointed in the National Park Service.

That being said, it is does not seem very well used and thus allows for a wonderful sense of seclusion. Additionally, the Peaks of Otter Lodge is a very nice area and the Peaks of Otter themselves and very scenic.

While not my favorite campground it definitely did its job.

We expected the campground to be as comparatively nice as Peaks of Otter Lodge and the rest of the complex, and we were so disappointed, but we felt so sorry for it that we don't want to complain. We had reserved site T28, but it was too shady for our solar and the pad was too broken up and chunky for us to get level. The bathrooms are old, but they are cleaned daily. They have no hot water and no electricity so you need a flashlight at night. IN fact, the skylights in the roofs are so covered in leaves and branches that they are pretty dark even during the day. There are not any improved trails leading up to the bathroom doors. Many of the picnic tables are broken, and, because the campsites are located on a hillside, there are usually steps up or down to the table from where you put your trailer--and those steps are often in pieces. The T loop is located on the Highway 43 side and traffic can be quite noisy. All that being said, the location makes it worth it. Hiking in the area is spectacular, and the rockwork at Sharptop is worth the climb to see. The lodge, within walking distance, has a full service bar and restaurant, and their is a paved trail around a pretty lake. I hope that some funding can be obtained to rehabilitate the campground because the setting is beautiful.

Great location off of the Blue Ridge Parkway. Access to hiking right from the campground but sites are not very desirable. Many were just a parking space in which your ‘site’ with picnic table and fire ring were up or down a hill. More suitable for tents imo. We originally had reservations for T011 but requested (and granted) a move to another site. We have a truck camper and wanted a site that was set up better for this.

Like many of the older campgrounds along the parkway, this one suffers from only having a handful of sites suitable for RVs. Many are unlevel or angled the wrong way to back into. We drove both the Tent Loop (ranger said our van could stay there) and Trailer Loop - and almost passed on this campground.

Until we came across T-18 - which is a fairly level back in site with lots of isolation, perfectly suitable for a van.

Hiking trails are ample here, we opted for the nice flat one around Lake Abbot, as we were tired of strenuous hikes at this point. It's a lovely area.

And score, we discovered that despite not see much whiff of cell signal - we were able to get some AT&T. After some fiddling with routers, band locking and antennas we were able to 19 Mbps down and 4 Mbps up during the day. But come later afternoon that plummeted to unusable due to congestion.

This is just what you'd expect from an older national park. Small sites, peacefully quiet... no frills. Deer ran through the campsite and a bear was spotted nearby! The site was very small and a bit tight for our 20 foot Airstream but it was a great spot just off the parkway and close to some amazing views.

We did not use the bathrooms but dump station was great!