Crosswinds Campground

This is a wonderful campground 25 miles west of downtown Raleigh. There are several different campgrounds within the Jordan Lake complex -- this one is on the east side of the lake and has a beach. The sites are large and set up so you're not looking at any of your neighbors. There are tons of trees and overall the spots are large. Our spot was #61, and was different because it was on a slope -- I wouldn't recommend this spot for a motorhome, we barely got ours level. The plus is, it's far off the road and very secluded. We had water and electric and our Verizon signal was strong. The beach area has kayaks and lifejackets for use as well, and there are little garbage cans every few spots so you dont have to lug your trash to a large dumpster. The staff was very friendly too!

We stayed at Crosswinds Campground mid-week in late March and had a fantastic time. While the facilities nearby are sparse, the campground is located about 40-min from downtown Raleigh, 25 from Cary, and 15 from Apex. Crosswinds is one of several campgrounds located around Lake Jordan. During our timeframe, it was one of two that were open and the only with a good beach area. Since we were there in March, there were only two loops open and the park was about 1/3rd full. Based on the Reserved notices on posts, it looked like the parks fills up on the weekends.

The park is large and very well kept. There was one bathhouse in our loop and while it was clean, it was a decent hike from our site. As mentioned in other reviews, Crosswind’s sites are all nicely spaced with convenient trashcans located throughout. This was one of the nicer state parks that we’ve stayed in and its layout reminded me of some of the nicer National Park campgrounds. We opted to camp in one of the “Duplex” spots because we were meeting another family. The Duplex spots allow two RVs to share one HUGE site. There were about 10 double sites in our loop.

Here is how the double sites work if you’re interested: The price is twice the normal site cost. If you’re camping with friends it’s the same cost if split, but having the double site is more convenient. The Duplex spots are significantly bigger than the normal spots. Not only are they twice as wide as normal spots, but they all appeared to be longer. We had two Airstreams (our 30-footer and our friend’s 27-footer), plus our trucks (both double cab/crew cab) in the site and could have easily fit four to five more full size cars in the site. The layout of the sites is very conducive to camping with two RVs.

The entire site is double the width of the normal sites and the designated RV parking spots sites within the Duplex site are staggered. If looking down at the site, the left-hand RV sits further back in the site than the right-hand RV. The rear (left-hand) RV’s curbside door and awning opens onto the HUGE outdoor living area, complete with two picnic tables and a fire pit. The front (right-hand) RV’s rear would face the outdoor living area. The curbside room (to open awning, etc) available to the front (right-hand) RV in this set-up is somewhat limited, but not a huge problem. There are two separate sets of electric and water risers (one for each rig), so each RV has its own shore connections, so sharing isn’t an issue. The risers for both RVs are located in the normal location relative to your RV that you would find them in a typical site.

We had strong AT&T and Verizon signals. The park was fairly quiet, except during one afternoon when the local nuclear power plant spent about an hour testing its alarms.

The campground is alcohol-free and has several signs telling you as much. That being said, we kept our consumption on the down-low and had no problem. Again, this was mid-week in March and I would expect enforcement to be stronger in busier periods during weekends and in the summer.

We have camped here several times this year. We have only camped in the B loop. The B loop has sites that are spaced out from each other really good. The C loop is a little tighter with the sites but this loop has more sites that are along the water for a great view of the lake.

Our favorite place to camp that’s not too far from home. We have camped here numerous times. We love big campsites. The campsites are spaced out and are secluded. We have a toddler that needs room to run & these campsites allow that. We also like the proximity of this campground to the Apex & Raleigh.

We really enjoyed our time here. Our site was pretty quiet. We didn’t have any neighbors as most chose to be closer to the lake. There was a bit of road noise that could be heard when sitting outside but, not audible inside the camper at all.

2 bars of AT&T LTE which worked well enough for us to work throughout the week.

We really liked that there were plenty of garbage bins throughout the campground. Great for when you’re walking the dogs!

Just 20 mins from Chapel Hill. There’s a grocery store about 15 mins drive away.
Our site was pretty level but we could see that a few of the sites nearby were not.

Bathrooms weren’t great but we used our own anyway so that didn’t really bother us.

Be sure to bring your bug spray!

The place is super clean; friendly people, close to essentials, yet far enough to be relatively quiet. You are under the flight path of the airport, so there is jet traffic occasionally. We were there on a weekend with no vacancy and it was still quiet and clean. Small trails connect the camping areas and easy to access beaches give you a lot of stuff to do without getting in the car.

Stayed here from 11/4/19 to 11/11/19. I showed up without a reservation and found a park ranger that was very helpful in finding me a place to stay. They didn't have a single site with hookups that I could stay at for the week, so I ended up staying the first 4 nights in a full-hookup site (C50) then I moved over to a dry site (A4) for the last 3 nights. Moving was a bit of a pain, but I was just happy that they were able to find a way to accommodate me.

The campground was pretty empty during the week, but filled up over the weekend. It was still very quiet though, even when the park was more full. The park rangers are all very nice and you will often see them driving around cleaning and keeping an eye on things. Also they usually have firewood in their trucks, so if you need wood and see one driving around, flag them down and most likely they will be able to hook you up.

Both of my sites were very nice. They were large, spacious sites that were easy to get in and out of and had plenty of room for both my rig and truck. I also had guests come out and stay and their car fit in my site as well. The A loop seems to be used more for tent camping, however, my site was still about the same size as the one I had in the C loop. Both had a nice picnic table and fire ring as well. I only went in the restrooms once, but they seemed very clean and well maintained.

From this location it feels like you are about 20-30 minutes from everything (Durham, Raleigh, Chapel Hill, Carrboro, etc.) which worked out really well for me. You're far enough away to have some peace and quiet, but still close to a lot of great stuff in the cities.

One thing that concerned me as I was reading the park rules was that they said they closed and locked the gate at 8pm. After talking to a ranger though, I found out this wasn't true, and many times I came back much later than 8pm and the gate was never locked or even closed.

Cell service (Verizon) out here was perfect and I had no issues working, streaming video, etc.

Overall this was a great place to stay and I have to say that all of the North Carolina state parks I've stayed at so far have really impressed me.

We stayed in a non-electric site on 11/10/19 in our 20 ft class B. The site was on the water. We had one tent neighbor 2 spots away. It was peaceful, private and clean. We did not use the bathhouse. With a senior discount we paid $16. Loved it!

Jordan Lake is huge, and very pretty. We camped on the C loop. After having driven around, Loop A appears to be only primitive sites (no electric, no water), and B and C have water and electric, no sewer. Loop B does have a swim beach, though, and since we weren’t wanting this option, decided Loop C would be best for us. Loop B sites would probably have a lot of noise and congestion due to people wanting to be near the swim beach.

The lake was a bit of a hike down to access from our site, but the view was lovely. All the sites with lake access were classified as “double sites”, so the price was double. Very private though, and worth the extra money in my opinion.

Lake fishing was good. Sites were level and the campground was clean and quiet. We’ll definitely be back.

This was a very level gravel site that was back-in and fairly private. Bathouse was large clean and pretty close to site. Slight view of water.