Mama Gertie's Hideaway Campground

Day 28, 2,188 Miles. Today Misty and I are at Mama Gertie's Hidaway in Swannanoa, North Carolina - just east of Asheville. Rate is $53.10/night for a "Mountain View Site" with a Veteran/Military discount (or Good Sam). My site is pretty nice, gravel and level with a picnic table, fire pit and grass "yard." Easily long enough for my 39'6" and toad. 50-amp with well laid out hook-ups. There are a few "Deck View" sites which look really nice.
The park is more or less carved from the side of the mountain. The roads are a mix of blacktop and gravel and at first may look a little daunting, but nothing to worry about. The park, laundry, bathrooms, etc. are extremely well-kept and clean. There is a decent "camp store" and exercise room. It is a "closed" park with a key-pad gate.
WIFI is the best I've experienced at a park for some time and the cable is good with 62 channels (did not try OTA). My Verizon signal is strong as well. I am using my Dish but on the lower sites, satellite would be difficult, even with a tail-gater type satilitte due to trees.
If you want a good pizza and wings, I highly recommend Pepperoni's Gourmet Pizza just down the road n Black Mountain (they deliver). I had the "kitchen sink" pizza and lemon pepper wings - best wings in my recent memory and the pizza was sooo good!
I really like the park and being able to look out towards the mountains of Pisgah National Forest - amazing.

We have stayed in quite a few different RV resorts in Asheville but Mama Gertie's if you can get spaces 27 thru 38 are spectacular. They sit high on the ridge that over look everything else and spaces 34 - 38 have a deck with table chairs and swing. Each space comes with a fire pit which is awesome. The folks are super helpful and sites up top are super clean. there a few site at the bottom which are clear as well but we've never stayed down there. the sites up top are large and spacious. the only drawback if there is any is the uphill climb but more than manageable. We have a 30 foot Airstream so with truck we have about 50 foot of pull. alway ask for 33 thru 38 but 27 - 32 are almost as good all have great view!

Easily our favorite of the RV parks in the Asheville area that we've visited. Well cared for with large pretty well spaced sites. Enough distance from the highway to kill the noise. Trees, native vegetation, a creek. Nice laundry and showers. Decent walking up and down the park with plenty of dog waste stations. Friendly and accommodating staff.

We stayed down in the lower part of the campground so no expansive views but it's also quieter down there with more vegetation between the sites. Up top you get the views out across the valley but also pick up more noise from the Interstate. Both Verizon and AT&T were 4G and plenty fast for work and video calls.

We booked last minute for forth of July weekend and luckily they had a cancellation on the top level (best views). All of the sites with decks and swings were taken but we will be staying at site 35 when we come back in the fall. Very quite a peaceful up here. The only downfall are the gravel sites, but that is what an outdoor may is for. They have great amenities- wifi with a great signal, cable- over 80 channels and sewer hookup at your site. Staff is very friendly and you are really close to Swannanoa for groceries and restaurants. If you like bbq, you have to check out Okie Dokie- some of the best bbq we have ever had.

Dates Stayed: June 7 – 10, 2017

Site Info: [Site 37] We were told by other campers we met that if we went to Asheville that you had to go to Mama Gertie’s even if only for a couple nights and they were right. We stayed in one of the top level deck sites and it was beautiful. It was a climb to get to the top level or any level of the park but it was worth it. The park is well kept and very clean. It seemed like the upper level was fairly new. Everyone at the park was really friendly and we met a lot of nice people there. The sites are crushed rock and level.

Wifi/Cable: Cable – yes, Wifi – yes, but usage limited

Hook-ups: Full hook-ups, 50 amps

Dogs: Long walks involve a lot of hill climbing but the views are nice. No breed restrictions mentioned.

Location: Easy access to the interstate and Asheville sites. It was about 20 min maybe to downtown Asheville. Ingles grocery store is about 10 min away.

Ease of Access: After exiting I-40 there is a small two lane road for a short bit to access the park and big inclines once in the park. I would suggest unhooking toads before you get there as we had some difficulty unhooking while on an incline.

Ease of Reservation: I think we were lucky to snag an opening. We even offered to site hop to extend our stay with no luck. No online reservations and we had to leave a message when we called.

This is an excellent, clean RV park that is easily accessible from I-40. Check-in was efficient and friendly. There are 3 tiers with the top tier having awesome mountain views everywhere you look. However, there is no shade, so that's the trade off, but we only had direct sun for a few hours each day, so wasn't bad at all. The lowest tier has shade at most sites with the middle tier having limited shade. The drive to the top tier was no big deal and totally doable. We were quite surprised by some reviews that mentioned how scary/bad the drive was. There is an escort to your site. The WiFi was excellent, the cable had plenty of channels, and we had good Verizon cell service. Our FHU, pull-thru site was gravel and level. There is an Ingles grocery, a CVS Pharmacy, post office, and a few restaurants a short, easy drive away. We stayed in a motorhome and would gladly stay here again.

The combination from inclines and turns made it extremely uncomfortable to enter past the secure gate. Our 43 footer and truck suffered from the inclines and turns, causing scrapes.

The managers kept telling us we could make it and that bigger rigs have made it no problem, assuring us we were fine. Our fifth wheeler is too close to the bed of the truck and got stuck and scraped. Even while this happened they kept telling us it was fine. It was obviously not, and we left.

They did return our money but we definitely left with a bigger expense. I do feel they should warn this in their website. But they did try to help us find a new place to stay.

This is an excellent, clean campground that is easily accessible from I-40. Check-in was efficient and friendly. They escort to your site and help you park. Thak goodness as there is a bit of an incline for some spots, ie mine. But no problems. There is WiFi, cable with lots of channels. Down the road in Swannanoa is everyting you need for your visit.

Follow the uphill road straight up off I-40 and Mama Gerties is right at the end. Locked gates with access code too. Small stream running behind the lower sites makes for a pleasant sleep. Full service sites with all you need.

We only planned to stay 3 days, but ended up staying 6. In order to accommodate our additional dates we moved to another site. We have a small 20 ft trailer and were able to negotiate the "hill" easily. I've uploaded my blog post about it, which will help with pictures to get a sense of how the campground it cut into the side of a mountain. We stayed at the lower level. While the sites are essentially terraced into the mountain, each space was very level. I appreciated the coded gate security. The showers were amazing! So clean, private and plenty of hot water. The bathrooms and laundry facilities were also spotless! There is a small camp store at the office and we were able to purchase a few dump hose accessories we needed. The location is perfect for accessing I40 to get to Ashevillle or Black Mountain. We would absolutely return!

Unique campsites carved into the side of a mountain make for a one of a kind camping experience. Our backed up to small creek and felt like and oasis. We could hardly see our fellow campers. We will definitely be back to try the upper levels with decks and mountain view.