Sklyline Drive - Blue Ridge Parkway Boone & Dry Camping

[redwingfans]

Will be traveling the entire length of Skyline Drive and BRP, with our Pleasure Way Excel. We prefer public Forests and Parks. We have 3 weeks in May for this section of our trip. We us the ultimate camp grounds app. Any suggestions would be very helpful. Thanks in advance.

[huachuca]

Some of our favorites in NC

Cataloochee - Small Great Smoky Mountain NP CG, maybe thirty sites. Reservations required. Sites located on the creek are fairly large with a bit of privacy. Five miles of one lane dirt road to get in. Almost guaranteed to see Elk, Deer and Turkey. Lots of good short hikes to homes of early settlers.

Smokemont - Another GSMNP campground. Sites in loop F on creek are best, others in this loop are large but mostly open. Near Cherokee, within two hour scenic drive through the Park to Cade's Cove which is a must see (Cades Cove has a CG but much too crowded for me).

Nantahala, Pisgah and Cherokee (TN) are three National Forests in the area that have great camping opportunities. We like Horse Cove which has several large sites on running water but insect infestation has killed most of the spruce and fir making the sites less private. All three offer a number of dispersed sites.

[bukhrn]

redwingfans wrote:

Hondavalk wrote:
http://www.recreation.gov/camping/loft-mountain-campground/r/campgroundDetails.do?contractCode=NRSO&...

My favorite on Skyline DR

Thanks for the link. I noticed you are from Toledo Ohio. We will be leaving from Maumee Ohio. Do you have a favorite scenic route to the entrance of Sky Line Drive? I have been looking at 250 then 50, but have no idea of how scenic that route is.

Loft Mountain is also one of our favorites, sites are of good size with nice separation, since it is first come first serve, be sure to get there early, and Mon-Thur if possible, it gets pretty busy on weekends.
Which ever way you choose to get to Va., make your way to I-66 so you can enter the Northern end of Skyline Dr at Front Royal, there are 4 Cg's on Skyline Dr. Big Meadows is another favorite with fairly large sites, but they don't have the separation that Loft Mtn has.

[tegu69]

Dry camped for about 9 days at different cg on Blue Ridge and Shenandoah last year with some friends. We were staying at Loft mtn and decided to take a break and ate out one night. We went to Ciro's Italian in Elkton Va. Two days later we were back.

[MrWizard]

close to Cherokee No Carolina
inside the Great Smokey Nat Park

'Deep Creek' campground, it has been years, but when I it was there dry camping, drinking water and toilets, small campers and tent campers,

[Hondavalk]

http://brpatravelplanner.nomadmobileguides.com/m/website/index.html

https://www.nps.gov/blri/planyourvisit/upload/blrimap-2.pdf

https://www.nps.gov/blri/planyourvisit/maps.htm

[pinesman]

road repair

They will have a few miles closed for a while

[redwingfans]

Hondavalk wrote:
http://www.recreation.gov/camping/loft-mountain-campground/r/campgroundDetails.do?contractCode=NRSO&...

My favorite on Skyline DR

Thanks for the link. I noticed you are from Toledo Ohio. We will be leaving from Maumee Ohio. Do you have a favorite scenic route to the entrance of Sky Line Drive? I have been looking at 250 then 50, but have no idea of how scenic that route is.

[redwingfans]

Thanks for the responses, I am looking up each park, then cutting and posting information into a word document. When you recommend a campground, could you describe the sites. large/small good separation of sites. some on the water.... Thanks in advance

[Hondavalk]

http://www.recreation.gov/camping/loft-mountain-campground/r/campgroundDetails.do?contractCode=NRSO&...

My favorite on Skyline DR

[pulsar]

All of the Blue Ridge Parkway campgrounds are open by May 6.

In a different lifetime (was a tent camper) I've camped in all of them except Otter Creek. And I enjoyed them all, for different reasons. My favorite was Crabtree Fall - which use to be called Crabtree Meadows.

Tom

[Scottiemom]

Right now there are fires in the Shenandoah National Park and a few days ago they closed part of Skyline Drive. Hopefully they will get some rain to help, but there is also increased danger of lightning with storms. Just be aware and check news sources.

Dale

[skiles]

We are staying at Price Park in May. We haven't camped there before but I'm familiar with the area from my undergrad days. It's very close to Blowing Rock, Boone, Grandfather Mountain and not too far from Linville Falls. Some sites you can reserve and some are first come first serve. The reviews I read are favorable. Hope this helps.

[profdant139]

Is it true that the term "boondocking" derives from Daniel Boone's adventures in the Blue Ridge Mtns? (No, but that ought to be the origin!!)

Some day, we will get to the BRP -- I am told that the food and the music are phenomenal.