Balsam Mountain Campground
5Heads up4 park alerts, one naming this campground · 1 fire 18 mi away
- Right now
- Straight Fork and the one-way section of Balsam Mountain Road closed.Park Closure naming this campground · nobody has said
- A night
- $30From, per site
- Sites
- 43All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 15 notices
In the agency’s own words
Balsam Mountain Campground is located in a relatively remote part of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The secluded setting offers visitors the ability to enjoy a multitude of recreational activities without the crowds which are sometimes common in other parts of the park. Keep reading
Recreation
Great Smoky Mountains National Park is a hiker's paradise, with over 800 miles of maintained trails ranging from short, leg-stretchers to strenuous treks. The Balsam Mountain area features several trails that are less heavily used compared to other areas of the park. The campground offers a short nature trail located beside site 43. The hiker only Flat Creek Trail is a pleasant walk through a hardwood forest. For the adventurous hiker the Hemphill Bald and Rough Fork trails provide a 14-mile loop hike, with outstanding views and old growth trees. Campers can enjoy high-quality backcountry fishing in the cool waters of the countless streams and rivers that snake through the mountains. Anglers will agree that some of the best trout fishing in the area can be found along the Balsam Mountain and Straight Fork Roads, some of the most remote sections of the park. Fly fishing is particularly good during spring months when aquatic insects hatch in large numbers. Wildlife viewing is a popular pastime, and with around 1,500 bears living in the park, it is not uncommon for visitors to spot one. The park is a sanctuary for a magnificent array of animal and plant life, all of which is protected for future generations to enjoy. The park also holds one of the best collections of log buildings in the eastern United States. Over 90 historic structures have been preserved in the park. For the auto touring enthusiast, the 14-mile Heintooga Round Bottom Road, a one-way unimproved gravel drive, offers spectacular scenery with mountain vistas and the occasional bear or elk sighting. Buses, motorhome, vans longer than 25' and any vehicle towing a trailer are prohibited on this road.
Facilities
Balsam Mountain Campground offers 42 campsites for a traditional outdoor camping experience with the added convenience of flush toilets and drinking water. There are no hookups or showers at the campground. No lights are available in the restrooms at this campground. For campers' safety use of a flashlight, lantern or headlamp is recommended when accessing these facilities after day light hours.
Natural Features
Balsam Mountain Campground is surrounded by picturesque mountain ranges and pristine mountain streams. Elk are common in this part of the park during the spring and fall. Located at 5,310 feet elevation, Balsam Mountain's daytime temperatures rarely exceed 70 degrees F and night time temperatures may dip into the low 50's.
Nearby Attractions
Nearby attractions include: Maggie Valley, NC, Cherokee, NC, the Oconaluftee Visitor Center, the Mountain Farm Museum, the Blue Ridge Parkway, the Nantahala Outdoor Center, the Bryson City Railway and Asheville, NC
What the agency tells you
A valid parking tag is required for any vehicle parking for more than 15 minutes in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Front country campers parked at their designated campsite will not be required to have a parking tag. If they park elsewhere in the park, a parking tag will be required. Please note that parking tags will be required for vehicles in excess of what is allowable for each campsite.
Over the last 10 years, an average of 339 negative human-bear encounters have been reported each year; many more go unreported. Visitors should be aware that high bear activity can occur in any area, and that your safety is not guaranteed. To increase your odds for a safe visit, please follow best practices for living and recreating in bear habitat. Stay alert and be prepared to react appropriately during possible encounters, and always report any unusual bear interactions as soon as possible.
Stay Limits. A maximum of 6 people may occupy a campsite. The park stay limit is 14 consecutive days. Reservations which exceed the 14 consecutive day limit may be cancelled and refunded.
Everything else this campground posts · 12
Caution: Bear Habitat! Bears and other wildlife frequent the area. All food and equipment used to prepare and store food (even when empty, and even if certified as bear resistant) must be kept in a sealed vehicle or camping unit of solid, non-pliable material AT ALL TIMES when not in use. All scented items, as well as all water containers MUST be stored. Dispose of garbage promptly in dumpsters provided. Unattended or improperly stored coolers, food and/or scented items may be impounded by campground staff. Violators are subject to fines.
Amenities. There are no showers, water or sewer hook-ups in the park.
Garbage Disposal. Dispose of garbage promptly in bear-proof dumpsters. This rule is strictly enforced!
Fires. Fires are allowed in fire rings only!
Firewood Restriction: Only heat-treated firewood bundled in its original packing and bearing a certification seal from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) or a state department of agriculture may be brought into the park. This rule is strictly enforced. Campers may also collect dead and down wood in the park for campfires. For additional information about these firewood regulations, please visit the park website at http://www.nps.gov/grsm/planyourvisit/frontcountry-camping.
Firewood Vendors. Heat-treated wood is available from a growing list of private businesses in communities around the park. Please visit firewoodscout.org for a list of available vendors near the park. Concessioners at Cades Cove, Elkmont, and Smokemont will provide heat-treated wood for sale during their operating season. Certified heat-treated firewood is packaged and clearly marked with a state or federal seal.
Quiet Hours. Quiet hours are in effect from 10 PM to 6 AM. Generator use is restricted to 8 AM to 8 PM. Some campgrounds have generator free sections.
Fishing in the Park. A Tennessee or North Carolina fishing license is required to fish in the park. Special regulations apply in the park.
Pets. Pets are permitted but cannot be left unattended. All pets must be kept on a leash at all times. Pets are not allowed on trails.
Additional Park Information. For additional park information call 865-436-1200 or visit www.nps.gov/grsm.
A reservation is required to stay at Balsam Mountain Campground. Please make your reservation before driving to the campground as cell phone coverage in Great Smoky Mountains National Park is very limited and there are no provisions to make a reservation once you are at the campground. Reservations are site specific therefore you are REQUIRED to occupy only the site(s) for which you have reserved. To make changes to your reservation you must contact Recreation.gov at 1-877-444-6777 or field staff where available.
Cancellation Policy for Individual Campsites: A customer who cancels a reservation the day before or on the day of arrival will pay a $10.00 service fee AND forfeit the first night's use fee (not to exceed the total paid for the original reservation). Cancellations for a one-night reservation will forfeit the entire amount paid and will not be subject to an additional service fee.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 43 · 14 tent-only
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 24 ft
- Paved pads
- All
- Accessible sites
- 1
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Flush Toilets - seasonal
- Showers
- None at this campground
- “There are no hookups or showers at the campground.”
- Drinking water
- Yes
Around the campground
- On the water
- River, Creek
- Biking
- Hiking
- Wildlife viewing
- Night sky · 34th darkest of 84 in NC
- Bortle 4
- Fall color · reported 3 days ago, 9.3 km away
- Patchy color
No reading yet, book on recreation.gov
Every site here is reservable, and the record lists none held back for anyone who drives up.
No availability snapshot inside the last 36 hours, so this page draws nothing rather than ageing a reading into fiction.
Watch for a cancellation
Full? Watch it.
One email when a night opens, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We read recreation.gov once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time a site in your window is free for the nights you asked for.
Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.
Tell me when the season opens
Watch for the season to open
One email when the season goes on sale, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We check once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time the agency has that season on sale.
Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.
We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.
Every line of the receipt · 18
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rate for this season, $30 a night, plus one $8 recreation.gov reservation fee for the booking. A weekend here means Friday and Saturday night, booked once. Optional charges (an extra vehicle, a second tent, a dump-station fee) are listed separately and aren’t in this total.
Who keeps the booking fee
The agency’s own policy text says the reservation fee and the cancellation processing fee are “retained by the reservation service contractor”, and that a campground concessionaire will decline to refund them because “they did not receive these fees”. Recreation.gov is run under contract by Booz Allen Hamilton. What share of your booking fee the contractor keeps isn’t published in any federal dataset we can read, so we print no number for it. Our reporting on the contract →
How we know this receipt · 5
rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
43 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 43 mapped sitesAll 43 sites
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 43 of the 43 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
Measured shade is NLCD Tree Canopy Cover 2024 (USDA Forest Service / MRLC) read at the site’s own coordinate, 27% canopy or more, and only for the sites the agency gave no Shade value. It never changes the agency’s own shaded count beside it.
| BALSAM MOUNTAIN CAMPGROUND | 01 | tent only nonelectric | 15 ft | 64 ft | 380 ft | $30 | |
| BALSAM MOUNTAIN CAMPGROUND | 02 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 64 ft | 399 ft | $30 | |
| BALSAM MOUNTAIN CAMPGROUND | 03 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 57 ft | 407 ft | $30 | |
| BALSAM MOUNTAIN CAMPGROUND | 04 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 42 ft | 411 ft | $30 | |
| BALSAM MOUNTAIN CAMPGROUND | 05 | standard nonelectric | 15 ft | 42 ft | 417 ft | $30 | |
| BALSAM MOUNTAIN CAMPGROUND | 06 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | yes | 101 ft | 518 ft | $30 |
| BALSAM MOUNTAIN CAMPGROUND | 07 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 112 ft | 696 ft | $30 | |
| BALSAM MOUNTAIN CAMPGROUND | 08 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 31 ft | 810 ft | $30 | |
| BALSAM MOUNTAIN CAMPGROUND | 09 | standard nonelectric | 17 ft | 28 ft | 866 ft | $30 | |
| BALSAM MOUNTAIN CAMPGROUND | 10 | tent only nonelectric | 20 ft | 28 ft | 895 ft | $30 | |
| BALSAM MOUNTAIN CAMPGROUND | 11 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 32 ft | 923 ft | $30 | |
| BALSAM MOUNTAIN CAMPGROUND | 12 | standard nonelectric | 21 ft | 35 ft | 942 ft | $30 | |
| BALSAM MOUNTAIN CAMPGROUND | 13 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 42 ft | 975 ft | $30 | |
| BALSAM MOUNTAIN CAMPGROUND | 14 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 37 ft | 1,006 ft | $30 | |
| BALSAM MOUNTAIN CAMPGROUND | 15 | standard nonelectric | 15 ft | 28 ft | 1,040 ft | $30 | |
| BALSAM MOUNTAIN CAMPGROUND | 16 | standard nonelectric | 15 ft | 28 ft | 1,049 ft | $30 | |
| BALSAM MOUNTAIN CAMPGROUND | 17 | standard nonelectric | 21 ft | 37 ft | 1,023 ft | $30 | |
| BALSAM MOUNTAIN CAMPGROUND | 18 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 39 ft | 978 ft | $30 | |
| BALSAM MOUNTAIN CAMPGROUND | 19 | tent only nonelectric | 18 ft | 32 ft | 945 ft | $30 | |
| BALSAM MOUNTAIN CAMPGROUND | 20 | tent only nonelectric | 12 ft | 48 ft | 902 ft | $30 | |
| BALSAM MOUNTAIN CAMPGROUND | 21 | tent only nonelectric | 18 ft | 40 ft | 859 ft | $30 | |
| BALSAM MOUNTAIN CAMPGROUND | 22 | tent only nonelectric | 15 ft | 31 ft | 822 ft | $30 | |
| BALSAM MOUNTAIN CAMPGROUND | 23 | standard nonelectric | 21 ft | 57 ft | 806 ft | $30 | |
| BALSAM MOUNTAIN CAMPGROUND | 24 | tent only nonelectric | 15 ft | 65 ft | 955 ft | $30 | |
| BALSAM MOUNTAIN CAMPGROUND | 25 | tent only nonelectric | 20 ft | 71 ft | 1,025 ft | $30 | |
| BALSAM MOUNTAIN CAMPGROUND | 26 | tent only nonelectric | 15 ft | 30 ft | 1,084 ftBunches Creek | $30 | |
| BALSAM MOUNTAIN CAMPGROUND | 27 | tent only nonelectric | 15 ft | 32 ft | 1,063 ftBunches Creek | $30 | |
| BALSAM MOUNTAIN CAMPGROUND | 28 | tent only nonelectric | 15 ft | 79 ft | 972 ftBunches Creek | $30 | |
| BALSAM MOUNTAIN CAMPGROUND | 29 | tent only nonelectric | 15 ft | 44 ft | 1,051 ftBunches Creek | $30 | |
| BALSAM MOUNTAIN CAMPGROUND | 30 | tent only nonelectric | 15 ft | 44 ft | 1,095 ftBunches Creek | $30 | |
| BALSAM MOUNTAIN CAMPGROUND | 31 | tent only nonelectric | 15 ft | 30 ft | 1,098 ft | $30 | |
| BALSAM MOUNTAIN CAMPGROUND | 32 | standard nonelectric | 15 ft | 74 ft | 1,031 ft | $30 | |
| BALSAM MOUNTAIN CAMPGROUND | 33 | standard nonelectric | 12 ft | 46 ft | 969 ft | $30 | |
| BALSAM MOUNTAIN CAMPGROUND | 34 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 46 ft | 932 ft | $30 | |
| BALSAM MOUNTAIN CAMPGROUND | 35 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 58 ft | 880 ft | $30 | |
| BALSAM MOUNTAIN CAMPGROUND | 36 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 65 ft | 838 ft | $30 | |
| BALSAM MOUNTAIN CAMPGROUND | 37 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 65 ft | 816 ft | $30 | |
| BALSAM MOUNTAIN CAMPGROUND | 38 | standard nonelectric | 15 ft | 33 ft | 561 ft | $30 | |
| BALSAM MOUNTAIN CAMPGROUND | 39 | standard nonelectric | 15 ft | 33 ft | 529 ft | $30 | |
| BALSAM MOUNTAIN CAMPGROUND | 40 | standard nonelectric | 12 ft | 66 ft | 465 ft | $30 | |
| BALSAM MOUNTAIN CAMPGROUND | 41 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 59 ft | 336 ft | $30 | |
| BALSAM MOUNTAIN CAMPGROUND | 42 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 59 ft | 333 ft | $30 | |
| BALSAM MOUNTAIN CAMPGROUND | 43 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 102 ft | 278 ft | $30 |
25 of 43 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Round Bottom Horse CampGreat Smoky Mountains National Park · 4.0 mi
Cataloochee Horse CampGreat Smoky Mountains National Park · 5.5 mi
Cataloochee CampgroundGreat Smoky Mountains National Park · 6.7 mi
Tow String Horse CampGreat Smoky Mountains National Park · 7.1 mi
Smokemont CampgroundGreat Smoky Mountains National Park · 7.8 miFrom the North: From I-40 take Exit 20 Maggie Valley, NC and travel US-19 towards Cherokee, NC. Access the Blue Ridge Parkway at Soco Gap and continue South to mile 458.2, turning right onto Heintooga Ridge Road. Enter Great Smoky Mountains National Park at Black Camp Gap and continue 9 miles to Balsam Mountain Campground. From the South: Follow US-441/US-23 North. At Dillsboro merge onto US-74 West/US-441 North. At exit 74 merge onto US-441. Continue on US-441 through Cherokee, NC and into the park. Access the Blue Ridge Parkway traveling North to mile 458.2, turning left onto Heintooga Ridge Road. Enter Great Smoky Mountains National Park at Black Camp Gap and continue 9 miles to Balsam Mountain Campground.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Maggie Valley, NC
Typical weather
Typical October night 41°F, day 59°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 22°F, below freezing. Bring a bag rated colder than that, and expect ice in the water bottle.
Daily high and lowDays with 0.10 in or more
A normal is the 1991-2020 average for the month, not a forecast: about half of all Julys are colder than the July line. The seven-day forecast above answers the other question.
The land, and who answers for it
what threatens it · who answers for it
What threatens this place
You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.
Who answers for this land
Balsam Mountain Campground is in North Carolina’s 11th congressional district. Its representative, Chuck Edwards (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →