Big Creek Group Camp
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- Right now
- Taking bookingsSites offered on 9 of the next 9 nights read 15:58 UTC
- Sites
- 1All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 15 notices
In the agency’s own words
Big Creek Group Camp is located in the far northeastern corner of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, near the Tennessee-North Carolina border. With the gentle waters of Big Creek running alongside the site, and a handful of trailheads within walking distance, this campsite offers an ideal setting for group camping excursions. Keep reading
Recreation
Numerous hiking and horseback riding trails are accessible from the campground and in the surrounding areas. Most notably, the Appalachian Trail is easily reached via the Chestnut Branch Trail, a 2.1 mile trail for hikers only, beginning down the road from the campground. Nearby Baxter Creek Trail meanders along the water, while equestrian campers might enjoy taking the Big Creek Trail to Mouse Creek Falls or Midnight Hole, an area where Big Creek squeezes between large boulders, forming a deep, beautifully-colored pool. Compared to some other areas of the park, Big Creek is not crowded with anglers. Spring provides ideal conditions for fly fishing on Big Creek, with Rainbow and Brook trout looking for the aquatic insects which hatch during this time.
Facilities
Big Creek Group Camp offers an unforgettable outdoor experience combined with the convenience of flush toilets, drinking water and sinks. The campsite can accommodate up to 25 guests and tent pads, grills and fire rings are provided. The site is surrounded by a heavy canopy of towering forest, providing plenty of shade for guests.
Natural Features
Big Creek Group Camp is nestled among the scenic mountains and pristine streams surrounding the big creek section of the North Carolina Smokies. Nearby Mouse Creek Falls, a 35 foot waterfall forming at the confluence of Mouse Creek and Big Creek, is a stunning geological feature of the area. The falls splits over moss covered rocks and falls about 20 ft. before pooling and falling another 15 ft. into Big Creek. The falls can be reached via the Big Creek Trail, which is covered in wildflowers during spring months.
Nearby Attractions
The Big Creek Horse Camp is located nearby, with horse stables and riding trails available. Full service grocery stores and medical facilities are located 16 miles away in Newport, Tennessee.
Charges & Cancellations
Customers who cancel a group overnight facility reservation less than 14 days before the arrival date will pay a $10.00 service fee AND forfeit the first night's use fee.
What the agency tells you
Notice: There is ongoing construction near Exit 451. Big Creek Campground is accessed only via the Waterville Road exit. How to Reach the Campground: All I‑40 eastbound and westbound exit and entrance ramps for Exit 451 are open. When traveling eastbound toward Asheville, be aware that the temporary exit for Big Creek occurs about ½ mile before the usual Exit 451 location. GPS will incorrectly announce the exit as being 1 mile ahead, which may cause visitors to miss the temporary exit sign and assume the exit is closed. If the exit is passed, the next available exit is roughly 7 miles away in Clyde, NC to turn around. The “closure” being reported via some GPS units is a construction-related reroute of the ramps.
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.
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.
Everything else this campground posts · 12
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.
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. Fires are allowed in fire rings only!
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 av ailable 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.
For additional information about these firewood regulations, please visit the park website at http://www.nps.gov/grsm/planyourvisit/frontcountry-camping.
A reservation is required to use a group camp.
There are no showers or electric, water or sewer hook-ups in the park. Some group sites are accessible.
Quiet hours are in effect from 10 PM to 6 AM. Generator use is prohibited in group camps.
Dispose of garbage promptly in bear-proof dumpsters.
A minimum of 7 people is required for group site use. Maximum site capacity is 25 people. The park stay limit is 14 consecutive days.
A Tennessee or North Carolina fishing license is required to fish in the park. Special regulations apply in the park.
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.
For additional park information call 865-436-1200 or visit www.nps.gov/grsm
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 1 · 1 tent-only, 1 group
- Hookups
- None
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Flush Toilets - seasonal
- Drinking water
- Yes
Around the campground
- On the water
- Waterfall, Creek
- Backpacking
- Biking
- Birding
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Picnicking
- Wildlife viewing
- Fall color · reported 4 days ago, 19 km away
- Patchy color
Full this Saturdayread 15:58 UTC
How full the weekend is nationally.
3 campgrounds have sites open within 30 miles, read 16:38 UTC. See them
OpenBooked
The one site on offer is taken this Saturday. 1 is free on Thu, Oct 22. read 15:58 UTC Why the weekend fills and the week doesn’t
Watch for a cancellation
Watch this campground
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 · 16
What you actually pay
“Customers who cancel a group overnight facility reservation less than 14 days before the arrival date will pay a $10.00 service fee AND forfeit the first night's use fee.” · this campground’s own terms
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 · 6
Open within 30 miles this weekend · 3
Sites the agency is offering this Friday and Saturday that nobody has taken, nearest first. read 16:38 UTC
- Cosby CampgroundGreat Smoky Mountains National Park · 5.6 mi · 1 of 124 site-nights open
- Harmon Den CampgroundPisgah National Forest · 7.4 mi · 6 of 38 site-nights open
- Smokemont CampgroundGreat Smoky Mountains National Park · 18 mi · 1 of 274 site-nights open
recreation.gov availability, read 15:58 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
1 sites · the site map
All 1 sites
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 1 of the 1 sites listed. A site with no reading is unknown, never far.
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 1 of the 1 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| Group Site | GP01 | group tent only area nonelectric | 412 ft | 204 ft | $62 |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Big Creek Horse CampGreat Smoky Mountains National Park · 0.2 mi
Big Creek Campground (Great Smoky Mountains National Park)Great Smoky Mountains National Park · 0.2 mi
Cosby Group CampGreat Smoky Mountains National Park · 5.5 mi
Cosby CampgroundGreat Smoky Mountains National Park · 5.6 mi
Cataloochee Group CampGreat Smoky Mountains National Park · 7.3 mi
Harmon Den CampgroundPisgah National Forest · 7.4 miCampground is at the end of Big Creek Entrance Rd. Waterville, NC, 28785 (Haywood County) Very close to the NC-TN State line.
The campground is located off I-40 Exit 451 (Waterville). It sixteen miles east of Newport, TN. Follow Waterville road, crossing over the Pigeon River, past the Walters Power Generating Station and continue one mile to the 4-way intersection at Mt Sterling Gap.
Follow the signs to Big Creek.
The 4 way intersection is composed of Big Creek Campground Road and Waterville Rd (from I-40) + Mt. Sterling Road (from Cataloochee) + Hwy 32 (from Cosby)
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Cosby, TN
Typical weather
Typical October night 48°F, day 70°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 29°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 · a letter you can send
What threatens this place
You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.
Who answers for this land
Big Creek Group Camp 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 →
Who can change it · 4
Two offices, two different asks. The draft to the agency asks it to set aside a published share of the sites here for whoever drives up. The draft to Congress asks why that share is zero and presses for a published minimum at the campgrounds it funds.
- The office that runs itGreat Smoky Mountains National ParkNational Park Service unit
- The member who votes the moneyChuck EdwardsU.S. Representative · North Carolina’s 11th district
- Your senator, on the same appropriationTed BuddU.S. Senator · North Carolina
- Your senator, on the same appropriationThom TillisU.S. Senator · North Carolina
Read the draft, or change the wording
For the camper who turned up, or tried to book, and couldn’t get in. Every draft is written from this campground’s own record (its agency, its unit, its site count and its own weekend) and the buttons above copy whichever wording is selected here.
Asks the National Park Service to set aside a published share of the sites here for whoever drives up, and to post what that share is.
Subject Hold back a share of sites at Big Creek Group Camp for campers who drive up
To the National Park Service, Great Smoky Mountains National Park: I tried to camp at Big Creek Group Camp in North Carolina and couldn’t. All 1 sites at Big Creek Group Camp are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, the one site recreation.gov was offering there was already booked. 1,623 of the 7,647 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Big Creek Group Camp keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m asking for one specific thing: set aside a published share of the sites at Big Creek Group Camp as first-come, first-served, and post what that share is so it can be checked. Somebody who drives up has no way in, and no way to find out whether they might have had one. Sent about Big Creek Group Camp (Great Smoky Mountains National Park, North Carolina) via campanac.com
Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.
Subject Walk-up camping at Big Creek Group Camp, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, North Carolina
Dear Chuck Edwards, I’m a constituent in North Carolina’s 11th district. I tried to camp at Big Creek Group Camp, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, North Carolina, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at Big Creek Group Camp are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, the one site recreation.gov was offering there was already booked. 1,623 of the 7,647 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Big Creek Group Camp keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Big Creek Group Camp. I’m asking you to put it to the National Park Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund. The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them. Sent about Big Creek Group Camp (Great Smoky Mountains National Park, North Carolina) via campanac.com
Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.
Subject Walk-up camping at Big Creek Group Camp, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, North Carolina
Dear Ted Budd, I’m a constituent in North Carolina. I tried to camp at Big Creek Group Camp, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, North Carolina, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at Big Creek Group Camp are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, the one site recreation.gov was offering there was already booked. 1,623 of the 7,647 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Big Creek Group Camp keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Big Creek Group Camp. I’m asking you to put it to the National Park Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund. The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them. Sent about Big Creek Group Camp (Great Smoky Mountains National Park, North Carolina) via campanac.com
Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.
Subject Walk-up camping at Big Creek Group Camp, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, North Carolina
Dear Thom Tillis, I’m a constituent in North Carolina. I tried to camp at Big Creek Group Camp, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, North Carolina, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at Big Creek Group Camp are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, the one site recreation.gov was offering there was already booked. 1,623 of the 7,647 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Big Creek Group Camp keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Big Creek Group Camp. I’m asking you to put it to the National Park Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund. The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them. Sent about Big Creek Group Camp (Great Smoky Mountains National Park, North Carolina) via campanac.com