Cheoah Point Campground
We don’t think it should be. Every campground should hold some sites for whoever drives up.Tell your representative →
- Right now
- Taking bookingsSites offered on 16 of the next 16 nights read 16:37 UTC
- A night
- $20–$25Across the site types the agency prices
- Sites
- 23All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 6 notices
In the agency’s own words
Cheoah Point Campground lies on a peninsula of the vast Lake Santeetlah in the hills of western North Carolina. The lake and surrounding landscape provide countless recreational opportunities for outdoor enthusiasts. Keep reading
Recreation
Anglers enjoy fishing for trout, walleye, a variety of bass, bream and crappie and more in the 2,800-acre Lake Santeetlah. Boating, canoeing, jet skiing and swimming are also popular activities on the lake. Nearby, the Wauchecha Bald Trail, which begins as a an easy hike and gets progressively more difficult, provides access to the famed Appalachian Trail.
Facilities
The campground provides multiple open and wooded campsites that can accommodate up to 10 guests and 2 vehicles per site. Six RV sites provide 15/30/50 amp electrical hookups. Tables and campfire rings with grills are provided at each site. Flush toilets, hot showers and drinking water are provided to help create a comfortable camping experience.
Natural Features
Lake Santeetlah sits in the Nantahala National Forest, which covers 1.3 million acres of mountain lands. Old forests grace the hills and valleys, with some of the canyons reaching deep into the earth, providing ample hiking opportunities in the beautiful terrain. Cheoah Point is situated in a forest of mature hardwoods at an elevation of 1,760 feet. The campground covers steep terrain and many of the campsites overlook the lake.
Nearby Attractions
Great Smoky Mountains National Park is just a short distance away, offering an ideal day trip from Cheoah point Recreation Area.
What the agency tells you
Check-in time is after 2 PM. All campers must check out by 2PM.
The maximum occupancy per site is 2 vehicles and 8 people. The maximum length of stay is 14 days.
Quiet hours are from 10PM to 6AM. Unreasonably loud noise is prohibited at all times. Generators may only be used for a total of no more than 3 hours between 10AM and 10PM.
Everything else this campground posts · 3
Direct sewer and water hook-ups are not available at the six reservable RV sites. These sites do offer 15/30/50 amp electric hookups. Water hydrants are available throughout the campground at various locations. There is not a dump station at the campground.
Animals must be on a leash at all times. No dogs are allowed on nearby Cheoah Point Beach.
Don't Move Firewood: Help protect our forests! Prevent the spread of tree-killing pests by obtaining firewood at or near your destination and burning it on-site. Moving firewood is illegal in some states. Visit dontmovefirewood.org to learn more.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 23
- Hookups
- 6 electric
- Longest rig
- 40 ft
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Flush Toilets
- “…with grills are provided at each site. Flush toilets, hot showers and drinking water are provided to…”
- Showers
- Yes, the record doesn’t say what kind
- “Flush toilets, hot showers and drinking water are provided to help create a comfortable camping experience.”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…site. Flush toilets, hot showers and drinking water are provided to help create a comfortable camping…”
- Camp host
- On site
- recreation.gov lists “Host”
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake
- Boating
- Canoeing
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Jet Skiing
- Kayaking
- Non-Motorized Boating
- Swimming
- Water access
- Night sky · 17th darkest of 84 in NC
- Bortle 4
- Fall color · reported 5 days ago, 34 km away
- Minimal color
Full this Saturdayread 16:37 UTC
How full the weekend is nationally.
2 campgrounds have sites open within 30 miles, read 16:34 UTC. See them
OpenBooked
Every one of the 6 sites on offer is taken this Saturday. 1 is free on Mon, Oct 19. read 16:37 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 · 13
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rates for this season, $20–$25 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
Open within 30 miles this weekend · 2
Sites the agency is offering this Friday and Saturday that nobody has taken, nearest first. read 16:34 UTC
- Look Rock CampgroundGreat Smoky Mountains National Park · 19 mi · 1 of 130 site-nights open
- Jackrabbit MountainNational Forests in North Carolina · 25 mi · 4 of 182 site-nights open
recreation.gov availability, read 16:37 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
23 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 23 mapped sitesAll 23 sites
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 23 of the 23 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. 23 of the 23 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.
| CHEOAH POINT | 01 | standard nonelectric | 22 ft | 105 ft | 221 ft | 366 ft | $20 | |
| CHEOAH POINT | 02 | standard nonelectric | 22 ft | 105 ft | 126 ft | 470 ft | $20 | |
| CHEOAH POINT | 03 | standard nonelectric | 22 ft | 93 ft | 174 ft | 490 ft | $20 | |
| CHEOAH POINT | 04 | standard nonelectric | 22 ft | 93 ft | 144 ft | 525 ft | $20 | |
| CHEOAH POINT | 05 | standard nonelectric | 22 ft | 104 ft | 216 ft | 495 ft | $20 | |
| CHEOAH POINT | 06 | standard nonelectric | 22 ft | 67 ft | 115 ft | 570 ft | $20 | |
| CHEOAH POINT | 07 | standard nonelectric | 22 ft | 48 ft | 115 ft | 549 ft | $20 | |
| CHEOAH POINT | 08 | standard nonelectric | 22 ft | 48 ft | 96 ft | 554 ft | $20 | |
| CHEOAH POINT | 09 | standard nonelectric | 22 ft | 104 ft | 124 ft | 486 ft | $20 | |
| CHEOAH POINT | 10 | standard nonelectric | 22 ft | 104 ft | 191 ft | 385 ft | $20 | |
| CHEOAH POINT | 11 | standard nonelectric | 22 ft | 194 ft | 96 ft | 270 ft | $20 | |
| CHEOAH POINT | 12 | standard nonelectric | 22 ft | 152 ft | 304 ft | 284 ft | $20 | |
| CHEOAH POINT | 13 | standard nonelectric | 22 ft | 271 ft | 231 ft | under 10 ft | $20 | |
| CHEOAH POINT | 14 | standard nonelectric | 22 ft | 95 ft | 79 ft | 241 ft | $20 | |
| CHEOAH POINT | 15 | standard nonelectric | 22 ft | 69 ft | 141 ft | 77 ft | $20 | |
| CHEOAH POINT | 16 | standard nonelectric | 22 ft | 69 ft | 94 ft | 146 ft | $20 | |
| CHEOAH POINT | 17 | standard nonelectric | 22 ft | 78 ft | 184 ft | 10 ft | $20 | |
| CHEOAH POINT | 18 | standard electric | 40 ft | 15/30/50 amp | 62 ft | 194 ft | 244 ft | $25 |
| CHEOAH POINT | 19 | standard electric | 40 ft | 15/30/50 amp | 62 ft | 201 ft | 216 ft | $25 |
| CHEOAH POINT | 20 | standard electric | 40 ft | 15/30/50 amp | 68 ft | 216 ft | 203 ft | $25 |
| CHEOAH POINT | 21 | standard electric | 40 ft | 15/30/50 amp | 68 ft | 246 ft | 189 ft | $25 |
| CHEOAH POINT | 22 | standard electric | 40 ft | 15/30/50 amp | 84 ft | 285 ft | 108 ft | $25 |
| CHEOAH POINT | 23 | standard electric | 40 ft | 15/30/50 amp | 110 ft | 309 ft | 11 ft | $25 |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Rattler Ford Group CampgroundNantahala National Forest · 2.5 miRattler Ford CampgroundNantahala National Forest · 2.6 miHorse Cove CampgroundNantahala National Forest · 2.7 mi
Swan Cabin Group Camp7.4 mi
Donley CabinCherokee National Forest · 13 miFrom Robbinsville, North Carolina, continue on Highway 129 north for approximately 6 miles. Turn left on SR # 1145 - Thunderbird Mountain Road. Continue approximately 1.3 miles on Thunderbird Mountain Road to the Cheoah Point Campground.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Lake Santeetlah, NC
Typical weather
Typical October night 46°F, day 70°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 28°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
Roadless country, and what’s coming for it
You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.
Who answers for this land
Cheoah Point 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 →
Who can change it · 3
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 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 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 Cheoah Point Campground, Nantahala National Forest, North Carolina
Dear Chuck Edwards, I’m a constituent in North Carolina’s 11th district. I tried to camp at Cheoah Point Campground, Nantahala National Forest, North Carolina, and couldn’t. All 23 sites at Cheoah Point Campground are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 6 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked. 1,623 of the 7,647 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Cheoah Point Campground keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Cheoah Point Campground. I’m asking you to put it to the U.S. Forest 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 Cheoah Point Campground (Nantahala National Forest, 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 Cheoah Point Campground, Nantahala National Forest, North Carolina
Dear Ted Budd, I’m a constituent in North Carolina. I tried to camp at Cheoah Point Campground, Nantahala National Forest, North Carolina, and couldn’t. All 23 sites at Cheoah Point Campground are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 6 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked. 1,623 of the 7,647 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Cheoah Point Campground keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Cheoah Point Campground. I’m asking you to put it to the U.S. Forest 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 Cheoah Point Campground (Nantahala National Forest, 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 Cheoah Point Campground, Nantahala National Forest, North Carolina
Dear Thom Tillis, I’m a constituent in North Carolina. I tried to camp at Cheoah Point Campground, Nantahala National Forest, North Carolina, and couldn’t. All 23 sites at Cheoah Point Campground are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 6 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked. 1,623 of the 7,647 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Cheoah Point Campground keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Cheoah Point Campground. I’m asking you to put it to the U.S. Forest 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 Cheoah Point Campground (Nantahala National Forest, North Carolina) via campanac.com