Curtis Creek Campground (NC)
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 30 of the next 30 nights read 16:54 UTC
- A night
- $10From, per site
- Sites
- 24All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 8 notices
In the agency’s own words
Curtis Creek Campground is nestled in the mountains at the base of the Blue Ridge just minutes from the quaint town of Old Fort and less than an hour from the popular city of Asheville. Located in the first tract of National Forest land in the eastern US at the site of an old Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC) camp, the campground is surrounded by old growth forests and roaring trout streams. The gravel road through the campground ascends to the Blue Ridge Parkway, providing easy access to the Mount Mitchell area. Keep reading
Recreation
Visitors to the campground can enjoy a variety of activities including fishing, swimming, day hiking, picnicking, and scenic driving. Curtis Creek is well known for its excellent trout fishing. Swimming holes along the creek provide wading opportunities on hot summer days. History buffs will enjoy exploring the remains of the old CCC buildings surrounding the campground. Two Forest Service trails depart from the campground. The Hickory Branch trail provides a short (approximately 1/2 mile) hike to a series of waterfalls, and longer hikes to access the backcountry area around Mackey Mountain. Mackey Mountain and the valley of Mackey Creek contain the largest unbroken tract of old-growth forest in the Pisgah National Forest. The Snooks Nose trail provides a strenuous hike to a ridge with beautiful views, eventually ending at the Blue Ridge Parkway. Many other Forest Service trails are within a short drive of the campground, including Catawba Falls and Point Lookout trail.
Facilities
The campground provides a variety of campsites. There are three loops with 24 sites. One loop is fully accessible, barrier free and can accommodate RVs up to 35ft. A second loop features dispersed tent-only roadside sites that provide a secluded forest experience. A third loop features tent-only sites in an open grassy area. All sites include a tent pad, picnic table, lantern post, and fire ring. Vault toilets, drinking water pumps, and bear-proof trash and recycling receptacles are provided. A campground host is on site to provide visitor assistance.
Natural Features
Located in rich mountain hardwood forests at an elevation of 2,000 feet, Curtis Creek Campground provides a secluded streamside setting. Curtis Creek, a popular trout stream surrounded by lush rhododendron and hemlock, runs along the east side of the campground. Old-growth forests cover the mountain peaks on either side of the valley. The Curtis Creek area provides beautiful scenery year-round, from stunning fall foliage displays to abundant spring and summer wildflowers.
Nearby Attractions
Curtis Creek Campground is six miles from the town of Old Fort, which has a variety of restaurants, gas stations, grocery stores, and medical facilities. Popular attractions in Old Fort include the Mountain Gateway Museum, the Old Train Depot, Davidson Fort, Catawba Falls, and Andrews Geyser. The campground is seven miles from the scenic Blue Ridge Parkway, close to Mount Mitchell State Park. Visitors can make trips to nearby Black Mountain (15 miles) and Asheville (30 miles) to visit art galleries, shops, and restaurants.
What the agency tells you
Campground is open April 1 to December 31.
First-come, first-served sites are available.
While the standard non-electric sites will support RVs, there are no RV amenities.
Everything else this campground posts · 5
The facility is located in a bear sanctuary; be aware, keep a clean camp, store all food items in closed containers or locked inside vehicles.
No alcohol is allowed.
Check in time: 3pm, Check out time: noon
Quiet hours are 10 p.m. to 6 a.m.
For more information, please call the Grandfather Ranger District at 828-652-2144.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 24 · 14 tent-only, 1 group
- Hookups
- None
- Paved pads
- 4 of 24
- Accessible sites
- 1
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…table, lantern post, and fire ring. Vault toilets, drinking water pumps, and bear-proof trash and…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…post, and fire ring. Vault toilets, drinking water pumps, and bear-proof trash and recycling…”
- Camp host
- On site
- recreation.gov lists “Host”
Around the campground
- On the water
- Waterfall, Creek
- Biking
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Historic site
- Horseback riding
- Visitor center
- Wildlife viewing
Full this Saturdayread 16:54 UTC
How full the weekend is nationally.
OpenBooked
Every one of the 24 sites on offer is taken this Friday and Saturday. 20 are free on Wed, Oct 21. read 16:54 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.
We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.
Every line of the receipt · 14
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rate for this season, $10 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
recreation.gov availability, read 16:54 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
24 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 24 mapped sitesAll 24 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. 24 of the 24 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| CURTIS CREEK CAMPGROUND (NC) | 001 Group Site | group standard nonelectric | 60 ft | 109 ft | $20 | |
| CURTIS CREEK CAMPGROUND (NC) | 002 | tent only nonelectric | 60 ft | 93 ft | $10 | |
| CURTIS CREEK CAMPGROUND (NC) | 003 | tent only nonelectric | 94 ft | 120 ft | $10 | |
| CURTIS CREEK CAMPGROUND (NC) | 004 | tent only nonelectric | 94 ft | 84 ftSlick Falls Branch | $10 | |
| CURTIS CREEK CAMPGROUND (NC) | 005 | tent only nonelectric | 150 ft | 81 ftSlick Falls Branch | $10 | |
| CURTIS CREEK CAMPGROUND (NC) | 006 | standard nonelectric | yes | 62 ft | 102 ft | $10 |
| CURTIS CREEK CAMPGROUND (NC) | 007 | standard nonelectric | 62 ft | 125 ft | $10 | |
| CURTIS CREEK CAMPGROUND (NC) | 008 | standard nonelectric | 61 ft | 121 ft | $10 | |
| CURTIS CREEK CAMPGROUND (NC) | 009 | standard nonelectric | 47 ft | 103 ft | $10 | |
| CURTIS CREEK CAMPGROUND (NC) | 010 | standard nonelectric | 47 ft | 93 ft | $10 | |
| CURTIS CREEK CAMPGROUND (NC) | 011 | standard nonelectric | 69 ft | 86 ft | $10 | |
| CURTIS CREEK CAMPGROUND (NC) | 012 | tent only nonelectric | 133 ft | 92 ft | $10 | |
| CURTIS CREEK CAMPGROUND (NC) | 013 | tent only nonelectric | 77 ft | 150 ft | $10 | |
| CURTIS CREEK CAMPGROUND (NC) | 014 | tent only nonelectric | 77 ft | 152 ft | $10 | |
| CURTIS CREEK CAMPGROUND (NC) | 015 | standard nonelectric | 64 ft | 97 ft | $10 | |
| CURTIS CREEK CAMPGROUND (NC) | 016 | standard nonelectric | 55 ft | 120 ft | $10 | |
| CURTIS CREEK CAMPGROUND (NC) | 017 | standard nonelectric | 55 ft | 112 ft | $10 | |
| CURTIS CREEK CAMPGROUND (NC) | 018 | tent only nonelectric | 59 ft | 108 ft | $10 | |
| CURTIS CREEK CAMPGROUND (NC) | 019 | tent only nonelectric | 42 ft | 147 ft | $10 | |
| CURTIS CREEK CAMPGROUND (NC) | 020 | tent only nonelectric | 42 ft | 119 ft | $10 | |
| CURTIS CREEK CAMPGROUND (NC) | 021 | tent only nonelectric | 47 ft | 170 ft | $10 | |
| CURTIS CREEK CAMPGROUND (NC) | 022 | tent only nonelectric | 50 ft | 130 ft | $10 | |
| CURTIS CREEK CAMPGROUND (NC) | 023 | tent only nonelectric | 47 ft | 181 ft | $10 | |
| CURTIS CREEK CAMPGROUND (NC) | 024 | tent only nonelectric | 55 ft | 134 ft | $10 |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Black Mountain CampgroundPisgah National Forest · 5.4 mi
Briar Bottom Group CampgroundPisgah National Forest · 5.4 mi
Carolina Hemlocks Rec AreaPisgah National Forest · 8.9 mi
Crabtree Falls CampgroundBlue Ridge Parkway · 10 mi
Linville Falls CampgroundBlue Ridge Parkway · 25 miFrom I-40, take Exit 73 towards Old Fort. Take Catawba Ave. north 0.5 miles to US-70E/E Main St. Turn right on US-70E and go 1.8 miles to Curtis Creek Rd. (Curtis Creek Campground sign). Turn left on Curtis Creek Rd. and drive 4 miles to campground.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Old Fort, NC
Typical weather
Typical October night 41°F, day 65°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 23°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
Curtis Creek Campground (NC) 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 Curtis Creek Campground (NC), North Carolina
Dear Chuck Edwards, I’m a constituent in North Carolina’s 11th district. I tried to camp at Curtis Creek Campground (NC), North Carolina, and couldn’t. All 24 sites at Curtis Creek Campground (NC) are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 24 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked. 1,623 of the 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Curtis Creek Campground (NC) keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Curtis Creek Campground (NC). 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 Curtis Creek Campground (NC) (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 Curtis Creek Campground (NC), North Carolina
Dear Ted Budd, I’m a constituent in North Carolina. I tried to camp at Curtis Creek Campground (NC), North Carolina, and couldn’t. All 24 sites at Curtis Creek Campground (NC) are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 24 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked. 1,623 of the 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Curtis Creek Campground (NC) keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Curtis Creek Campground (NC). 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 Curtis Creek Campground (NC) (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 Curtis Creek Campground (NC), North Carolina
Dear Thom Tillis, I’m a constituent in North Carolina. I tried to camp at Curtis Creek Campground (NC), North Carolina, and couldn’t. All 24 sites at Curtis Creek Campground (NC) are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 24 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked. 1,623 of the 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Curtis Creek Campground (NC) keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Curtis Creek Campground (NC). 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 Curtis Creek Campground (NC) (North Carolina) via campanac.com