Dennis Cove Campground
- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
- A night
- $10–$20Across the site types the agency prices
- Sites
- 14All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 12 notices
In the agency’s own words
Dennis Cove Campground is a secluded campground along Laurel Fork Creek at an elevation of 2,650 feet in Carter County. This remote developed campground is popular with those seeking a rustic experience. The altitude, creek side location and lush forest surroundings make Dennis Cove particularly desirable during hot summer months. With 15 campsites, Dennis Cove is a great option for family camping. Keep reading
Recreation
Along with camping, Laurel Fork Creek is stocked with rainbow trout below the campground. Above the campground, the creek and its tributaries are managed as wild trout streams for brown, rainbow and brook trout. Laurel Fork Trail (#39) follows the creek upstream for 8.0 miles with twenty-six stream crossings. The Appalachian National Scenic Trail is accessed one mile west of the campground along Dennis Cove Rd, or at the top of the nearby Coon Den Falls Trail (#37).
Facilities
There are 15 single campsites, including two double sites within Dennis Cove Campground. The campground has flush toilets. Each site contains a table, fire ring and lantern holder.
Natural Features
Dennis Cove Campground is located along the beautiful Laurel Fork Creek nestled in the mountains of the Southern Appalachians.
Nearby Attractions
The trailhead for Coon Den Falls Trail (#37) is next to Dennis Cove Campground, and the trailhead for the Appalachian National Scenic Trail (#1) is approximately one mile west of the campground on Dennis Cove Rd. Watauga Lake is approximately 25 minutes away.
What the agency tells you
Dennis Cove Campground will open for the 2026 season on 4/27/26. This campground does not have any Long-Term Camping programs.
The gate is closed at 10:00 p.m. and reopens at 7:00 a.m. The gate is only opened at night for emergencies.
An RV counts as one of the two vehicles allowed at a site.
Everything else this campground posts · 9
Alcohol prohibited.
All equipment must fit on the site pad. Vehicles park in developed areas only.
You are in Bear Country. Please adhere to the Cherokee National Forest Food and Refuse Storage Requirements. All food (unless actively being prepared and/or eaten), trash, and other scented items (hygiene products, pet food, etc) must be stored in a bear-resistant container (closed hard top vehicle or travel trailer) or suspended at least 12 ft. off the ground and 6 ft. from limbs. Please read the entire Food Storage Order located under the Facility Information tab and Additional Information section or by reading the Food Storage Order posted at the campground. Any campsites not in compliance will receive a ticket.
Check-out time is no later than 11 am EST on your departure day. You may check-in to the campground between 2 pm EST and 10 pm EST of your arrival date. If you have not checked-in before 2 pm EST the day after your arrival date, your site will be checked-out and will forfeit all fees.
Established quiet hours are between 10 pm EST to 7 am EST.
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. Visit dontmovefirewood.org to learn more.
Use designated fire rings for all fires. Do not build additional fire rings. No burning plastic or other non-wood materials except local wood in fire pits and charcoal in grills.
All pets must be on a 6' leash at all times. Owners must pick up after their pets, and all pet waste disposed of properly.
It is your responsibility to read, know, understand, and follow all campground specific rules and regulations which are posted at the campground.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 14 · 1 tent-only
- Hookups
- None
- Accessible sites
- 6
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
Facilities
- Toilets
- Flush Toilets
- “…Cove Campground. The campground has flush toilets. Each site contains a table, fire ring and lantern…”
- Camp host
- On site
- recreation.gov lists “Host”
- Stay limit
- 14 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, Creek
- Backpacking
- Emergency Services
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Hunting
- Mountain biking
- Swimming
- Water access
- Wildlife viewing
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 · 14
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rates for this season, $10–$20 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 Oct 1, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
14 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 14 mapped sitesAll 14 sites
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 14 of the 14 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. 14 of the 14 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.
| DENNIS COVE CAMPGROUND | 01 | standard nonelectric | yes | 23 ft | 159 ftLaurel Fork | 188 ft | $10–$20 |
| DENNIS COVE CAMPGROUND | 02 | standard nonelectric | yes | 18 ft | 136 ftLaurel Fork | 203 ft | $10–$20 |
| DENNIS COVE CAMPGROUND | 03 | standard nonelectric | yes | 18 ft | 119 ftLaurel Fork | 211 ft | $10–$20 |
| DENNIS COVE CAMPGROUND | 04 | standard nonelectric | 18 ft | 103 ftLaurel Fork | 216 ft | $10–$20 | |
| DENNIS COVE CAMPGROUND | 05 | standard nonelectric | yes | 30 ft | 88 ftLaurel Fork | 205 ft | $10–$20 |
| DENNIS COVE CAMPGROUND | 06 | standard nonelectric | 21 ft | 106 ftLaurel Fork | 181 ft | $10–$20 | |
| DENNIS COVE CAMPGROUND | 07 | standard nonelectric | 13 ft | 127 ftLaurel Fork | 159 ft | $10–$20 | |
| DENNIS COVE CAMPGROUND | 08 | standard nonelectric | 13 ft | 137 ftLaurel Fork | 151 ft | $10–$20 | |
| DENNIS COVE CAMPGROUND | 09 | standard nonelectric | yes | 13 ft | 146 ftLaurel Fork | 146 ft | $10–$20 |
| DENNIS COVE CAMPGROUND | 10 | standard nonelectric | 13 ft | 153 ftLaurel Fork | 144 ft | $10–$20 | |
| DENNIS COVE CAMPGROUND | 11 | standard nonelectric | yes | 23 ft | 167 ftLaurel Fork | 144 ft | $10–$20 |
| DENNIS COVE CAMPGROUND | 12 | standard nonelectric | 26 ft | 175 ftLaurel Fork | 159 ft | $10–$20 | |
| DENNIS COVE CAMPGROUND | 14 | standard nonelectric | 56 ft | 273 ftLaurel Fork | 204 ft | $10–$20 | |
| DENNIS COVE CAMPGROUND | 15 | tent only nonelectric | 56 ft | 258 ft | 261 ft | $10 |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Cardens Bluff CampgroundCherokee National Forest · 3.6 mi
Watauga Point Recreation AreaCherokee National Forest · 4.6 mi
Rock Creek Recreation Area (Cherokee National Forest, TN)Cherokee National Forest · 16 miLittle Oak CampgroundCherokee National Forest · 18 mi
Little Oak CampgroundCherokee National Forest · 18 miTake US 321/TN 67 East out of Hampton, TN. Turn right onto Dennis Cove Road and drive approximately 5 miles. Dennis Cove Road is steep with hairpin turns, so plan to drive slowly.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Hampton, TN
Typical weather
Typical October night 44°F, day 64°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 24°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
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
Dennis Cove Campground is in Tennessee’s 1st congressional district. Its representative, Diana Harshbarger (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →