North Mills River
1Heads up1 fire 50 mi away
We don’t think it should be. Every campground should hold some sites for whoever drives up.Tell your representative →
- Right now
- OpenThe agency lists it open
- A night
- $31–$62Across the site types the agency prices
- Sites
- 2925 on recreation.gov
- Season
- Year-roundOpen year-round
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 1 notices
In the agency’s own words
North Mills River Campground is a rustic mountain getaway in Pisgah National Forest in western North Carolina. Located just outside the popular city of Asheville, the campground provides access to a variety of cultural and natural attractions, including an arboretum, the scenic Blue Ridge Parkway, and numerous hiking, fishing, and mountain biking opportunities. Winter Operations (November 16, 2025 - March 20, 2026): During winter months, this facility operates with limited services: No running water No electricity Pit toilets only Sites 1-13 are available on a first-come, first-served basis for $15 per night (14-day stay limit) . Sites 14-26 are closed during winter. Payment by cash or check must be placed in the fee tube within 30 minutes of arrival. Winter sites cannot be reserved online. Keep reading
Recreation
The forest is known for its hiking and mountain biking trails, several of which are near the campground. Mills River offers excellent trout fishing, as well as tubing and swimming, which are kid-friendly favorite activities. Visitors wishing to learn more about the area can attend educational programs during the summer.
Facilities
This is a relatively small facility with campsites organized into two loops on opposite sides of the river. Sites are mostly shaded and lie within a short distance of the water. The facility provides picnic tables, tent pads, lantern posts and campfire rings with grills, in addition to restrooms with hot showers and flush toilets. Campers can purchase firewood and fire starter on-site.
Natural Features
The campground is situated in the Appalachian Mountains at an elevation of 2,200 feet. The surrounding land boasts mile-high peaks, cascading waterfalls and slopes densely forested with hardwoods. The group camping area is adjacent to the beautiful, shallow waters of the Mills River. Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (828) 577-4167.
Nearby Attractions
Several natural and cultural attractions are within close proximity to the campground. Sliding Rock, Looking Glass Falls and the scenic Blue Ridge Parkway are among the most popular sites. The small town of Brevard offers various amenities and services, and visitors can take a trip to Asheville to visit art galleries, music venues, shops and restaurants.
What the agency tells you
- Check-in required: All guests must check in with the campground host before setting up their campsite. Hosts are on-site March 20 - November 15. - Campsite rules: Tents must be placed on gravel tent pads. Limit of 2 tents and 2 vehicles per site. Additional vehicles are $5 per vehicle (collected on-site). - Pets allowed: Dogs must be kept on leash at all times during your stay. - Bear country: North Mills River is located in black bear territory. All food, toiletries, and scented items must be stored in a vehicle, camper, or provided bear box when you are away from your campsite. Failure to comply may result in removal from the facility for public safety reasons. - Availability: Reservations are strongly recommended for weekends and holidays, as availability is extremely limited during peak times. - Year-round access: Open year-round with full services March 20 - November 15. Winter operations (November 16 - March 20) feature walk-up sites only with limited services (no running water, no electricity, pit toilets only). - Firewood: Don't move firewood! Protect our forests by obtaining firewood at or near your destination and burning it on-site. Visit dontmovefirewood.org to learn more. - Contact information: Campground staff are located at the manager's site from March 20 - November 15. From November 16 - March 20, the site is managed remotely. Call 828-577-4167 for assistance or 911 for emergencies. - This campground is managed by Naventure.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 29 · 4 tent-only, 1 group
- Hookups
- 1 electric, 2 water
- Longest rig
- 35 ft
- Accessible sites
- 1
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Flush Toilets
- “…to restrooms with hot showers and flush toilets. Campers can purchase firewood and fire starter…”
- Showers
- Yes, the record doesn’t say what kind
- Shower/Bath Type states a shower on 8 campsite record(s) that are not a cabin, of this campground's 29
- Drinking water
- Yes
- WATER (SEASONAL) on 2 of 29 campsite records
- Firewood
- Sold here
- Stay limit
- 14 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Waterfall, River
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Swimming
- Water sports
- Night sky · 80th darkest of 84 in NC
- Bortle 4
- Fall color · reported 3 days ago, 22 km away
- Patchy color
Full this Saturdayread 15:57 UTC
How full the weekend is nationally.
2 campgrounds have sites open within 30 miles, read 15:50 UTC. See them
OpenBooked
Every one of the 25 sites on offer is taken this Friday and Saturday. 13 are free on Tue, Oct 20. read 15:57 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
“Additional vehicles are $5 per vehicle (collected on-site).” · the U.S. Forest Service’s own agency notice
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rates for this season, $31–$62 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 · 6
Open within 30 miles this weekend · 2
Sites the agency is offering this Friday and Saturday that nobody has taken, nearest first. read 15:50 UTC
- Lake Powhatan GlampingPisgah National Game Refuge · 5.2 mi · 1 of 23 site-nights open
- Davidson RiverPisgah National Forest · 9.7 mi · 2 of 264 site-nights open
recreation.gov availability, read 15:57 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
29 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 17 mapped sitesAll 29 sites
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 17 of the 29 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. 26 of the 29 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.
| NORT | 001 | type not stated | 30 ft | $31–$40 | ||||
| NORT | 002 | standard nonelectric | 18 ft | 96 ft | 119 ft | 402 ft | $31–$62 | |
| NORT | 003 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 92 ft | 210 ft | 445 ft | $31–$62 | |
| NORT | 004 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 91 ft | 131 ft | 379 ft | $31–$62 | |
| NORT | 005 | standard nonelectric | 18 ft | 91 ft | 136 ft | 302 ft | $31–$62 | |
| NORT | 006 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | yes | 104 ft | 12 ft | 266 ft | $31–$62 |
| NORT | 007 | standard nonelectric | 104 ft | 19 ft | 210 ft | $31–$62 | ||
| NORT | 008 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 126 ft | 112 ft | 157 ft | $31–$62 | |
| NORT | 009 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 98 ft | 35 ft | 130 ft | $31–$62 | |
| NORT | 010 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 86 ft | 65 ft | 132 ft | $31–$62 | |
| NORT | 011 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 118 ft | 58 ft | 254 ft | $31–$62 | |
| NORT | 012 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 86 ft | 90 ft | 190 ft | $31–$62 | |
| NORT | 013 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 106 ft | 18 ft | 283 ft | $31–$62 | |
| NORT | 014 | rv electric | 28 ft | $46 | ||||
| NORT | 015 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 117 ft | 29 ft | 553 ft | $31–$62 | |
| NORT | 016 | standard nonelectric | 18 ft | $31–$62 | ||||
| NORT | 017 | tent only nonelectric | 18 ft | |||||
| NORT | 018 | tent only nonelectric | 20 ft | 117 ft | 36 ft | 644 ft | ||
| NORT | 019 | tent only nonelectric | 20 ft | 119 ft | 25 ft | 746 ft | ||
| NORT | 020 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 256 ft | 48 ft | 364 ft | $31–$62 | |
| NORT | 021 | standard nonelectric | 18 ft | $31–$62 | ||||
| NORT | 022 | standard nonelectric | 18 ft | $31–$62 | ||||
| NORT | 023 | type not stated | 30 ft | $31–$40 | ||||
| NORT | 024 | standard nonelectric | 18 ft | $31–$62 | ||||
| NORT | 025 | standard nonelectric | 18 ft | $31–$62 | ||||
| NORT | 026 | standard nonelectric | 18 ft | $31–$62 | ||||
| NORTH MILLS RIVER | Group Site | group tent only area nonelectric | 175 ft | 146 ft | 598 ft | $50 | ||
| S&P | Electric, S&P | type not stated | 18 ft | $31–$40 | ||||
| S&P | Standard Nonelectric, S&P | type not stated | 18 ft | $31–$40 |
25 of 29 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Wash Creek Horse CampPisgah National Forest · 1.7 mi
Lake PowhatanPisgah National Game Refuge · 5.2 mi
Lake Powhatan GlampingPisgah National Game Refuge · 5.2 mi
Wolf Ford Horse CampPisgah National Game Refuge · 5.7 mi
Mount Pisgah CampgroundBlue Ridge Parkway · 6.3 mi
White Pine South Group CampPisgah National Game Refuge · 9.5 miFrom Asheville, take U.S. Highway 280 west to North Mills River Road. Follow North Mills River Road to the campground.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Mills River, NC
Typical weather
Typical October night 44°F, day 68°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 27°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
North Mills River 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 North Mills River, Pisgah National Forest, North Carolina
Dear Chuck Edwards, I’m a constituent in North Carolina’s 11th district. I tried to camp at North Mills River, Pisgah National Forest, North Carolina, and couldn’t. recreation.gov lists 25 of the 29 campsites the agency files at North Mills River, and every one of them is booked ahead, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 25 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. North Mills River keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run North Mills River. 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 North Mills River (Pisgah 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 North Mills River, Pisgah National Forest, North Carolina
Dear Ted Budd, I’m a constituent in North Carolina. I tried to camp at North Mills River, Pisgah National Forest, North Carolina, and couldn’t. recreation.gov lists 25 of the 29 campsites the agency files at North Mills River, and every one of them is booked ahead, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 25 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. North Mills River keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run North Mills River. 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 North Mills River (Pisgah 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 North Mills River, Pisgah National Forest, North Carolina
Dear Thom Tillis, I’m a constituent in North Carolina. I tried to camp at North Mills River, Pisgah National Forest, North Carolina, and couldn’t. recreation.gov lists 25 of the 29 campsites the agency files at North Mills River, and every one of them is booked ahead, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 25 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. North Mills River keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run North Mills River. 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 North Mills River (Pisgah National Forest, North Carolina) via campanac.com