Rocky Bluff Campground
1Heads up1 fire 40 mi away
- Right now
- Closedrecreation.gov lists every site closed this weekend, read 16:49 UTC
- A night
- $15When it reopens, per site
- Sites
- 17In the agency’s record
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 7 notices
In the agency’s own words
Rocky Bluff Campground offers solitude in a wooded setting located just 3 miles south of the quaint town of Hot Springs and the majestic French Broad River. The campground is conviently located off of NC Scenic Byway 209 in the Spring Creek Gorge Area. Keep reading
Recreation
Recreation opportunities abound in and around the Hot Springs area. Located on the Appalachian District of the Pisgah National Forest, Rocky Bluff Campground itself is host to three different trail heads. If you are looking for longer-distance hiking opportunities, the famous Appalachian Trail runs right through the town of Hot Springs. Other popular recreation in the area include white water rafting, kayaking, tubing and fishing on the French Broad River.
Facilities
The campground offers 18 rustic campsites that are designed for passenger car and tent camping. Accessories include picnic tables, tent pads, lantern posts and campfire rings with grills. There are potable water sites located throughout the campground. As of 2023, Restroom building is closed and porta-johns are available.
Natural Features
Rocky Bluff Campground located near Spring Creek, a North Carolina Mountain Heritage Trout Water . Winding it's way through deciduous oak forests, stocked with Brook, Brown and Rainbow trout, this creek is touted as a trout angler's paradise, making Rocky Bluff a perfect destination for your fishing camp.
Nearby Attractions
Hot Springs has been a well-known relaxation destination for centuries. The natural hot springs are a main draw for the town, along with the abundance of recreation. Visitors can also find several restaurants, art galleries, shopping, live music and festivals here.
What the agency tells you
Rocky Bluff is gated with combination lock and requires a CODE to enter. This code will be provided with your reservation information, please remember to bring it with you!
As of 2023, the restroom building is CLOSED. Porta-johns are available.
There are NO walkups available at this site
Everything else this campground posts · 4
This campground is located in black bear habitat and have been observed in the vicinity. Please keep all food in bear proof containers or stored inside a locked, hard-sided vehicle. Please secure trash inside provided receptacles and remove all food from area after eating.
Cell service is limited in this area. Texting may be a possibility.
Generators may be used on site between the hours of 10am and 10pm only.
Click Here to learn more about the National Forests in North Carolina.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 17
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 55 ft
- Paved pads
- 5 of 17
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Flush Toilets
- FLUSH TOILETS on 2 of 17 campsite records
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…campfire rings with grills. There are potable water sites located throughout the campground. As of…”
Around the campground
- On the water
- Hot springs, River, Creek
- Night sky · 22nd darkest of 84 in NC
- Bortle 4
- Fall color · reported 3 days ago, 32 km away
- Patchy color
Nothing to book until it reopensread 16:49 UTC
recreation.gov lists every site closed this weekend
Every one of the next thirty nights is in recreation.gov’s record and not one site is being offered on any of them. That’s a campground closed or not yet released for booking, not a sold-out one.
Tell me when it reopens
Watch for it to come back
One email when the agency reopens it, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We check the agency’s own record once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time it stops saying closed.
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.
Every line of the receipt · 10
What you actually pay
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 · 4
Why this page can’t say why
recreation.gov lists every site at Rocky Bluff Campground closed this Friday and Saturday night. The U.S. Forest Service has published no closure notice we hold, so this page can’t say why, and it won’t fill the gap with a guess. A closed night isn’t a sold-out one: the reservations its record still carries were taken before the sites were closed.
There’s no notice to quote and no reason to argue with, so this page offers you the watch and the list below, and no letter.
Open within 60 miles · 4
The agency’s own word that these are open, not our reading of a season.
- North Mills RiverPisgah National Forest · 33 mi · 29 sites
- Smokemont CampgroundGreat Smoky Mountains National Park · 34 mi · 142 sites
- Briar Bottom Group CampgroundPisgah National Forest · 36 mi · 6 sites
- Black Mountain CampgroundPisgah National Forest · 36 mi · 41 sites
recreation.gov availability, read 16:49 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
17 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 17 mapped sitesAll 17 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. 17 of the 17 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.
| A | 1 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | 72 ft | 171 ft | $15 |
| A | 10 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 104 ft | 266 ft | $15 |
| A | 11 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 52 ft | 307 ft | $15 |
| A | 12 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 37 ft | 321 ft | $15 |
| A | 13 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 37 ft | 304 ft | $15 |
| A | 14 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 43 ft | 297 ft | $15 |
| A | 15 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 51 ft | 310 ft | $15 |
| A | 16 | standard nonelectric | 15 ft | 59 ft | 270 ft | $15 |
| A | 17 | standard nonelectric | 15 ft | 59 ft | 213 ft | $15 |
| A | 19 | standard nonelectric | 38 ft | 95 ft | 68 ft | $15 |
| A | 2 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 69 ft | 191 ft | $15 |
| A | 3 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 69 ft | 184 ft | $15 |
| A | 4 | standard nonelectric | 22 ft | 88 ft | 117 ft | $15 |
| A | 5 | standard nonelectric | 55 ft | 85 ft | 70 ft | $15 |
| A | 6 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 85 ft | 78 ft | $15 |
| A | 8 | standard nonelectric | 18 ft | 50 ft | 23 ft | $15 |
| A | 9 | standard nonelectric | 18 ft | 50 ft | 73 ft | $15 |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Paint Creek CampgroundCherokee National Forest · 8.0 mi
Houston ValleyCherokee National Forest · 8.9 mi
Harmon Den CampgroundPisgah National Forest · 10 mi
Big Creek Horse CampGreat Smoky Mountains National Park · 16 mi
Big Creek Group CampGreat Smoky Mountains National Park · 17 miFrom Asheville (40 miles): Take U.S. 19/23 N to U.S. 25/70 NW toward Marshall and Hot Springs for about 30 miles. At junction of U.S. 25/70 and NC 208, take a left and continue on U.S. 25/70 to Hot Springs. From Hot Springs take NC 209 for 3 miles. Rocky Bluff Campground is on the left.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Hot Springs, NC
Typical weather
Typical October night 47°F, day 72°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
What threatens this place
You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.
Who answers for this land
Rocky Bluff 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 →