Sunburst
1Heads up1 fire 35 mi away
- Right now
- Taking bookingsSites offered on 30 of the next 30 nights read 15:47 UTC
- A night
- $25From, per site
- Sites
- 109 on recreation.gov
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 11 notices
In the agency’s own words
This is a relatively small facility with campsites organized into one row. The facility provides picnic tables, tent pads, lantern posts and campfire rings with grills, in addition to restrooms with flush toilets. Campers can purchase firewood on-site.
What the agency tells you
Sunburst campgrpuond is open from March 23-November 15.
Check-in: Anytime after 2pm Check-out: Before 12noon.
Availability is extremely limited during weekends and holidays and it is recommended that visitors reserve campsites ahead of time.
Everything else this campground posts · 8
Pets are allowed on-site. Dogs must be kept on-leash for the duration of your stay.
Limit 2 tents and 2 vehicles per site; $5 additional vehicle fee collected on-site.
Tents must be on the gravel.
Sunburst is located in black bear territory. Visitors are expected to keep all smellable items locked away inside a camper or vehicle whenever they are not on-site. Visitors who do not comply with this rule may be asked to vacate the facility due to an increased risk of public safety.
Campground staff can be found at the managers site from March 23 - November 15. Please call 828-577-4910 for assistance or 911 in the event of an emergency.
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.
Firewood available for purchase on site.
This campground is managed by the Naventure .
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 10
- Hookups
- None
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
Facilities
- Toilets
- Flush Toilets
- FLUSH TOILETS (SEASONAL) on 10 of 10 campsite records
- Drinking water
- Yes
- DRINKING WATER on 10 of 10 campsite records
- Firewood
- Sold here
- Camp host
- On site
- recreation.gov lists “Host”
Around the campground
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Mountain biking
- Scenic drives
- Fall color · reported 3 days ago, 27 km away
- Patchy color
2 of 18 site-nights open this Friday and Saturdayread 15:47 UTC
recreation.gov lists 9 of the 10 campsites the agency files here. The rest aren’t on its booking system, so a reservation won’t get you one.
OpenBooked
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 · 13
What you actually pay
“$5 additional vehicle fee collected on-site.” · the U.S. Forest Service’s own agency notice
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rate for this season, $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 · 6
recreation.gov availability, read 15:47 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
10 sites
All 10 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. 9 of the 10 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| Roadside | 1 | standard nonelectric | $25 |
| Roadside | 10 | standard nonelectric | $25 |
| Roadside | 2 | standard nonelectric | $25 |
| Roadside | 3 | standard nonelectric | $25 |
| Roadside | 4 | standard nonelectric | $25 |
| Roadside | 5 | standard nonelectric | $25 |
| Roadside | 6 | type not stated | |
| Roadside | 7 | standard nonelectric | $25 |
| Roadside | 8 | standard nonelectric | $25 |
| Roadside | 9 | standard nonelectric | $25 |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the phone number
Where it is
Balsam Lake Lodge8.5 mi
Cove Creek Lower Group CampPisgah National Forest · 8.7 mi
Cove Creek Upper Group CampPisgah National Forest · 8.7 miCove Creek Group CampgroundPisgah National Forest · 9.1 mi
Mount Pisgah CampgroundBlue Ridge Parkway · 11 mi
Wolf Ford Horse CampPisgah National Game Refuge · 11 miThe weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Waynesville, NC
Typical weather
Typical October night 41°F, day 67°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
What threatens this place
You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.
Who answers for this land
Sunburst 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 →