Thunder Rock Campground
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 16:44 UTC
- A night
- $12–$20Across the site types the agency prices
- Sites
- 38All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 9 notices
In the agency’s own words
Thunder Rock Campground is located 1.8 miles northwest of the Ocoee Whitewater Center, just behind TVA Ocoee Powerhouse Number 3. Nestled alongside the Ocoee River, this facility provides 37 regular campsites for popups and RVs less than 20 feet with no elctricity , ONLY site 9 is an electric site for less than 20 feet at 30 amp, and one group campsite. Thunder Rock is a popular destination for both whitewater and trail enthusiasts. Keep reading
Recreation
Trailhead parking is available for the nearby Tanasi trail system, which includes approximately 30 miles of hiking and mountain biking trails. This system can be reached via Thunder Rock Express, Dry Pond Lead, or the Rhododendron Trail. Thunder Rock also provides access to the Benton-McKaye Trail.
Facilities
Picnic tables, grills, and lantern posts are located at each campsite. Water hydrants are located throughout the campground. Bathhouses provide flush toilets and warm showers. The campground host is located at the campground entrance next to the main bathhouse. Thunder Rock Campground Map and Guide Natural Features The Cherokee National Forest is located in eastern Tennessee and stretches from Chattanooga to Bristol along the North Carolina border. The 650,000-acre swath of land is Tennessee's only national forest. It lies in the heart of the Southern Appalachians and is home to more than 20,000 species of plants and animals, as well as many rivers, creeks and lakes.
Nearby Attractions
The nearby Ocoee River put-in and Ocoee Whitewater Center, home of the 1996 Olympic Canoe/Kayak-Slalom Competition, makes this an ideal location for rafters and kayakers alike.
Charges & Cancellations
All sites have a $18.00 cancellation and reservation fee.
What the agency tells you
RV's, trailers, and pop-ups greater than 20 feet in legth are NOT allowed at this faciltiy because of maneuverability restrictions. Only site 9 has electricity.
Campfires are permitted in grills only
Do not leave fires unattended, they will be extinguished
Everything else this campground posts · 6
Pets must be on a leash
Discharging firearms and fireworks is prohibited
No swimming allowed
Alcoholic beverages are prohibited
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 www.dontmovefirewood.org to learn more.
Be Bear Wise: Never leave food out on tables or in the open. Store unattended food in bear-resistant containers, in a vehicle in solid non-pliable material, or suspend food at least ten feet off the ground. Remember to use the bear resistant trash receptacles provided at this facility.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 38 · 4 tent-only, 1 group
- Hookups
- 1 electric
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
Facilities
- Toilets
- Flush Toilets
- “…the campground. Bathhouses provide flush toilets and warm showers. The campground host is located at…”
- Showers
- Yes, the record doesn’t say what kind
- “Bathhouses provide flush toilets and warm showers.”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…posts are located at each campsite. Water hydrants are located throughout the campground. Bathhouses…”
- Camp host
- On site
- recreation.gov lists “Host”
- Stay limit
- 13 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, River, Creek
- Backpacking
- Boating
- Canoeing
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Kayaking
- Mountain biking
- Non-Motorized Boating
- Rafting
- River Trips
- Scenic drives
- Whitewater rafting
Full this Saturdayread 16:44 UTC
How full the weekend is nationally.
1 campground has sites open within 30 miles, read 16:42 UTC. See them
OpenBooked
Every one of the 32 sites on offer is taken this Saturday. 33 are free on Tue, Oct 20. read 16:44 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
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rates for this season, $12–$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.
“All sites have a $18.00 cancellation and reservation fee.” · this campground’s own terms
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 · 1
Sites the agency is offering this Friday and Saturday that nobody has taken, nearest first. read 16:42 UTC
- Morganton PointChattahoochee-Oconee National Forest · 19 mi · 1 of 80 site-nights open
recreation.gov availability, read 16:44 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
38 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 38 mapped sitesAll 38 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. 38 of the 38 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.
| THUNDER ROCK CAMPGROUND | 001 | tent only nonelectric | 54 ft | 27 ftLittle Gassaway Creek | $12 | |
| THUNDER ROCK CAMPGROUND | 002 | tent only nonelectric | 46 ft | 35 ft | $12 | |
| THUNDER ROCK CAMPGROUND | 003 | tent only nonelectric | 46 ft | 60 ft | $12 | |
| THUNDER ROCK CAMPGROUND | 009 | standard electric | 30 amp | 77 ft | 76 ft | $20 |
| THUNDER ROCK CAMPGROUND | 010 | standard nonelectric | 51 ft | 44 ft | $12 | |
| THUNDER ROCK CAMPGROUND | 011 | standard nonelectric | 51 ft | 33 ft | $12 | |
| THUNDER ROCK CAMPGROUND | 012 | standard nonelectric | 63 ft | under 10 ft | $12 | |
| THUNDER ROCK CAMPGROUND | 013 | standard nonelectric | 47 ft | 88 ft | $12 | |
| THUNDER ROCK CAMPGROUND | 014 | standard nonelectric | 92 ft | under 10 ft | $12 | |
| THUNDER ROCK CAMPGROUND | 015 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 30 ft | $12 | |
| THUNDER ROCK CAMPGROUND | 016 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 43 ft | $12 | |
| THUNDER ROCK CAMPGROUND | 017 | standard nonelectric | 47 ft | 85 ft | $12 | |
| THUNDER ROCK CAMPGROUND | 018 | standard nonelectric | 47 ft | 55 ft | $12 | |
| THUNDER ROCK CAMPGROUND | 019 | standard nonelectric | 48 ft | 40 ft | $12 | |
| THUNDER ROCK CAMPGROUND | 020 | standard nonelectric | 48 ft | 52 ft | $12 | |
| THUNDER ROCK CAMPGROUND | 021 | standard nonelectric | 48 ft | 72 ft | $12 | |
| THUNDER ROCK CAMPGROUND | 022 | standard nonelectric | 48 ft | 94 ft | $12 | |
| THUNDER ROCK CAMPGROUND | 023 | standard nonelectric | 49 ft | 141 ft | $12 | |
| THUNDER ROCK CAMPGROUND | 024 | standard nonelectric | 80 ft | 218 ft | $12 | |
| THUNDER ROCK CAMPGROUND | 025 | standard nonelectric | 67 ft | 251 ft | $12 | |
| THUNDER ROCK CAMPGROUND | 026 | standard nonelectric | 67 ft | 229 ft | $12 | |
| THUNDER ROCK CAMPGROUND | 027 | standard nonelectric | 28 ft | 199 ft | $12 | |
| THUNDER ROCK CAMPGROUND | 028 | standard nonelectric | 28 ft | 198 ft | $12 | |
| THUNDER ROCK CAMPGROUND | 029 | standard nonelectric | 34 ft | 204 ft | $12 | |
| THUNDER ROCK CAMPGROUND | 030 | standard nonelectric | 41 ft | 210 ft | $12 | |
| THUNDER ROCK CAMPGROUND | 031 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 211 ft | $12 | |
| THUNDER ROCK CAMPGROUND | 032 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 210 ft | $12 | |
| THUNDER ROCK CAMPGROUND | 033 | standard nonelectric | 87 ft | 121 ft | $12 | |
| THUNDER ROCK CAMPGROUND | 034 | standard nonelectric | 42 ft | 203 ft | $12 | |
| THUNDER ROCK CAMPGROUND | 035 | standard nonelectric | 47 ft | 131 ft | $12 | |
| THUNDER ROCK CAMPGROUND | 036 | standard nonelectric | 56 ft | 200 ft | $12 | |
| THUNDER ROCK CAMPGROUND | 037 | standard nonelectric | 60 ft | 197 ft | $12 | |
| THUNDER ROCK CAMPGROUND | 038 | standard nonelectric | 80 ft | 205 ft | $12 | |
| THUNDER ROCK CAMPGROUND | 039 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 188 ft | $12 | |
| THUNDER ROCK CAMPGROUND | 040 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 186 ft | $12 | |
| THUNDER ROCK CAMPGROUND | 041 | standard nonelectric | 41 ft | 182 ft | $12 | |
| THUNDER ROCK CAMPGROUND | 042 | standard nonelectric | 55 ft | 192 ft | $12 | |
| THUNDER ROCK CAMPGROUND | GROUP | group tent only area nonelectric | 87 ft | under 10 ft | $15 |
25 of 38 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Parksville Lake RV CampgroundCherokee National Forest · 5.8 miLost Creek CampgroundCherokee National Forest · 5.9 mi
Chilhowee Group CampCherokee National Forest · 8.8 mi
Chilhowee CampgroundCherokee National Forest · 8.8 miChilhowee Recreation AreaCherokee National Forest · 8.9 miFrom the Ocoee Ranger Station, turn left onto Highway 64 eastbound and travel 10.9 miles to the TVA Ocoee Powerhouse Number 3. Turn right and cross the bridge to reach the campground on the right.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Ducktown, TN
Typical weather
Typical October night 48°F, day 73°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 · 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
Thunder Rock Campground is in Tennessee’s 3rd congressional district. Its representative, Chuck Fleischmann (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 moneyCharles J. "Chuck" FleischmannU.S. Representative · Tennessee’s 3rd district
- Your senator, on the same appropriationBill HagertyU.S. Senator · Tennessee
- Your senator, on the same appropriationMarsha BlackburnU.S. Senator · Tennessee
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 Thunder Rock Campground, Tennessee
Dear Charles J. "Chuck" Fleischmann, I’m a constituent in Tennessee’s 3rd district. I tried to camp at Thunder Rock Campground, Tennessee, and couldn’t. All 38 sites at Thunder Rock Campground are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 32 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked. 1,623 of the 7,647 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Thunder Rock Campground keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Thunder Rock Campground. 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 Thunder Rock Campground (Tennessee) 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 Thunder Rock Campground, Tennessee
Dear Bill Hagerty, I’m a constituent in Tennessee. I tried to camp at Thunder Rock Campground, Tennessee, and couldn’t. All 38 sites at Thunder Rock Campground are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 32 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked. 1,623 of the 7,647 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Thunder Rock Campground keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Thunder Rock Campground. 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 Thunder Rock Campground (Tennessee) 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 Thunder Rock Campground, Tennessee
Dear Marsha Blackburn, I’m a constituent in Tennessee. I tried to camp at Thunder Rock Campground, Tennessee, and couldn’t. All 38 sites at Thunder Rock Campground are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 32 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked. 1,623 of the 7,647 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Thunder Rock Campground keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Thunder Rock Campground. 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 Thunder Rock Campground (Tennessee) via campanac.com