Campground rules

Vehicles

Cars, trucks, SUVs, self-contained Class B vans and tents are all welcome. Nothing towed — no travel trailers, fifth wheels or pop-ups. The road and the sites aren’t built for them. Most sites park two vehicles; sites 1, 5 and 6 park three and 7, 14 and 15 have room for one. Speed limit on the property is 7 mph. Stay on the road — no off-roading anywhere on the property. If you need help maneuvering into your site, call us before you try it.

The decks

Please don’t move the decks, or try to. They’re heavy, they sit level on ground that was cleared and prepared for them, and shifting one puts it out of true and tears up the ground underneath. Pitch on them, put a table and chairs on them, use them however you like — just leave them where they are.

Fire

Fires in the provided ring only. Check the Macon County fire ban status before you light anything — bans happen and they are not optional. Never leave a fire unattended. Drown it before bed and before you leave.

Firewood

On-property firewood only. Do not bring wood from home. Firewood from other places moves tree disease and invasive insects, and it has already wiped out forests elsewhere in this state. Buy it here from Carman, who manages the campground and lives on site — how to pay.

Quiet hours

11pm to sunrise. No amplified music at any hour, quiet hours or not, and no generators running during quiet hours. Sound carries a long way on a mountainside.

Alcohol

Fine to bring, fine to drink. What isn’t fine is what sometimes follows — shouting, wandering into someone else’s site, noise at one in the morning, or anyone drunk enough to be a danger to themselves. There’s no bar to be thrown out of up here, and some of your neighbors brought their kids. Drink like you’re a guest in someone’s yard, because you are.

Wildlife

You’ll share the mountain with deer, turkey, rabbits, dogs and a lot of birds. Please don’t feed or approach any of it.

Black bears live in these mountains and may pass through here. Assume wildlife could come by, and give it no reason to: food, trash and coolers go in your vehicle overnight and when you’re away from your site. Your car is nearby, so it’s easy.

Trash and recycling

Pack in, pack out. There are no bins on the property. There are garbage bags at your site, and more if you need them. Leave your site cleaner than you found it.

It doesn’t have to go home with you, though. The Franklin town garbage and recycling drop-off is under five minutes from the gate:
3030 Old Murphy Rd, Franklin, NC 28734

Or skip that drive: buy garbage bag pickup ($10) and we’ll haul it out for you. That buys one collection of up to four bags — two bags today and two tomorrow is two purchases. You can buy it any day of your stay, not only on your way out, so a longer booking can have a collection part-way through. Ask by 4pm and we collect the same day; after that it is the next morning.

Bagged only, and not left out overnight. This is the same rule as the food storage above, for the same reason: four bags sitting out after dark is exactly the invitation we are asking you not to send. Ask before the cutoff and it never comes up — the bags go straight from your site to the truck. If they do have to wait until morning, they wait in your vehicle.

What pickup doesn’t cover is loose garbage, food waste or a mess left behind. Someone has to clean that up, and we’ll charge for it — a minimum of $60. Whether you’ve bought pickup or not, it needs to be bagged and at your site.

Turn-by-turn directions to the drop-off, by landmark, are on the directions page.

Pets

Pets are welcome and must be leashed at all times. This is as much for their sake as anyone’s — deer, turkey, rabbits and the neighbors’ dogs all wander through here, and a loose dog finds every one of them. Clean up after your pet, and don’t leave it unattended at your site.

Arriving and leaving

Check-in from 2:00 pm, check-out by 11:00 am. Arriving after dark is fine — the property road is paved and every site is numbered on its post.

In an emergency

Know your site name and number. If you have to call 911, that number is how responders find you. Look at your site post when you arrive and remember it.