This past weekend, we camped at Lake Powhatan which is located in the Bent Creek area in the Pisgah National Forest.
This is a beautiful area. There are tons of biking and hiking trails to keep the family busy!
We tent camped on Hard Times Loop, site 91 which was a really good location. The woods were behind us as you can see in the picture below which offered us more privacy and we were close to the restrooms which is a plus with kids.
Each site is shaded or partial shaded and provide a picnic table, tent pad, lantern post and campfire rings with grills. I felt that we has plenty of space at our site. The kids had plenty of room to run around and get dirty from head to toe, we had room for our bikes.
There were two spots that had hosts. This was a very quiet campground which we very much enjoyed.
The bathrooms and showers were very clean and well lit. While they are single person, rarely did we experience a line. The only time we had to wait was in the PM and most people were probably taking one last potty break before bed (which is what we did). I hate that I forgot to snap a picture to show you just how spotless they were.
They do have what is called a Lake area but to us it was more like a huge pond, but it was fun for the kids nonetheless. There are geese (which are rather hard to avoid when water is involved) but they also have a pier that you can fish off of. The lake is stocked with trout. Fishing poles were not on the check-off list so those we did forget them, but will remember them next time.
Lake Powhatan is open from March – November with a quiet time from 10pm – 7am which is very common with most campgrounds. You can make reservations (which is what we did) but they do offer some first come/first serve sites. I’m not brave enough to chance a first come/first serve with kids.
If you don’t camp, you can also enjoy the area with a day visit for a picnic, an easy one-mile hike around the lake, or pier fishing in the trout-stocked lake. There is a small fee for non-campers to access the area, but off hand I’m not 100% sure what that is..
Camping costs at Lake Powhatan campsites are $22/site with 98 sites available. The maximum number of vehicles / people per site are 2 vehicles / 8 persons. There is a $5 for each additional vehicle. Pets are welcome but they must remain on a leash.
All in all we had a great weekend and will definitely be revisiting Lake Powhatan when we are hitting the trails in the Bent Creek area.
Open: March-November
97 mostly shaded spots
Hot showers & flush toilets
Firewood & ice available for purchase
Day-use passes available for purchase
Activities that can be found close by:
NC Arboretum
Cradle of the Forest
Blue Ridge Parkway