Davidson River Campground

Candler, NC  (high 72, low 51)

It rained most of the day and night, so we didn’t do anything fun yesterday.  We spent the day at home and started preparing for our trip south to Florida.  We thought about leaving today, but more rain is expected and we don’t want to have to travel in the rain if we can help it.

During our stay here, we visited a few other campgrounds to see what was available for future visits.  We love this area and plan to come back often.  As much as we’ve seen and done, there is still a lot more to see and do.  Some people have a different travel style.  Some people can spend an afternoon at the Grand Canyon, then go on their way, and feel they’ve “seen” the Grand Canyon.  We’re the type of people that want to be there long enough to really  explore and get to know the area.

We’ve been quite happy staying in the Hominy Valley Campground.  The price is right and we have a nice large site with full hook ups.   There is no “it” factor but since we’ve spent very little time here, it’s been just fine.  We have just used this as a base for our explorations, and are generally out the door in the morning and not home till almost dark.  We’ve put a ton of miles on our new truck and have  now have over 5000 miles on it.  Yikes….we have to slow that down!

 

One nice campground we discovered is Davidson River Campground .  It’s in the beautiful Pisgah Forest, at the base of the mountains at around 2000 foot elevation.  Getting there would be easy for even the largest rv’s. 

It’s a big campground.  I think there are over 160 sites, but most of them do not have electricity.

Our Verizon signal was very spotty.  That would be a big issue for me.  I feel the need for internet so that I can at least keep up with the weather. 

The only loop that has electric sites is the Sycamore loop.  Each loop (I think there are 8)  has at least one full hook up sight (water, sewer and electric) for the camp host.  It would be a nice place to volunteer.

They honor the federal Senior pass to discount the sites.

We determined that the roads leading to the campground are wide enough that we could easily bring our motor home to the campground.  The campground roads were also wide with plenty of clearance for larger rigs.  Not every loop, but many would be fine.

 

The problem appears that the electric loop stays pretty full.  I’m guessing people snag a non-electric site and then wait for someone to leave, and then are first in line to grab one of the limited electric sites, which cannot be reserved.

There was one loop that didn’t allow generators but the others allowed up to 4 hours per day to run your generator.

The sites were long with concrete pads.

They were nicely wooded, but a  satellite signal would be possible in many sites.

You can stay 14 days at a time within a 30 day period from April 1 through October 31.  During the winter months you can stay 30 days.

I’m a little unclear about the fees.  The website shows the sites at $20 or $40 for a double site, before discounts.The park ranger said with the Senior Discount it  would  cost us $10 plus an additional $5 for electricity.    So…either $10 or $15 per night.  Not a bad price either way.

The campground is very nice.  There is a nice river, plenty of hiking trails and big rig friendly.  Most of the sites do not have electricity and I believe you have to carry your own water in.  If you are lucky enough to get a site at the Sycamore loop, you’ll have electricity and water.  If you want to work camp, there are quite a few full hook up sites.

My biggest concern would be the poor Verizon signal.  I really like to have my Droid phone available, at least for weather reports.  I would be uncomfortable without internet.