★ Field-verified · Dave's ownUSFSFeeRoad season: open (MVUM)
Buncombe County
Drive-up · U.S. Forest Service · Buncombe County, NC · 35.48661, -82.62701
Ask an AI about this campsiteOpens Grok already loaded with this site. It reads the same records this page is built from, and links whatever it tells you.
Ask about this camp →Dave's been here. A spot from Dave's own travels on U.S. Forest Service land — a fee site. Conditions still change, so confirm access, stay limits and fire rules before you go.
National Forest Campground near Asheville, North Carolina. Nice sites. Good cell service. Enough room for one or two vehicles per site. Hot showers, heated bathrooms, running water, fire rings, picnic tables, flat gravel, and paved loops. A great place to stay near town. Fee campground but discounted if you have the Annual Parks Pass. Open year round. Lovely wooded setting. Recommended.
A night on record
Dave slept here on 9 January 2020. No agency publishes a season for this site itself (the road season below is the road's), so that night is the only season evidence we have — what the site was then, not a forecast for this year. The road season below, the MVUM's current dates for the nearest mapped road, does not include 9 January 2020. We do not know why; the map may have changed since.
Nearest road on the Forest Service MVUM — Buncombe County · National Forests in North Carolina · NC
The nearest road on the Forest Service MVUM is FR 481D (Big John Loop), 10 ft from the pin. The MVUM lists it as asphalt surface and maintenance level 5 – high degree of user comfort.
Road season: open (MVUM) The MVUM lists FR 481D (Big John Loop), 10 ft from the pin, open to passenger vehicles Apr 1 – Oct 31. That season ends after Oct 31.
MVUM record for FR 481D (Big John Loop): “04/01-10/31” Read against the calendar on 2026-09-22; with JavaScript your browser re-checks it against today.
From the Forest Service's own Motor Vehicle Use Map roads layer (EDW, Clearinghouse refresh Aug 30, 2026), straight-line from the pin to the nearest mapped segment. The nearest segment is not necessarily the way in, a maintenance level is the agency's class and not a report on today, and a road's season is the road's — it is not a campground order. What the levels mean → What an MVUM is →
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at Buncombe County
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 2,243 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Buncombe CountyNIFC · AirNow
Checking active fires & air quality…
Active wildfires from NIFC (within ~50 mi); air quality from AirNow. Always confirm current fire restrictions with the managing office before you go.
Everything you need — measured from Buncombe County · National Forests in North Carolina · NC
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- DDump0 mi
- FFuel3 mi
- GGrocery3 mi
- RxPharmacy3 mi
- +Urgent care3 mi
- MMechanic3 mi
- LLaundry3 mi
- OOutfitter3 mi
- HHardware3 mi
- EVEV fast charger3 mi
- @Mail4 mi
- WWater6 mi
- ShShower9 mi
- AAir-up13 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is basically at camp, fuel & food sit about 3 mi out.
Not within 60 mi: Propane. Plan those before you head up.
One dot per need — the nearest of each kind, straight-line from camp. Places from OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors); the EV fast charger from the US DOE station locator. Open in Google Maps ↗
The site — Buncombe County
Access
Drive-up
Land
U.S. Forest Service
Elevation
2,243 ft
Ground slope
11.1% · noticeable
Nearest rail line
~4.0 mi · other track
Nearest highway
~2.9 mi · US Hwy 74
County
Buncombe County, NC
Coordinates
35.48661, -82.62701
Cost
Fee
Nearby & resupply — around Buncombe County · National Forests in North Carolina · NC (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureLedford Branch · ~0.1 mi · USGS: stream, no flow class
- Nearest townBent Creek · ~1.9 mi
- Nearest rail line~4.0 mi · other track
- Nearest highway~2.9 mi · US Hwy 74
- Drinking waterDrinking water · ~5.6 mi
- FuelHot Spot · ~2.7 mi
- Propane / LPGFreeman Gas Waynesville Office · ~14.8 mi
- Dump stationRV Dump · ~0.2 mi
- GroceriesIngles · ~3.3 mi
- PharmacyPinnacle Apothecary · ~2.9 mi
- Hospital / clinicSpecialized Physical Therapy · ~4.3 mi
- HardwareDirect Tools Factory Outlet · ~3.2 mi
From the field — what Dave saw, in person
Cell service
Had a signal
Getting there
Any vehicle managed it
Fire ring
Yes
Toilet on site
Yes
Tent friendly
Yes
Verdict
Recommended
EV charging — from Buncombe County · National Forests in North Carolina · NC — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger3.3 mi straight-line NE — Asheville, NC (at a public site) · RIVIAN_ADVENTURE · CCS · 6 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach24 within 25 mi · 67 within 50 · 237 within 100 · 564 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)3.3 mi — Asheville, NC - Tesla Supercharger, Asheville
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO5.2 mi — GPM INVESTMENTS 6050 DC2, Asheville
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)2.6 mi — SCB ARDEN PINES · ChargePoint Network · J1772 · 2 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily
- Pricing at the fast chargernot listed
- Power (kW)not listed by AFDC — “DC fast” spans roughly 24 to 350 kW, so ask the network.
- Read this honestlyStraight-line miles, like every distance on this site. Roads run longer than this, and you have to get back. We know where a charger is listed. We don’t know if it works today, how fast it is, or the road miles. Check the network before you commit.
Snapshot 2026-09-16 · AFDC record 397774 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Buncombe County · National Forests in North Carolina · NC — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Highway rest areaBuncombe County Rest Area, EBL · ~6.9 mi SE
- Highway rest areaBuncombe County Rest Area, WBL · ~6.9 mi SE
- RestroomBGAP MP 407.7 B243 Pisgah PA CS · ~8.7 mi SW · NPS
- RestroomBGAP MP 408.65 B245 Pisgah Loop D CS · ~9.1 mi SW · NPS
Coming out here — Buncombe County · National Forests in North Carolina · NC
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Ledford Branch as a stream (no flow class in the record), ~0.1 mi from the pin (National Hydrography Dataset, data refreshed October 2022). The record carries no flow class for it. Nobody has checked it for you. Filter or boil anything you drink.
- Ground slope around the pin: about 11.1% — noticeable. Measured on USGS's 3DEP elevation model (1 m data here), sampled every 10 metres around the point. That is the hillside, not the ground under your wheels — a graded pullout or a bench a few metres across is too small to show up at that spacing, and nobody has checked this one for you.
- Rail line mapped ~4.0 mi from the pin — the national rail atlas classes it as other track. The nearest track the atlas classes as a main line is ~4.4 mi from the pin. That is the FRA/BTS North American Rail Network (data updated Jul 21, 2026), which records that a line is there and what class of track it is. Whether anything runs on it, how often, and at what hour, it does not say, and nobody has checked this one for you.
- US Hwy 74 is mapped ~2.9 mi from the pin. Straight-line, from the Census's TIGER/Line primary roads (TIGER/Line 2025, released Oct 2025) — the divided, limited-access highways, which is why a state expressway or a two-lane US route near this camp would not appear here.
- Power: Dave carries his own — batteries or solar. A generator will run your rig and it is also the thing everybody camped near you can hear.
- Getting online: Dave recommends Starlink. He has had it since SpaceX introduced it, used it for four years living on the road, and it delivers as promised — several hundred nights out, and he can count on one hand the places he could not connect. The cable on his unit runs 150 feet, which is usually all it takes to find enough sky. Starlink → Referral link — Starlink pays Dave $100 in cash if you sign up through it, and that money funds this site and the next trip. It costs you nothing and does not change the recommendation.
Open Buncombe County elsewhere
Other camps near Buncombe County
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Lake Powhatan Campground~0.3 mi · fee
- Wash Creek Roadside Campsites~3.9 mi
- Wash Creek Horse Camp~4.1 mi · fee
- Hendersonville Reservoir Rd Roadside Campsites~4.6 mi
The unit that manages Buncombe County
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Buncombe County are set by National Forests in North Carolina, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
How we know this — Buncombe County
Source
Dave's own travels
Confidence
Researched — The record is detailed and internally consistent, and the coordinates land where the managing agency says this site is.
How it was placed
FIELD VERIFIED by Dave Lalande -- he has stood on this site. Coordinates are his own GPX track point, not a geocode. County and state confirmed against the FCC Census Block API (Buncombe County, NC). Everything under 'From the field' is a direct observation; nothing here is inferred from a land record.
A night on record
Dave's own GPS diary, 2017–2020: the date of the waypoint he saved here. The timestamp is UTC, so an entry saved in the evening carries the next morning's date. An observation of one night, never a forecast.
Nearest MVUM road
US Forest Service Motor Vehicle Use Map roads layer (EDW_MVUM_01, layer 1), Clearinghouse refresh Aug 30, 2026. Straight-line distance from the pin to the nearest mapped segment within 1 mi; surface type, maintenance level and open dates are the agency's own values for that segment, expanded from its codes and otherwise unedited. Nothing here says which road reaches the site.
EV chargers
US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center station locator, snapshot 2026-09-16. Straight-line miles to the nearest public, open, unrestricted station; restricted and planned units are shown but never counted.
Field check
Verified on the ground. Dave has stood on this one. He camped here on 9 January 2020. Conditions still change — confirm before you commit.
What we don’t know about Buncombe County
A land record can put you within a few meters of a spot. It cannot tell you any of this — so check it yourself, and treat anything below as the open question it is.
- Whether that MVUM road is the way in, and the last stretch beyond it
- Whether the site itself closes on its own schedule — only the road's season is on record
- How many rigs actually fit
- Current fire restrictions
- Whether any water here is drinkable
- Shade & wind exposure
- Noise and who else shows up
- Whether a listed EV charger works today, or the road miles to it
Before you go — Buncombe County
Finding water out here →What “dispersed” means here →Reading a forest MVUM →Camping with a dog →All field notes →