Agency-listedUSFSFree
Commissary Hill Backcountry Campsite
Hike-in · U.S. Forest Service · NC · 35.75441, -82.25556
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 →U.S. Forest Service lists this site. On most of their ground you can camp away from developed sites pretty much anywhere — so treat this as a known-good spot, not the only one allowed. The unit sets stay limits and how far off road and water you must be. What changes is conditions — roads, gates, closures, fire rules. Check those with the unit before you commit to the drive.
Nearest road on the Forest Service MVUM — Commissary Hill Backcountry Campsite · National Forests in North Carolina · NC
No MVUM road within 1 mi of the pin; access may be a county road or unmapped.
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 →
What the record says about the site — Commissary Hill Backcountry Campsite · National Forests in North Carolina · NC
- First come, first served
- Tent camping
- No trailers or RVs
- Listed as a backcountry site
From the OpenStreetMap contributors listing for this site — their words, not our visit. Records go stale; treat it as a starting point and confirm anything your trip depends on.
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at Commissary Hill Backcountry Campsite
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 5,766 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Commissary Hill Backcountry CampsiteNIFC · 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 Commissary Hill Backcountry Campsite · 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
- WWater1 mi
- GGrocery4 mi
- FFuel5 mi
- OOutfitter6 mi
- +Urgent care7 mi
- @Mail8 mi
- HHardware10 mi
- MMechanic10 mi
- ShShower10 mi
- EVEV fast charger10 mi
- RxPharmacy11 mi
- LLaundry11 mi
- DDump28 mi
- AAir-up36 mi
- PPropane48 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is basically at camp, fuel & food sit about 4 mi out.
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 — Commissary Hill Backcountry Campsite
Access
Hike-in
Land
U.S. Forest Service
Elevation
5,766 ft
Ground slope
6.9% · gentle
Nearest rail line
~6.3 mi · main line
Nearest highway
~9.0 mi · Interstate 40
State
NC
Coordinates
35.75441, -82.25556
Cost
Free · dispersed public land, no fee in any source
Getting in
Park at nearest parking · ~0.95 mi in a straight line (trail will be longer)
Nearby & resupply — around Commissary Hill Backcountry Campsite · National Forests in North Carolina · NC (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureCamp Creek · ~0.4 mi · USGS: perennial stream
- Also mapped (OSM)Lower Creek (stream) · mapped within 1.6 mi
- Nearest townEskota · ~4.1 mi
- Nearest rail line~6.3 mi · main line
- Nearest highway~9.0 mi · Interstate 40
- Drinking waterDrinking water · ~0.9 mi
- FuelFuel · ~4.8 mi
- Propane / LPGSuburban Propane · ~15.9 mi
- Dump stationRV Dump · ~28.1 mi
- GroceriesB & B Grocery · ~4.8 mi
- PharmacyWalgreens · ~10.7 mi
- Hospital / clinicNovant Health Urgent Care · ~10.3 mi
- HardwareGibbs Hardware · ~9.6 mi
EV charging — from Commissary Hill Backcountry Campsite · National Forests in North Carolina · NC — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger9.6 mi straight-line SE — Catawba Vale Collaborative LLC, Old Fort, NC · EV Connect · CHAdeMO, CCS · 2 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach15 within 25 mi · 54 within 50 · 269 within 100 · 445 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)10.2 mi — Old Fort, NC - Tesla Supercharger, Old Fort
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)7.9 mi — Montreat College (at a college campus) · Non-Networked · J1772 · 1 Level 2 port listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2025-01-13 · 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 332277 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Commissary Hill Backcountry Campsite · National Forests in North Carolina · NC — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- RestroomGgap Mp 340.35 B434 Cf Pa Cs · ~6.9 mi NE · NPS
- RestroomGGAP MP 339.45 B132 CF CG Loop C (Tent) CS · ~7.3 mi NE · NPS
- RestroomGGAP MP 339.45 B129 CF CG Loop B (Tent) CS · ~7.4 mi NE · NPS
- RestroomGGAP MP 339.45 B130 CF CG Loop A (RV/Trailer) CS · ~7.4 mi NE · NPS
Coming out here — Commissary Hill Backcountry Campsite · National Forests in North Carolina · NC
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Camp Creek as a perennial stream, ~0.4 mi from the pin (National Hydrography Dataset, data refreshed October 2022). Mapped as perennial is not the same as flowing today. Nobody has checked it for you. Filter or boil anything you drink.
- Ground slope around the pin: about 6.9% — gentle. 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 ~6.3 mi from the pin — the national rail atlas classes it as a main line. 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.
- Interstate 40 is mapped ~9.0 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 Commissary Hill Backcountry Campsite elsewhere
Other camps near Commissary Hill Backcountry Campsite
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Briar Bottom Group Camp~1.6 mi · fee
- Briar Bottom Campground~1.8 mi
- Black Mountain Campground~1.9 mi · fee
- Deep Gap Backcountry Campsite~3.9 mi
The unit that manages Commissary Hill Backcountry Campsite
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Commissary Hill Backcountry Campsite are set by National Forests in North Carolina, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
How we know this — Commissary Hill Backcountry Campsite
Source
OpenStreetMap contributors
Confidence
Likely — The record is good enough to put a pin on, but thin in places. Treat the details as a starting point, not gospel.
How it was placed
auto: hike (road/trail right there)
Site details
The OpenStreetMap contributors listing's own fields for this site (site type, whether tents or trailers fit, capacity, toilet, water, campfires, reservations). Printed as the record states them, unchecked by us, and never used to make a cost claim -- the cost verdict above is decided separately and audited before every deploy.
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
On the agency's books. The land manager inventoried this site, so its existence is not in question — current conditions are. Nobody from here has camped it recently.
What we don’t know about Commissary Hill Backcountry Campsite
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.
- Road surface & last-mile access
- How many rigs actually fit
- Cell coverage by carrier
- Seasonal & winter access
- 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 — Commissary Hill Backcountry Campsite
Finding water out here →What “dispersed” means here →Reading a forest MVUM →Reading the aerial →All field notes →