★ Field-verified · Dave's ownPublic land · dispersedFree
Macon County
Drive-up · public land · Macon County, NC · 35.04636, -83.47120
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 public land — free to camp. Conditions still change, so confirm access, stay limits and fire rules before you go.
A forested mountaintop vehicle accessible primitive campsite surrounded by laurels directly on the Appalachian Trail. Expect hikers. Beautiful overlooks and fire tower within walking distance. Enough room for one or two vehicles. Some cell service. Crude fire ring needs some love. Great experience. Recommended.
A night on record
Dave slept here on 29 April 2019. No agency publishes a season for this site, so that night is the only season evidence we have — what the site was then, not a forecast for this year.
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at Macon County
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 4,736 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Macon 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 Macon 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
- FFuel6 mi
- HHardware7 mi
- GGrocery7 mi
- RxPharmacy9 mi
- EVEV fast charger9 mi
- WWater10 mi
- +Urgent care10 mi
- OOutfitter11 mi
- @Mail12 mi
- MMechanic14 mi
- LLaundry18 mi
- DDump20 mi
- ShShower22 mi
- AAir-up50 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water's a short hop out, fuel & food sit about 6 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 — Macon County
Access
Drive-up
Land
public land · dispersed
Elevation
4,736 ft
Ground slope
6.6% · gentle
County
Macon County, NC
Coordinates
35.04636, -83.47120
Cost
Free
Nearby & resupply — around Macon County · National Forests in North Carolina · NC (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureBearpen Creek · ~0.2 mi · USGS: perennial stream
- Also mapped (OSM)Shope Fork (stream) · mapped within 1.6 mi
- Nearest townMcDonald Mill · ~4.1 mi
- Rail & highwaynone mapped within 10 mi
- Drinking waterDrinking water · ~3.7 mi
- FuelShell · ~9.2 mi
- Propane / LPGPropane · ~18.5 mi
- Dump station~19.8 mi
- GroceriesPiggly Wiggly · ~6.9 mi
- PharmacySmart Pharmacy · ~10.0 mi
- Hospital / clinicFranklin VA Clinic · ~10.4 mi
- HardwareAce Hardware · ~6.8 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
No
Tent friendly
Yes
Verdict
Recommended
EV charging — from Macon County · National Forests in North Carolina · NC — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger9.3 mi straight-line NE — Franklin, NC - Tesla Supercharger (at a shopping center) · Tesla · NACS (Tesla) · 12 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-06-18 · hours: 24 hours daily. NACS partner enabled. · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach5 within 25 mi · 30 within 50 · 336 within 100 · 654 within 150
- Nearest listing CCS10.8 mi — Town of Franklin-95 E Main St, Franklin
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO10.8 mi — Town of Franklin-95 E Main St, Franklin
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)8.9 mi — Ingles Market, Franklin, NC (at a grocery store) · Non-Networked · J1772 · 2 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-14 · hours: 24 hours daily
- Also listed, not counted aboveNACS-only Level 2 — Julep Farms - Tesla Destination, Dillard, 6.9 mi · NACS (Tesla) · hours: 24 hours daily. Open to Teslas only. · AFDC lists it “Free”
Level 2, restricted access — Quality Inn Dillard, Dillard, 6.6 mi · J1772 · hours: 24 hours daily; for guest use only · AFDC lists it “$0.40 per kWh” - 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 331818 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Macon County · National Forests in North Carolina · NC — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Highway rest areaMacon County Rest Area · ~6.5 mi NE
- Vault / pit toiletTate Branch Campground · ~7.8 mi SW · USFS
- Portable toiletTallulah River · ~9.2 mi SW · USFS
- RestroomNHC Wayah Bald Vault Privy · ~10.5 mi NW · NPS
Coming out here — Macon County · National Forests in North Carolina · NC
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Bearpen Creek as a perennial stream, ~0.2 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 6.6% — 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.
- No rail line and no interstate or US route is mapped within 10 mi of the pin. Checked against the FRA/BTS North American Rail Network (data updated Jul 21, 2026) and the Census's TIGER/Line primary roads (TIGER/Line 2025, released Oct 2025). Both are national files and both are maps of what is built, not counts of what moves on it.
- Assume no services at all. Most dispersed camping in a national forest has none: no tap, no power, no dump, often no toilet. Everything you need, you bring.
- 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 Macon County elsewhere
Other camps near Macon County
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- A.T. Standing Indian Shelter~0.5 mi
- A.T. Long Branch Shelter~2.2 mi
- Hurricane Creek Horse & Primitive Camp~2.3 mi · fee
- A.T. Carter Gap Shelter~3.4 mi
The unit that manages Macon County
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Macon County are set by National Forests in North Carolina, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
How we know this — Macon 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 (Macon 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.
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 29 April 2019. Conditions still change — confirm before you commit.
What we don’t know about Macon 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.
- How many rigs actually fit
- 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 — Macon County
Finding water out here →Reading a forest MVUM →Stay limits →First-night troubleshooting →All field notes →