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Pond Mountain Game Land camping area #1
Dispersed · North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission · NC · 36.57198, -81.65156
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North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission lists this site. Someone from the agency inventoried it, so it is a real camp — not a spot we guessed at. What changes is conditions — roads, gates, closures, fire rules. Check those with the unit before you commit to the drive.
Designated camping area mapped by NCWRC on Pond Mountain Game Land (Ashe County). Seasonal: unless this game land's own rule says otherwise, NC game-land camping is only open Sep 1 - end of Feb and Mar 31 - May 31. A hunting, fishing or trapping licence is required to camp here if you are 16 or older. 14 days max in any 30-day period.
Can I go now? — Pond Mountain Game Land camping area #1 · North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission · NC
Open today Season Sep 1 – Feb 28. Closes after Feb 28. The record adds conditions — read it.
North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission record: “Camping on posted camping areas is allowed from September 1 through the last day of February and from March 31 through May 31 unless otherwise specified in rules of this Subchapter.” Read against the calendar on 2026-09-22; with JavaScript your browser re-checks it against today.
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Weather outlook — at Pond Mountain Game Land camping area #1
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Fire & smoke — around Pond Mountain Game Land camping area #1NIFC · AirNow
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Everything you need — measured from Pond Mountain Game Land camping area #1 · North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission · NC
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- FFuel4 mi
- GGrocery4 mi
- @Mail5 mi
- OOutfitter9 mi
- LLaundry9 mi
- HHardware11 mi
- MMechanic11 mi
- EVEV fast charger11 mi
- +Urgent care14 mi
- RxPharmacy15 mi
- ShShower18 mi
- DDump19 mi
- WWater23 mi
- AAir-up26 mi
- PPropane34 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is a real 23-mi drive, 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 — Pond Mountain Game Land camping area #1
Land
North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission
Ground slope
12.4% · noticeable
Coordinates
36.57198, -81.65156
Nearby & resupply — around Pond Mountain Game Land camping area #1 · North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission · NC (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureBig Laurel Creek · ~0.6 mi · USGS: perennial stream
- Nearest townDamascus · ~8.7 mi
- Rail & highwaynone mapped within 10 mi
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelWhitetop Food and Gas · ~4.1 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump station~18.7 mi
- GroceriesRailroad Market & Cafe · ~4.1 mi
- PharmacyRite Aid · ~15.0 mi
- Hospital / clinicAshe County Health Department · ~14.4 mi
- HardwareMuse Hardware · ~10.8 mi
EV charging — from Pond Mountain Game Land camping area #1 · North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission · NC — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger11.1 mi straight-line SW — GPM INVESTMENTS 3416 DC 2, Mountain City, TN · ChargePoint Network · CCS, NACS (Tesla) · 1 fast port listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: Mon: 12:00am-11:59pm; Tue: 12:00am-11:59pm; Wed: 12:00am-11:59pm; Thu: 12:00am-11:59pm; Fri: 12:00am-11:59pm; Sat: 12:00am-11:59pm; Sun: 12:00am-11:59pm · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach11 within 25 mi · 39 within 50 · 186 within 100 · 423 within 150
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO11.1 mi — GPM INVESTMENTS 3416 DC 1, Mountain City
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)10.9 mi — Mountain City Town Hall (at a municipal building) · EVMATCH · J1772 · 2 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2023-12-13 · 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 449919 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Pond Mountain Game Land camping area #1 · North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission · NC — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
Coming out here — Pond Mountain Game Land camping area #1 · North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission · NC
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Big Laurel Creek as a perennial stream, ~0.6 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 12.4% — 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.
- 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.
- 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 Pond Mountain Game Land camping area #1 elsewhere
Other camps near Pond Mountain Game Land camping area #1
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
Who holds the land at Pond Mountain Game Land camping area #1
USGS’s Protected Areas Database (PAD-US 4.1, queried 2026-09-23) lists the ground at this pin as Pond Mountain Game Land, for which PAD-US names no manager; it records the owner as a state fish and wildlife agency. That names who holds the land — it is not a statement that camping is permitted here.
How we know this — Pond Mountain Game Land camping area #1
Open season
Camping on posted camping areas is allowed from September 1 through the last day of February and from March 31 through May 31 unless otherwise specified in rules of this Subchapter.
Stay limit
14 nights (14 days within any 30-day period)
Permit
A hunting, fishing, trapping or Game Lands License is required for individuals age 16 or older to camp on game lands in areas posted for camping except when camping within 100 yards of the Roanoke River on the state-owned portion of the Roanoke River Wetlands Game Land, within 100 yards of the Neuse River on that portion of the game land west of NC-43, and in posted areas along the Mountains-to-Sea Trail on Butner-Falls of Neuse Game Land.
Area rules
No person shall camp on a game land except on an area posted by the landowner for camping. After 14 consecutive days of camping, personal belongings shall be removed from the game land.
Source
public land records
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
COORDINATE: NCWRC "Game Land Access" ArcGIS feature service, layer 0 "Camping Areas" (service description: "Parking, camping areas, hunting blinds and public shooting ranges associated with NCWRC-managed Game Lands"), OBJECTID=168, TYPE=camping, queried 2026-08-17 -- https://services1.arcgis.com/YfqBAUM5nWR3yhGP/arcgis/rest/services/Game_Land_Access/FeatureServer/0 . This is an agency map record, NOT a visit -- nobody has been here for us.
GAME LAND: joined to NCWRC layer "Game Lands - detail" (https://services1.arcgis.com/YfqBAUM5nWR3yhGP/arcgis/rest/services/gamelands_detail/FeatureServer/22) by spatial intersect within 50 m -- GML_HAB="Pond Mountain", landowner GML_OWN="NC Wildlife Resources Commission", county=Ashe, hunting designation GML_DESIG="Seven-days-per-week".
LEGAL BASIS -- 15A NCAC 10D .0102(i) "Camping" (official NC Administrative Code PDF, read 2026-08-17, http://reports.oah.state.nc.us/ncac/title%2015a%20-%20environmental%20quality/chapter%2010%20-%20wildlife%20resources%20and%20water%20safety/subchapter%20d/15a%20ncac%2010d%20.0102.pdf): "(1) No person shall camp on a game land except on an area posted by the landowner for camping. (2) Camping on posted camping areas is allowed from September 1 through the last day of February and from March 31 through May 31 unless otherwise specified in rules of this Subchapter. (3) On game lands owned by the State of North Carolina, where the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission is the primary custodian, the maximum period of consecutive overnight camping at a designated camping area is 14 days within any 30-day period, unless otherwise specified in rules of this Subchapter. After 14 consecutive days of camping, personal belongings shall be removed from the game land. (4) A hunting, fishing, trapping or Game Lands License is required for individuals age 16 or older to camp on game lands in areas posted for camping except when camping within 100 yards of the Roanoke River on the state-owned portion of the Roanoke River Wetlands Game Land, within 100 yards of the Neuse River on that portion of the game land west of NC-43, and in posted areas along the Mountains-to-Sea Trail on Butner-Falls of Neuse Game Land." READ THAT SEASON WINDOW BEFORE YOU DRIVE: unless the game land's own rule says otherwise, NC game-land camping is CLOSED roughly March 1-30 and June 1 - August 31. NO PER-NIGHT CAMPING FEE is stated in any rule we read, but the licence in (4) is a real cost -- see LICENCE below.
CAVEAT: 15A NCAC 10D .0261, the codified rule for Pond Mountain Game Land (http://reports.oah.state.nc.us/ncac/title%2015a%20-%20environmental%20quality/chapter%2010%20-%20wildlife%20resources%20and%20water%20safety/subchapter%20d/15a%20ncac%2010d%20.0261.pdf, read 2026-08-17), is SILENT on camping -- it contains no camping clause at all. The legal basis for camping here is therefore only the general rule .0102(i)(1) "posted by the landowner for camping", and this GIS point is NCWRC's own record of such an area. Treat as lower confidence than the game lands whose rule names camping.
LICENCE: we could not find a standalone "Game Lands License" product on NCWRC's current fee tables; NCWRC's authorised digest says "The use of game lands is now included with most annual and lifetime hunting, fishing, and trapping licenses" (https://www.eregulations.com/northcarolina/hunting/general-game-lands-regulations and https://www.eregulations.com/northcarolina/hunting/hunting-trapping-licenses, read 2026-08-17). Cheapest licence we saw that satisfies .0102(i)(4) is the 10-day inland fishing licence, $12 resident / $29 non-resident; annual inland fishing is $32 resident / $56 non-resident (https://www.eregulations.com/northcarolina/fishing/fishing-licenses, read 2026-08-17). PRICES NOT RE-VERIFIED AGAINST THE STATE LICENCE PORTAL -- confirm before relying on them.
WATER: NCWRC states nothing about water at these points. water is NULL. No natural water anywhere near these sites is claimed potable.
FACILITIES: NCWRC publishes no per-site facilities for this layer. Table, fire ring, toilet and surface are UNKNOWN and none is claimed.
NEAREST TOWN: Lansing, 9.3 mi -- straight-line distance to the centroid of the Census place/CDP polygon, NOT road miles (US Census TIGERweb Places_CouSub_ConCity_SubMCD, state FIPS 37, queried 2026-08-17). | auto:agency-trust 2026-08-18: state agency GIS record with a source URL and coordinates, confidence not low. Fee value is the agency's own, not field-checked. Not field-verified -- confirm access, road conditions and fire rules before you go.
Season
Read from the agency's own season / closure text in this record (data/conditions.py) and checked against the calendar. The words we read are printed under the verdict at the top of the page.
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 Pond Mountain Game Land camping area #1
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
- 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 — Pond Mountain Game Land camping area #1
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