Lake Powhatan Campground

I stayed here last month, upon arrival to loop one of the host came immediately to offer help backing in to site. It was literally a hop skip and jump from the loop showers that were kept well and clean. Your very close to NC arboretum which is a must see and can be accessed by trail easily (bonsai tree exhibit is amazing).

One lesson I learned don’t trust what recreation.gov tells you on phone. They do have first come first serve sites that are electric. Had I known not to make a reservation I could have had one of those sites for duration. Recreation.gov told me as long as one of these sites were available I could cancel my reservation and have one of those sites. Not true!!! Although one of these sites was available I was told I could not have it since I already had a reservation. And the check-in staff weren’t very friendly in that regard. It was a complete mess and last minute I had to find another campground, which was very inconvenient!!!!

Stayed here 10/30/19 to 11/4/19. This has been my favorite campground in my travels out East so far. I didn't have a reservation and decided to take my chances with first come first serve on a Wednesday morning. The staff was really helpful in getting me a site, and ended up hooking me up with number 39, a full-hookup site. It didn't seem like they had many first come first serve sites, so I think your best bet, especially if you're coming during a busy time of the year, is to make a reservation.

I will agree with the other reviewer that said the road was pretty narrow. It made it a bit challenging to back in, but the site was nicely angled so it really wasn't too bad. The site itself was great. The RV pad was paved and then the whole area outside it with the picnic table and fire ring were gravel. I only used the restrooms once on my way out and they had flush toilets and were immaculate. I never checked out the showers.

The thing that's so great about this campground is that you're deep in a beautiful North Carolina forest, but at the same time you're only minutes from Asheville. This was the perfect base camp for exploring Asheville and doing some of the hikes off the Blue Ridge Parkway, without being in a crowded RV park. There are also tons of hiking and mountain biking trails right within the park.

The one downside is the poor cell service. I knew it likely wasn't going to be good enough for work before I came, but I ended up not having any data (Verizon) at all. I noticed that if I walked up into some of the other loops I could pick up a tiny bit of LTE signal, but from my site I didn't get any at all. However, it only took about 5-10 minutes to get to a cafe with WiFi to work, so it ended up not being a big deal.

Overall this place was almost the perfect experience for me, except for the poor cell service. And for people that don't work full time from their rig, that's probably not even a factor. I would definitely recommend this campground to anyone wanting to camp in the Asheville area.

I really don’t want to write this review and have more people coming but, this is a great CG with a staff that works hard to keep the place in great shape. My only criticism is that the road on the loop we stayed was a bit narrow and we ended up with a blind-side back in on an up hill site with a very narrow driveway that had ditches on both sides. Other than that the CG was quiet, clean, had lots to do, easy access to the Blue Ridge Parkway, and Asheville. We hope to go back soon.
Cell service is spotty (T-mobile) in the CG but we got 4 channels on our antenna.

I'm trying to convince my husband to still camp here after my girlfriend and I had a great glamping experience but not so much greatness from the staff.

1st: I made glamping reservations a few months in advance, from out of state, and while my husband and I were in the area for our anniversary we decided to check out the grounds that I would be at with my girlfriend. However, they would not let us in because they do not allow drive throughs on the weekends. Fair enough rules but it made my husband quite angry that despite our future reservations, we couldn't get a lay of the land before my girls weekend excursion, despite the fact that it wasn't busy at this time or anything. Rules are rules though and it made him angrier than I... I was definitely disappointed though.

When we did arrive for our reservation, everyone was very pleasant! The best thing for us was that gates close but DO NOT LOCK at night. This was good for us since we were there for a yoga workshop and would not get done until quite late that first night (we did make sure to check in during open hours though, which is absolutely necessary). The minimum 4P check-in time was a bit crazy but I assume it's because the glamping sites require a lot of maintenance in between guests though.
We were greeted by a very kind lady at our glamping tent who suggested that when we leave to return after dark that we should leave the provided lantern lit inside the tent so that we could see when we return... and that when people left their tents dark that SHE WOULD GO INSIDE AND TURN THE LANTERN ON FOR THEM WHILE THEY ARE AWAY. I understand she thinks this is a kindness but I'd NOT be thrilled that someone I do not know would potentially walk into my space when I wasn't there.

We turned on said lantern before we left but it was dead by the time we returned. There was no means to charge it, so we did so using a phone charger I happened to have handy (it was USB).

The free bag of ice in the Coleman cooler was a nice little bonus and kept our food chilled for the entire weekend! The bed was so incredibly comfortable. Our spot was quite private and nestled into the trees and we were a short walk to the bathroom, but not right on top of it.

Night 2 we came back early enough to have a fire with the free bundle of wood that came with the glamping site. We sat outside with music playing on a small Bluetooth speaker... I walked to the road to test the volume and found that not only could I just barely hear it from the foot of our driveway, but there was no one staying in the site next to us (and we were on an end) and the site across the road from us was listening to their own music as well, so I was confident we weren't possibly disturbing anyone. That didn't stop our host from walking on up and telling us that if it could be heard from the road, it's too loud. I know, that sounds like a fair rule but I really promise you, there is no possible way it could be heard unless you were walking right by our driveway on your way to the bathroom. Oh well, we just turned it down a bit and still had a good time. It's just not fun getting in trouble when you really didn't want to disrupt anyone.

Anyway, we leave the next morning and finish up our workshop in Asheville. I received a call during that time and had a voicemail from the campground letting us know that we must have accidentally packed one of their chargers. I knew right away what they were talking about and called the campground back to inform them that there never was a charger for the lantern in there and that we used our own. This was the worst part of the whole stay when the response I got (and read this with absolute stank) was "Well, I WISH you would have told your host! [insert 'ugh' sound]… but that's okay!"

Please tell me how I was supposed to KNOW that something was missing that I didn't know was supposed to exist in the first place? And the only time I saw the host after needing the charger that I didn't know was supposed to be there, was when she stopped in to reprimand us for the noise. At least they took my word for it and didn't try charge me or anything.

I do want to clarify that the host was never harsh with us and the one time we spoke while being greeted, she was laughing with us and chatting. I'm sure she is a very kind woman that just takes her job very seriously, and in many cases, I'd be grateful for that.

The campground itself though, was perfection. There is so much hiking there want to do, and there are lots of biking trails too. Even if I never convince my husband to camp here (he's so stubborn!), I'll return with my girlfriend and hope we don't get reprimanded for anything!

OH- Cell phone coverage was very spotty. Just an FYI. Sometimes I was able to make/receive calls, and sometimes calls just dropped. Internet was pretty much just a big NO.

We arrived here looking for a double site and were very happy with the only site offered. There were full hookups in this pull through double site. The campground is in bear country and we did, in fact, see a black bear in the campground. They seem to have everything here, including 'clamping', where you just show up and they have accommodations that provide everything you need. As a bonus, this campground had the cleanest restrooms/showerhouses we've seen. Those responsible work very hard to make sure they stay that way, and we noticed that they cleaned the showers and restrooms more than twice a day. They were immaculate! The campground was far enough off the main roads to be totally noise free of traffic. My only complaint is that they did not provide any type of discount for the Senior Pass, but then again, at $62 per night for the double site with full hookups for two RVs, we really don't have a major problem. We would be most happy to return if ever in the area. Again, GREAT job and kudos to the people who clean the restrooms/showers.

I love this place! It might be because I saw my first black bear and a deer but the campground was pretty awesome too! This was our first experience without hookups and everything worked out perfectly!

Initially, we did not like our spot very much, our area was surrounded buy tents and we were afraid we would be annoying other people with our generator, that didn't happen so at the end we were totally fine with our site. There are so many trails to hike and a OK size lake to jump in after a few hours of hiking!

Showers are clean, water pressure and temperature were amazing!

Camp hosts were amazing, they are all around to help out with questions and tips about what to do if a encounter a beer or other animals!

There is no cellphone service with T-mobile, we were able to get a bar with Verizon so with our booster we got 2 bars and were able to work a little bit. We were glad we had to leave the campground to find better internet so we were able to enjoy Asheville and Hendersonville for a few hours during that week. Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. is a MUST!! Such a nice dog-friendly brewery/ restaurant! Don't miss out!!!

This has to be one of my favorite spots ever. Spotless, quiet, secluded. Our site was perfect. Shielded from any neighbors and quite large. Nice bathrooms and showers. Some cell service, but not enough to do real work or streaming. Campground hosts were top notch. Entire site was raked and spotless for our stay. Great network of Mountain bike trails right from camp