Balsam Mountain Campground Map (click to view or download PDF)

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LOCATION

Balsam Mountain Campground at Great Smoky Mountains National Park is located on Heintooga Ridge Road, which is accessed via the Blue Ridge Parkway at Milepost 458.2. The campground is approximately eight miles from the Parkway.

CAMPING SEASON

Situated at an elevation of 5,310 feet, Balsam Mountain is the highest campground in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. This allows for great camping weather even in the dead of summer. It is “off the beaten path” and rarely fills up except on holiday weekends. Because of the lingering possibility of snow, the campground is typically open from mid-May through the end of October. The exact opening and closing dates change each year, so be sure to visit the National Park Service’s Frontcountry Camping web page for the latest schedule.

TYPE OF CAMPING

Most people who camp at Balsam Mountain tend to be tent campers, but the campground is open to RVs and other self-contained sleeping vehicles and trailers no longer than 30 feet. Campsites hold up to six people and two tents or one RV.

Each RV site has a specific length limit, and this information is given on the reservation website, Recreation.gov. Furthermore, because most campsites require parallel parking and the campground road is narrow, if an RV has a slide out, it can only be used on one side of the unit.

Parking for all vehicles at Balsam Mountain Campground is along the road

The parking areas for some sites can only hold one vehicle. Additional vehicles may have to park up to one mile away. Again, restrictions are listed on the reservation website.

NUMBER OF SITES

There are 43 individual campsites at Balsam Mountain Campground. Six campsites are walk-in sites for tents only. Some of the other 37 sites are for tents only, some are for RVs only, and some allow both tents and RVs, all depends on the geography of the site. Restrictions are listed on Recreation.gov. There are no group campsites.

Campsite 6 is the only handicap accessible site at Balsam Mountain, and it is an RV site. It has a taller grill / fire pit than the standard ones, which is good for cooking if you are in a wheelchair, but it sucks for sitting around a campfire because the fire is down at the bottom of the metal container. The campsite is also located directly across from a restroom.

Handicap accessible site 6 at Balsam Mountain Campground

TERRAIN

Most of the campsites at Balsam Mountain Campground are very small, and many are not that level. However, most sites that allow tent camping have a level tent pad on which you can pitch your tent. Pads are 11′ x 11′. You can have as many tents as you can fit on the pad, though realistically this means either two small or one large tent. Those with more tents than pad space must pay for a second campsite. Aside from the pads, there isn’t much room to pitch another tent even if you wanted to.

Campsite 16 with tent pad at Balsam Mountain Campground

Nowhere for a tent other than the tent pad at Campsite 25

Exceptions to the tent sites have tent pads rule are campsites 5 and 20. These are for tent camping, but neither has a tent pad, and both are on sloping terrain. Don’t pick these sites if you are in a tent.

Campsite 20 at Balsam Mountain Campground

Campsite 7 has a level tent pad, but the picnic table is located on a slope. I don’t know how you’d eat without stuff rolling off the table.

Campsite 7 at Balsam Mountain Campground

While surrounded by trees, the camping areas of campsites along the main road are exposed to the sun. There may be shade at some time during the day depending on the angle of the sun, but don’t count on it at all times. Campsites 16 through 22 tend to have more shade than others, though again, the sun might hit them at certain times of the day. Those in RVs and other self-contained sleeping vehicles will be parked along the road where there is no shade at all.

Campsite 17 at Balsam Mountain Campground has some shade

Some campsites are located either up- or downhill from the parking spaces and are accessed either via stairs or by simply walking up or down the hill. Campsites that require walking up stairs are 8 through 15, 22, 32 through 37, and 41 through 42.

Campsite 11 at Balsam Mountain Campground

Campsite 34 at Balsam Mountain Campground

Campsite 22 at Balsam Mountain Campground

Campsites 26 through 31 are walk-in sites, meaning you park in a common parking lot and carry your gear to the camping area. All are located on a small, open field surrounded by trees. However, unlike many walk-in sites I’ve seen where the camping area is far away, these sites are not far from the parking lot. Campsite 31 is right next to the road, and the farthest one is no more than 50 yards away. Each campsite has a bear box for storing food.

Walk-in tent sites at Balsam Mountain Campground

Bear box at one of the walk-in campsites

AMENITIES

Like all campgrounds within Great Smoky Mountains National Park, there are no showers, but there are private companies that offer fee-based shower facilities outside of the park. Ask the campground host for directions to the closest one. The campground does have modern restrooms with cold water. There are no lights in the restrooms, so you’ll need a flashlight at nighttime.

There is supposedly a dish washing station, but it is located far down a steep hill, and I didn’t walk down to check it out. It didn’t look like any sort of dishwashing station I have seen—sink under some type of shelter. It may well just be a water spigot.

There are no water or electricity hook-ups at the campsites. If you need 5-amp connections for medical devices you must camp at Smokemont, Cades Cove, or Elkmont, the only campgrounds in Great Smoky Mountains National Park with this amenity.

Each campsite has a picnic table and grill / fire pit. Those that allow tent camping typically have a tent pad.

Campsite 21 with picnic table, grill / fire pit, and tent pad

RESERVATIONS

Reservations are required at Balsam Mountain Campground and can be made up to six months in advance by calling (877) 444-6777 or by visiting the online reservation website, Recreation.gov. It is not possible to pay at the campground. If you show up without a reservation, you must leave and find a place with phone service (there is none at the campground). The closest area with phone service is 13 miles away.

Park campgrounds are not gated, so you can check in after hours. If you arrive when the campground office is closed, proceed to your site and register in the morning. If you forgot your site number, check the Late Arrival bulletin board at the campground office. Please note that I forgot my site number when camping at another of the campgrounds at Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and the site information was not available as it should have been. I had to drive back to the nearest town where I could get a cell phone signal so I could log into Recreation.gov and find my number. Lesson learned—don’t forget your site number.

FEES

The current campsite fee is $17.50. Owners of a Senior or Access pass receive a discount on individual campsites.

Prices can always change. The most current rates are given on the Recreation.gov web pages.

Campsite 19 at Balsam Mountain Campground

CAMPGROUND RULES

• Checkout time is noon.

• All food must be stored in food storage boxes (if provided) or in your vehicle. Some sites at Balsam Mountain Campground have food storage boxes, others don’t.

• Stays within Great Smokey Mountains National Park are limited to 14 consecutive days at any one campground, and no more than 60 total camping days in a year. If you wish to camp more than 14 days at a particular campground, you must leave that campground for at least one day before returning. To do this, you can return home or simply switch to another campground for a day.

•Do not bring your own firewood to Great Smokey Mountains National Park. Firewood is available for sale inside the park, but not at Balsam Mountain Campground. You can also gather wood inside the park that is on the ground and dead.

• Pets are allowed as long as they stay on a leash no longer than six feet. However, no pets are allowed on the hiking trails, other than horses, and you cannot leave them unattended at your campsite.

• Alcohol is permitted in the campground as long as the people drinking are at least 21-years-old, which goes without saying.

• Quiet hours are in effect from 10 PM to 6 AM. Generator use is prohibited from 8 PM to 8 AM. Generator use and battery charging by engine idling is prohibited in generator free areas. During quiet hours, noise-producing equipment should be turned off and entry to the campground is limited to registered campers.

• Hammocks are allowed in the campground with the following guidelines: Must be over the footprint of the campsite, limited to trees 10 inches in diameter with adequate padding around the tree and only 2 hammocks are allowed to be suspended from the same tree.

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