Hot Springs, NC camping?

chrissybird · 07-20-2016, 10:21 PM

Has anyone camped at the Hot Springs Resort & Spa in North Carolina? If so, thoughts & suggestions would be appreciated. Also, looking for recommendations for good dirt roads/trails in the area to ride our dual sports (which are more dirt oriented that street). Thanks!

asquared · 07-20-2016, 10:38 PM

I was curious about thAt place as well.

chrissybird · 07-20-2016, 10:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by asquared

I was curious about thAt place as well.

We rode through it on sport touring bikes about a month ago. There are some great roads in the areas, and it looks like a cute little town right on the river. Think we're going to try an off-road/rafting trip there

Looks like the Pisgah Forest Gamelands are close and we're hoping they have some good dirt trails. We ride in a Gamelands area near home that has awesome trails.

KFX450RXC · 07-21-2016, 08:22 AM

Mixed reviews on campgroundreviews.com. Only a 6.7 but six reviews over 10 years is hard to get a good picture of things. The latest review last year was not too good.

Helmsey · 07-21-2016, 12:22 PM

We camped there heavily from 2009 - 2013 but have not been back.
It is a more rustic type campground, and now with our larger 5er we just don't fit. We are lucky to live close enough for day trips to Hot Springs so that is what we mainly do now.
The little town is awesome, the spa is nice according to my wife, and its neat to sit on one of the spring fed hot tubs.
I can't speak to any of the road for dual sport bikes as it is not something we have done. If I had to guess there is some decent riding in the area, it's one of those places that just seems like it would have old fire tower roads, etc.

Here is a shot of some of the sites (from 2013). These sites were around 440 - 447 are that back up to the river. The pole has power on it (30 amp) and the water connections are actually in an enclosure on the ground. You will have to reach down about 2 feet to reach them.

This was our 33' 5er backed into one of the river sites, not a lot of room to spare length wise:

asquared · 07-21-2016, 12:26 PM

Ok so it sounds like my 40' fiver won't fit. Thanks

Helmsey · 07-21-2016, 12:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by asquared

Ok so it sounds like my 40' fiver won't fit. Thanks

There are some pull through sites that it would likely fit on, but I can't say for sure.

A couple things I forgot to mention in my original post....
1. the roads are dirt\gravel and were not kept up the few years that we were going there.
2. the "bathhouse" is more like a couple small buildings that have toilets and showers in them. They were not well kept at all.

I will dig through some pictures and see if I can find more than the 2 I posted.

andy29847 · 07-21-2016, 08:24 PM

The Appalachian Trail runs through downtown Hot Springs. I believe that the campground there tailors itself to the traffic off the trail. I know that when I went through Hot Springs with 5 friends on a dirt bike trip 4 years ago, we were turned away at the gate (we were tent camping). They said they were full, but I believe they just didn't want motorcycles.

If you can download a gpx file from the internet, then upload the file to your GPS, and then follow the tracks while riding your motorcycle, I can send you hundreds of miles of dirt roads.

FWIW, I prefer to stay further south when I ride. The Ironhorse Lodge in Steocah, NC has a limited number of RV sites. I have never seen a better place to stay if you ride. The KOA in Murphy, NC is a good campground and central to many good roads. I have often stayed at the Tuckaseegee RV Resort, near Cherokee, NC. Tuckaseegee is a great campground.

dirt road info -

Smokey Moluntain 500 | Adventure Rider

Tellico Adventure Trail | Adventure Rider

https://www.facebook.com/groups/6986...oup_browse_new

https://www.facebook.com/groups/229150894116972/

chrissybird · 08-05-2016, 10:15 PM

We had a wonderful time and enjoyed the campground. We liked our spacious campsite and appreciated the shade trees. Will try to figure out how to post photos. We found an amazing little place called Paint Rock, which is part of the National Park system. Heading out of Hot Springs north on 25 cross the bridge over the French Broad, then take the first left. It starts out as a paved road running along the river, turns into a gravel road for a while, then takes a hard dog leg right back onto a one lane paved road with turn offs that is Paint Creek. There is a great little waterfall into a swimming hole that we stopped at and swam. We also found a great dirt road that went up the mountain quite a way - but we were getting low on fuel and not sure where it went so we turned around. Found out it goes all the way up and over (and apparently there's a fire tower you can go up) and end up back on 25 north of Hot Springs. Will definitely be going back! But Andy, may ask you for some insight into more dirt trails!

whr2nxt · 08-17-2016, 07:10 PM

chrissybird, where else have you been with your dual sports? We're getting ready to load up our 650GS dual sports into our TH (as soon as it gets here) and head out.

F350TH · 08-17-2016, 07:36 PM

There's a place in Laurinburg that's a nice park. Outback MX park. Camping is very basic, but had water and 30 amp service. Great trails, tracks, mud pits, water holes and so on. 800 acres and 90 miles of trails. The Pisgah has lot of trails. Head easy and the Croatan area has some nice trails too.

whr2nxt · 08-23-2016, 06:20 PM

I found National Forest road & trail maps on line at fs.usda.gov. They are listed by state then National Forest within each state. Both PDF downloadable and On line purchase versions. They even have a list of closed roads, and other warnings and alerts (like bears in the area). So many back roads, so little time.

chrissybird · 08-23-2016, 07:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by whr2nxt

I found National Forest road & trail maps on line at fs.usda.gov. They are listed by state then National Forest within each state. Both PDF downloadable and On line purchase versions. They even have a list of closed roads, and other warnings and alerts (like bears in the area). So many back roads, so little time.

Thanks, I'm definitely going to check out those maps! Hot Springs was our first trip with the dual sports; the other trips have been to the track with the sport bikes. Laurinburg is only about 40 minutes from us. Right off of 15-501 between Aberdeen & Laurinburg is a great Gamelands area next to Camp McCall. Lots of great trails, roads, and water-crossings through there. There's a sign for RV camping almost right down and across the road from it, but I've never been so have no idea what it's like. If you're ever in this area, let me know and we can show you some trails!

andy29847 · 08-26-2016, 11:01 AM

Here is a map of the road over Paint Mountain...

and I think that this is your waterfall.

chrissybird · 08-26-2016, 08:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by andy29847

Here is a map of the road over Paint Mountain...

and I think that this is your waterfall.

Thanks Andy!!! We only explored Lower Paint Creek and a dirt road off of it - next time we'll check out the upper road! That is one of the beautiful waterfalls we stopped and admired. I'll try to find and post a picture of the other waterfall that has the swimming hole. It's much smaller and calmer than this beautiful one.

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