Local campground, local escape

There are times when you flat-out need to sleep in a tent but don’t have time to get out of town.
Like when the first warm days of the year present themselves and you realize it’s been … how long since you’ve been camping?
Or when you realize the kids have been hibernating behind their screens all winter and need some fresh air.
Or when you’ve had it with work and need to be as far from any electronic reminders of civilization as possible.
Times that you need to be encased in ripstop nylon but don’t have time to be encased in steel, glass and plastic to get there.
For those times, you have your local campground.
You might be surprised at how close the nearest campground is. In the Triangle, for instance, between Jordan Lake and Falls Lake alone, there are more than 1,300 campsites at six campgrounds. And the Triangle is not unique. Charlotte, Greenville, the Triad and Wilmington all have camping opportunities within their city limits.
In our ongoing collaboration with Great Outdoor Provision Co., we have identified five top campgrounds in each of the outdoor retailer’s seven markets (Chapel Hill, Charlotte, Greensboro, Greenville, Raleigh, Wilmington and Winston-Salem). We’ve compiled everything you need to know — from location (down to the latitude and longitude) to number and type of campsites to cost to what activities you can do nearby — to plan a quick trip.
You can find the information in one of two places.

At GetGoingNC.com: Go to the left rail of the home page, look under “Where to Play in North Carolina” (highlighted in green). Run your cursor over “Camping” and a drop-down menu gives you the option of “Winter Car Camping: 15 Year-Round Campgrounds” (which we recommend) and “Local Campgrounds.” Click on it and you’ll be given your five local options for the seven markets. Here, you’ll find the basic information for each campground, with the option for More info here to find additional details, which are on the Great Outdoor Provision Co. Web site.
Your other option is to go directly to the Great Outdoor Provision site.

These are not the only options in each market. In fact, if you know of a campground that should be added, drop us a line and we’ll add it to the list.
Let the listings serve as a reminder that you don’t need to spend five hours behind the wheel to go camping. If you’ve got time to eat eat and sleep, you’ve got time to camp.

Find a campground: