Mini review – Free Campsite Uwharrie National Forest Yates Place Campground

Welcome to mini review Monday!  Today’s mini review is for a free campsite in the Uwharrie National Forest which is located towards the middle of North Carolina.  This campsite is only an hour and a half southwest of Raleigh and offers a very private camping experience that is 7 minutes from Troy’s town center.  This campground offers hiking, lots and lots of hiking and is uniquely situated in the middle of four major cities in North Carolina.  This campground would make an excellent base camp for those looking to explore the center of North Carolina on a small budget.

Stats

GPS: 35.364606,-79.989031

Water: No drinking water available

Stay Limit: 14 days

RV Appropriate: Yes

Trash Receptacles: Yes

Cell Reception: None

Pros:

• Close to town.  This is the first free campsite we stayed at that wasn’t in the middle of nowhere.  There is a Family Dollar and a Dollar General within 8 minutes of the campground as well as a Walmart that is about 17 minutes up the road.
• Vault toilet is well maintained.  This pretty much speaks for itself.  Having a toilet that doesn’t have the bugs everywhere and is actually CLEAN is always a great thing to discover!
• Trash receptacles are provided.  This means there is NO excuse for leaving the campground a mess.  This is a beautiful place, keep it that way and throw away your trash.
• Picnic table and “grill” provided.  All campsites have these available as well as a hand made rock fire pit on the popular sites.
• Road coming into the campground is hard packed gravel with no potholes.  This makes it really easy for vehicles pulling campers and motorhomes to enter.
• While tent sites do have enough space for a small camper, there is a big pull off right before the campground that bigger motorhomes and RV’s could fit in.
• Quite a few sites, there were at least 8 sites with more available by hiking in.  And if all these campsites are taken there is two other campgrounds located right up the road (though I am not sure if they are free campgrounds).
• Variety of campsite choices.  There are at least 3 campsites in the sun for the colder days, and the rest are shaded for the warmer days.
• Open year around.  While most we have been to are seasonal, this campground is always open.
• Awesome hiking trails with some great views located right in the campground.
• Centrally located.  In around two hours (or less) you could be in Raleigh, Charlotte, Greensboro, Fayetteville or Asheboro.

Cons

• Day trippers.  Traffic during the day, if you stay on a weekend, is pretty bad.  There are gorgeous trails at the far end of the campground, so there is a quite a few people coming and going during the day.  At night though the people go away, it’s just a major annoyance if you are here for the quiet of the forest.
• Campsites are super close together with no foliage between them.  There is one campsite to the right as you come in that is secluded, but the rest of the campsites are on top of each other.  Now there was only one other person camping while we were there (in the secluded spot) so this wasn’t an issue, but if you are there on a busy weekend, don’t expect privacy.
• Grass is not cut around campsites.  There are campsites in the sun, however the grass around these campsites was not cut.  While this normally wouldn’t bother me, in North Carolina this is where the ticks hide.
• No water available.  This is more the norm for free campsites, but it’s still a slight hassle not having it available.

Conclusion

So would we stay here again?  Yes!  We already plan to head over for a weekend of hiking and camping once the kids come back from their summer vacation!  Great location and our type of fun…definitely a winner.  If you would like to see my review of the campsite on YouTube, click here.