Old NC 105 - Dispersed Camping

It was a lot of fun and beautiful scenery

If you take your time and they are available there are a few spots on both sides of the road with wonderful views the begging of the road from either side is easy enough to get down but in the middle it gets really rough would not recommend driving all the way through with out an SUV or better clearance and 4 wheel drive the road got worse while I was there from the rain biggest con for me is I use a pump filter to fill up water no camp sight that I could find had access to the river that runs along this road so make sure to bring plenty of bottled water and the road has a lot of traffic at-least one person a day has stopped to ask me questions while I was laying in my hammock

Found a great spot a few miles up the rutted road, with superb views over the gorge. Camped right at the side of the road.

Relatively easy gravel road with sites along either side. Some sites are better than others and offer good views of the surrounding mountains down to lake James. Don’t expect much in the way of accommodations so come prepared, and be aware that most spots are not level, so bring leveling blocks if you are planning on sleeping in your vehicle.

All sites are primitive camping but the views are incredible and the trip to get there is part of the fun!

Drove up to the exact coordinate and the two camping spots are fully blocked off by boulders. If you’re camping In a tent you should be able To drive in just enough to get your car off the road but you’ll have to walk past the boulders to camp in a tent/hammock.

Definitely no car camping. :(and

This was our first stop on our first trip to North Carolina and now we don’t want to leave! We drove the entire road between Lake James and Linville Falls and there are tons of good spots for boondocking and hiking. About 5 camping spots along the road have breathtaking views of the surrounding mountains, hills and valleys. Those spots are obviously the first to go, so come early or on a weekday for those. Otherwise, there are a ton of other great spots. The road itself is all dirt and gravel and can get a little rough. It’s much easier with a 4WD vehicle, but we saw sedans and minivans driving it.

This is a good route as long as you have ok clearance, no issues in a ford transit with all terrain tires and AWD

Make sure you just love nature because that's all that's around you we love this place

We drove pretty far in from the start thinking maybe not so many people would be there but we were wrong. The views in some areas are great but not that many good camping sites with good views. The birds in the early morning were beautiful though. Would probably be great for car camping but for rent camping it wasn’t amazing. The car traffic is horrible, even in the middle of the night. Even until 4am we could hear and see car driving up and down this terribly bumpy gravel road. One car even yelled at us telling us there was a bear just to be funny and scare us. Probably won’t be coming back here. It seemed like a beautiful place to spend the weekend but couldn’t find a really good view, very little privacy, and the people were just rude.

The view from on top of the mountain is easily 10/10. But if you're a big rig like us (we're about 35ft long) the gravel road to get up to the camping spots is virtually not safe. We made it just before the other sites I believe, couldn't get much further without our stuff inside going everywhere even more. They're mainly pull offs where you park and if you want to you can tent camp into the forest more. Still though being able to see the sun rise and set over the mountains and the view of the lake was gorgeous.

The site is right next to the road near a former burn area, so there's a clearing between the site and the lake. A lot of people just stop and walk right through my camp to get a better view, only a few of them even apologizing and even fewer asking permission. But tthe view from this site is better than from most.

There are campsites located all along the road. Once you find one that you like, pull over and set up camp for the night. Campsites are marked by a firepit. I recommend bringing a bag or two of your own firewood. It rained for us and was very foggy, but once morning came we got a great view of a gorgeous sunrise. Don't be discouraged by the gravel road. It is pretty washed out in some areas but if you have a good vehicle and are careful, it should be no problem. Don't settle on a campsite tucked away in the woods (unless that is what you want); there are plenty of sites with a view if you go far enough. We had about a dozen other vehicles drive past us after we were set up. So, there are other campers in the area. However, they are spread far enough out that you don't even know that they are there. Great views while camping on this ridgeline.

Nice, clean, open lots with beautiful views. We had decent cell service.

There are so many sites tucked along this dirt road and some incredible views! I spent almost 14 days here and almost didn't want to leave! The dirt road must've been regraded in the past year as it is easily drivable. I stayed in several sites further up the road and they're all good options! There is traffic, but not much. I have 5G service on both Verizon and Sprint/Tmobile (Verizon has a better signal). Lake James State Park has water at the picnic shelters. The water pump at the Catawba River entrance allows you to connect a hose to it while the Paddy Creek is better for using containers. I'm not confident it's potable water though there's no sign saying it's not. I was using jugs at Paddy Creek and noticed tiny things in the water. Went to Catawba and didn't find anything in the water, but filtered it to be safe.

Needed a spot to stop at off the Blue Ridge Parkway and this did the job. There's no signs that this is a campsite at all other than the fire pits, but the sites were tucked away and you could pull your car right up to them. Some pretty great views off the mountains too and the site was really quite with very few cars passing by.

You have to travel at least 3.5mi on a dirt road (if you're coming from the south) which can be annoying, but the sites are visible from the road. It looked like there were at least 2, not sure if there's more if you go further up the road. Didn't want to try it with my sedan.

I have stayed here many times both in an overlander and on a motorcycle. Usually there are plenty of spots available along the road but summer weekends can be full. Its great if you need a spot to pull over and crash.

Headed up the road from Lake James to find this stunning view down into the gorge from our site.

Technically, the GPS coordinates for this site will take you a little further up the road. But this was one of the first pullouts available.

There were tons of sites all along this road continuing north all the way to the Blue Ridge Parkway near Linville Falls.

Happened upon this campsite not long after starting up the “105” fro the south. At only 2575’ it’s not high but the view is spectacular. Plenty of room for a couple of tents. Wouldn’t try with a RV though.