Crabtree Falls Campground
A small wooded Parkway campground above one of the most photographed waterfalls in the mountains.
- Yancey County, NC
- Nearest town: Spruce Pine
- 3,696 ft
Coordinates
- Lat
- 35.81416
- Lng
- -82.14699
Van camping
You can drive in and sleep in your van here.
At a glance
The basics
What to expect
Blue Ridge Parkway
High elevation, tunnels with posted clearances, closes in winter weather.
- County
- Yancey County
- State
- North Carolina
- Nearest town
- Spruce Pine
- Elevation
- 3,696 ft
- Max vehicle length
- Not verified
The place
About Crabtree Falls Campground
The draw is the falls, and the loop trail down to them is short, steep and worth it: Crabtree Falls comes over a broad rock face into a mossy amphitheatre that stays cool and damp even in late summer, and the lower viewpoint puts you close enough to feel it. The campground above is small and shaded, set among hardwoods and wildflowers, and it fills with the sound of the creek rather than traffic. Spring brings trillium and jack-in-the-pulpit along the trail; autumn brings the colour this section of the Parkway is known for.
For van drivers
Getting a van in and out
A compact campground on a ridge road, so it favours shorter builds and careful manoeuvring over anything long. Parkway conditions apply throughout: low speed limit, no commercial vehicles, tunnels with posted clearances, no fuel. Spruce Pine is the closest town of any size for supplies.
Written for a high-roof van, not a pickup. Surfaces and clearances change with the weather and with the season’s roadwork — the official page below is the last word.
On the ground
Facilities & fees
Not verified means nobody has confirmed it — treat it as unknown, never as a no. 8 of the 8 below are still unconfirmed.
- Restrooms
- Not verified
- Drinking water
- Not verified
- Showers
- Not verified
- Dump station
- Not verified
- Hookups
- Not verified
- Campfires
- Not verified
- Dogs allowed
- Not verified
- Reservations
- Not verified
- Max vehicle length
- Not verified — check with the park
- Season
- Not verified — check with the park
- Fees
- Not verified — check with the park
The last word on all of this is nps.gov(opens in a new tab).
Where it is
Coordinates & directions
Decimal degrees
- Latitude
- 35.814163
- Longitude
- -82.146986
35.8142° N · 82.1470° W
No map tiles here on purpose. Half of these places have no signal at the gate, so coordinates you can save offline beat a map that needs one. Drop them into your phone before you turn off the pavement.
Nearest gas and groceries: Spruce Pine
Before you go
Official sources
Fees, site counts, length limits and closures change season to season. Everything we have not confirmed ourselves is marked Not verified above rather than guessed at — and where we do have a number, the operator’s own page still wins.
Keep looking
Camp nearby
For sale
