William B. Umstead State Park
Two thousand acres of hardwood forest and lakes wedged between Raleigh, Durham and Cary.
- Wake County, NC
- Nearest town: Cary
- 351 ft
Coordinates
- Lat
- 35.85716
- Lng
- -78.75444
Van camping
You can drive in and sleep in your van here.
At a glance
The basics
What to expect
State park
Reservable sites, paved or well-graded roads, bathhouses in season.
- County
- Wake County
- State
- North Carolina
- Nearest town
- Cary
- Elevation
- 351 ft
- Max vehicle length
- Not verified
The place
About William B. Umstead State Park
Umstead is a genuine forest surrounded on all sides by the Triangle, and the contrast is the appeal: within a few minutes of leaving I-40 the traffic noise gives way to hardwood bottomland along Crabtree Creek. The park holds two lakes, a long multi-use bridle and bike trail on an old roadbed, and a set of quieter hiking loops through old-growth-adjacent forest with stone CCC structures scattered through it. Planes from the nearby airport pass overhead, which is the one reminder of where you are. For anyone moving through the Triangle by van, it is the obvious overnight.
For van drivers
Getting a van in and out
The easiest access in this directory: paved roads off US 70, minutes from I-40, and a developed campground in the Crabtree Creek section. Everything a van needs — fuel, groceries, hardware, laundry, a Costco — is within a few miles, which makes this a sensible resupply stop rather than a wilderness night. Cell signal is full strength throughout.
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 ncparks.gov(opens in a new tab).
Where it is
Coordinates & directions
Decimal degrees
- Latitude
- 35.857160
- Longitude
- -78.754435
35.8572° N · 78.7544° 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: Cary
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.
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