Flanners Beach Campground Review
Croatan National Forest is nestled right along the North Carolina coastal mainland. Its a landscape full of a variety of wetlands, pine forests and beautiful creatures ranging from alligators to black bears and everything in between. In terms of interesting botany, the Croatan National Forest is also home to the venus fly trap and the pitcher plant. Cool! The forest is bordered by the Neuse River and Bogue Sound; the opportunities for kayaking through the marshes and estuaries are endless. There are also some OHV trails in the interior wilderness sections of the forest.
We stayed in a north eastern section of the area close to the Neuse River border called Flanners Beach Campground. We booked dry campsite for $24.00 per night, for a grand total of 48 bucks. To be late January, the weather was quite nice with temps from the mid 50’s to the low 40’s. Because we have a small solar system, we did not need the more expensive RV sites with electrical service. There are filling stations to fill your freshwater holding tanks right outside the campground gate, as well as spigots placed conveniently around the campground loop.
The bath house is a little weathered and old, but the restrooms and showers are clean. The campground is a small loop consisting of only about 40 sites, so no matter where you stay on the grounds, the bath house is never too far away. One of the big things that we really liked about the campground was the spaciousness and privacy of the sites. There are a variety of sites, all with nice level lots and fire pits. Some are set back into the trees, others are more shallow, but pretty much all of them provide a buffer between you and your neighbors. If you are running on solar, there are some great south-facing sites that will light your panels up for 3+ hours. Another perk for this place is the paved greenway for cycling. As show in the last map above, there are a number of walking and riding trails throughout the Neuse Forest where the campground sits. Unfortunately, there is still hurricane damage from Florence that keeps you from enjoying the beach area, but the picnic grounds provide plenty of room for family recreation.
If you don’t want to stick around the campground, you can do like we did and explore other sections of the forest. The main dirt roads are well maintained, but the side roads are more rutted out, and in our case flooded, so bring something with a little clearance to maneuver your way around. Our explorations led us to a couple large lakes where we threw a few casts to see what was biting. I’m sad to report that there wasn’t much to write home about on the bass fishing front, but I did see a lot of evidence of cat fishing success. One of the downsides to the Sheeps Ridge Wilderness area is that its clearly used for OHV fun (and a lot of partying), so the area was pretty trashy sadly.
Overall, we were pretty happy with our experience at the campground and there was so much more that we didn’t get to explore in the forest, so I’m sure we will be back soon. The area is only about an hour and forty-five north of us, making it a quick, cool, budget-friendly weekend getaway. Next time, we’re bringing the kayaks!
