Cascade Lake Recreation Area and Campground

I’m biased because my family has been staying there for longer than I’ve been alive. Grew up there in the summers, got engaged there, many wonderful memories. Heartbroken to learn it’s closed with no plans to reopen. I know people have tried to turn it into a housing development for years. Wouldn’t surprise me if money has finally won out.

Beautiful park, nice and woodsy. The sites are small and the roads are pretty narrow and winding to get the most of the sites. Good campground for tenters, pop-​ups, or small travel trailers. Bath houses are outdated and laundry area is terrible. It’s out in the open and there is no bathrooms for the GUEST and you get bugs in your close because the laundry is outside. So you have to go all the way back down the winding roads to your camper the use the restroom. Host campers are ehhh. Some are nice, some are unfriendly. Most of the sites are filled with host campers, I think I counted 8 host. Maybe it’s busier in the summer, fall no so much.

When searching for a campground near Brevard, NC my wife and I knew we wanted to enjoy both the mountains and the streams of that area. When we came upon Cascade Lake Recreation Area and Campground via Google we felt like we had found THE place.
Offering a great family camping experience in the «Land of the Waterfalls» we were close to both Brevard and Dupont State Forest; both places we had on our «go see» list. The campground itself is neither exceptional nor sub-​par. It really is just a run of the mill campground (some sites better than others) with exceptional views if you get a spot on the lake. They offer 160 sites shaded by red maple, white oak, hemlock, and other native tree species. The map shows that they can accomodate from tents to full size motorhomes and buses but once we arrived we realized that the campground is really not suited for large rigs. In fact, we decided that when we return we will opt to just tent camp. In fact, on the tent camping side there seemed to be a great little community life going on filled with kids, the sounds of happy dogs, and the smell of roasting campfires!
My biggest complaint is that while we had a lakeside spot for our pop-​up camper (that boasted incredible sunrises and sunsets) it was neither level north to south –OR– east to west. It took an act of congress to find a way to level our pop-​up and even once we did it was because of some sketchy block arrangements.
There are 3 bathhouses on the premises and I probably wouldn’t write home about any of them. I can say that the small shower stall had fantastic pressure and warm water. But I would suggest wearing shower shoes as the floors were quite icky with standing water and stains. The commode stalls were relatively clean but the locks were broken and the water seemed to be having a septic issue in that they would hardly flush and then took a good 3 minutes to fill back. All in all, the bathrooms were cinderblock building designed for convenience and functionality. They don’t advertise spa treatments afterall!
Cascade Lake Campground also offers a private beach limited to guests only. While we didn’t get in the water and did notice a bit of a film on top of the water, it seemed like a great place to play catch, sit and talk, or take the kids for a while.
As for Wifi… well, it is limited at best. You have to be right at the front entrance on the porch of the office and because that area is outside, hope you don’t have to check your email during early morning hours in the fall. it is a nice amenity though and I was thankful that I could access Wifi at all considering the remote location of the campground.
Listen to me. I sound like it was a miserable experience. It truly wasn’t. To be honest all of those things paled in comparison when I woke up and saw the fog lifting off the water, heard the ducks calling out to each other to «line up», and smelled the campfire still sparkling from the night before. It is worth the money as it is not all that expensive and its proximity to several other locations is key!