Smith Lake Army RV Park

I gave this facility low ratings due to my experience with the MWR person in the office. My wife and I drove from Laurinburg to view the site prior to bringing our Motor Home. I stood in the office and was ignored by David the Host. Mr Knight, Custodial Worker, came in and politely greeted me. David still ignored me. I then asked him for directions to the RV campground. Without looking at me he said "we are full." I said I only want to look at the campground. He finally turned around and said' "no use looking we are full and we are constructing some new sites they will be open in April." I then said we only want to look at the campground I do not have my coach with me. He said "We are full" and then turned back to his computer and ignored me. I turned to leave and Mr Knight was following me out and I asked him if this was how they treated customers and military personnel. Mr Knight then apologized for Ft. Bragg and MWR. Mr Knight, although he was off the time clock, took me to the clay target campground. Mr Knight is an asset to this organization. My Wife and I have stayed at military campgrounds from Washington State to Sigsbee Fl., and many other military campgrounds between. This is the first time I have encountered this type of disrespect.

Beautiful area & sites 1a-9a have the hookups on drivers side while sites 1-9 have the hookups on passenger side. You'll need extra sewer, water, & electric for the hook ups. Follow the directions given by the write- up from Oct bellow. We have enjoyed our stay & recommend this location to all.

We stopped here one night on our way North. We followed the directions for 295. Only it is Andrews road, not Andrews Church road. Quiet, serene location. The facility is undergoing some improvements which will be great when completed. No cable, and the digital signals were weak.

I have stayed many times at Smith Lake and now live in Fayetteville. I drove through the campground today and gave it all 5s because the unpaved road off of Honeycutt Road has now been paved. So the long, dusty, dirty and extremely bumpy road to the campground is history. For those that have not been there in a while or never have, the next section of I-295 from I-95 is well underway. My recommendation is to only use I-295 to get to Smith Lake and avoid the Murchison Road route completely with your rv. The road off of Murchison to Smith Lake has that terrible railroad crossing that has seriously damaged a lot of rvs in the past. Also to get to Smith Lake from Murchison requires you drive through much of Fayetteville. Plus, that entrance is open and closed as the road crews complete I-295 over Murchison Road. When I-295 is completed at Smith Lake, the newly paved section will be part of an exit ramp that will put you right in the campground.

This facility is very difficult to find, and located near a closed lake I wouldn't let my dog swim in. The road into the site is unpaved with sharp rocks and in addition the camp host was AWOL. Reminded me of the movie Deliverance. Ended up staying at Lazy Acres in Fayetteville. A very nice family owned site with full hookups plenty of shade trees pool lake reasonable(32per night and owned and operated by Bob Clark a retired Lt Col.

Another wonderful campground - had no problem going over the railroad tracks with 5th wheel and truck - beautiful quite campground. The only thing bad right now is the lake is closed because of the tornado going thru in April - Staff very friendly, loads of places to hike and relax. Reading reviews must be taken with a grain of salt - you will miss alot of wonderful places.

I am not going to sugarcoat this, as I do not plan on coming back except for an overnight stay. 1. Location: Close to Ft Bragg, this is a plus. The road to the RV camp leaves very much to be desired. To navigate the front entrance you must climb your RV over a very steep railroad tracks and without exception, scrap bottom. (Note the large long scars at the entrance.) To come in the back way you must travel down a long, dusty, bumpy gravel road. There is an alternate back road just as you leave Honeycutt Road, (first right turn) go down the smaller dirt road. This is a can do for smaller rigs and cars, low hanging tree limbs will damage the bigger rigs. 2. Cleanliness/Hospitality: This depends on who is on that day. At the desk everyone is nice and friendly but the overall manager can be hard to deal with at times. She makes up the rules as she goes along. They do have contract grounds maintenance people that do a fantastic job. However, there is no cleaning of the RV camp on a daily basis. The fire rings are being used for trash burning and trash litters the grounds. I watched a discarded Styrofoam container lay on the ground close to two weeks just to see how long it would take for it to be picked up. The park manager should make a visual inspection each morning and assign duties as needed to the working staff. It appears that they like to stay around the office when not “doing anything”. 3. Amenities/Facilities: If you are lucky you can have a table. Be careful of sitting on them because they have some very sharp edges on some. If you stay in a cabin, for God’s sake, do not move one to the front of your cabin! Nowhere in the “rules” does it say this but like I said before…the overall manager makes up the rules on the fly. She did this to one soldier who was told by a previous manager he could. He selected a table from and empty site but was rudely told to put it back and clean up the road where they brought it over. He vows to never come back and is advising all his buddies not to come here either. You may have a fire every night if you wish, fire rings are provided however they are so deep that grilling on them is pretty much out of the question. The woods have pretty much been cleaned of firewood so you may have to purchase some from a local vendor. 4. Cabins: They should be known as “Party Cabins and/or Party Houses”. Large numbers of young soldiers book these on the weekends and raise hell all night. These should NOT be located close to the RV'ers who just want to live a peaceful life without all the loud noise, screaming yelling drunks, and thumping music. 5. Value: About the same price as most MWR parks. However, NOT NEARLY as nice as you would think a post like Fort Bragg would have. It seems there is very little money spent here. Some of the older sites have not been improved since they were first put in almost 20 years ago. These sites are very unlevel (a large mound of crushed rock) and impossible to get some RVs level on them. The older sites are all ass-backwards as far as hookups, electric on the correct side but sewer and water hookups are on the wrong side. You must either use your neighbor’s sewer or drag yours under your rig risking a spill and causing a safety hazard for falling. Three days before we left the electrical box on our site went bad, for three days we reported it. It wasn’t fixed when we left but our plug in had been fried. 6. Overall Experience: Well, if you stay inside your rig so you don’t have to breath the dust from the vehicles speeding by your site, (yes, even the MPs and staff, worst violators) then you may have a pleasant stay. This is the only MWR where we have experienced this. Barking dogs…there aren’t any rules enforce on this issue. On one occasion I almost got into a fight with a soldier who let his two full-grown Rottweilers and German Shepard run loose. We found a pile of dog crap at our front door on one occasion. The German Shepard was then tied up and barked non-stop for 3 hours. When I ask the guy to shut the dog up he said they were authorized to have dogs here. I said, “I’m authorized to have an air-horn on my RV but I don’t honk it all day long. The Rottweilers were locked up in the house when a sign says, “no pets”. The hard working staff are overworked and the not so hard working staff slide. Young workers are given “gators” which they speed around on and doing very little work. When I ask one to slow it down I was given an attitude “stare” or a “hateful look” every time he went by. Helicopters fly overhead most of the day until up to 0200 (2:00 AM) but this is to be expected, as the RV camp is located on the edge of a helicopter base. Grin and bear it. This has the potential of being a very; very nice campground if it had proper management and support from the Fort Bragg Commander. Change the management and allot funding would be the best thing MWR could do here.

We had recurring voltage problems (SurgeGuard cutting power) when trying to use Foreman grill w/ac running …had to turn off EVERYTHING else including AC, TV, WH, refrigerator, and charger in float mode to maintain acceptable voltage (over 102v), next day could not run heat pump at all (17 amp load) in early AM. Very dusty roads. Very peaceful location. We stayed one week, and paid $18 per night with 10% Golden Access discount.

I stayed 2 weeks at Smith Lake Army RV park. The hosts are friendly and helpful. I enjoyed the secluded location of the camp near the lake, but close enough for a short drive onto Post. As a (working) DoD contractor I appreciate the opportunity to rest in my own place no matter where my work may take me! I paid $13/night for FHU.

I met the new manager and she appears to be working hard to improve this campground. Sites now have nice fire rings and the new bathhouse is quite nice. It has six rooms, each of which have a lavatory, toilet and shower. Maintenance people working there were very proud of the building. The concrete floors are heated and rain water is captured to provide water to flush the toilets. This is one of the nicest bathhouses I have seen in a military rv park. One issue that still remains is the poor entrances to the campground. The terrible railroad crossing is still there. Many an rv have suffered damage trying to get across. The other entrance is a very dusty, bumpy road. The good news is that work is well underway extending I-295 to right passed the park. This will eliminate the railroad crossing and provide an exit to the Smith Lake complex. All of this is coming courtesy of BRAC which will add two more major headquarters to an already bustling Fort Bragg. I think that things are really going to greatly improve this campground.

This campground was OK. I wish I would of read the previous review about the railroad entrance. That was a very bad experience causing damages to the rear of our fifth wheel. Make sure you take the horse stable entrance. Otherwise the stay was good.

W.T. left this review using the Directory software: This travel camp desperately needs attention. We stayed here only because it was the least bad of the other available commercial campgrounds in the Fayetteville vicinity. The long, dusty gravel entrance road empties into two campgrounds, the upper one with concrete pads, tall weeds, dusty roads and neglected area, the lower campground the same with the exception of no sewer hook-ups. The campground host (recognizable by the amount of clutter around his coach) stated that he was an unpaid volunteer, who pays a site fee like everyone else. A bath house is being constructed in the upper campground, but the completion date is unclear. We will not return.

R. B. left this review using the Directory software: Previous comment are correct. The poor road condition is bad. We arrived in pouring rain and the road into the campground is dirt and/or gravel. We had to hose down the bottom half of the RV to get rid of the mud. The 50A sites are okay, but only 9 and we got the last one available, Walking the dogs (on a leash) is interesting because no one obeys the leash requirement (including the host). There are also rental cabins in the 50A loop and that causes a lot of auto traffic, especially on weekends when it must be party time. One cabin had about 20-25 vehicles parked everywhere on Saturday afternoon and evening.

I have been to 44 military campgrounds during the past 5 years and this one is in the bottom 10. The entrance is almost 3 miles of dirt road with its share of potholes. It was dry and dusty today but it must be a mess after a heavy downpour. I stayed in the upper section where the sites have a concrete pad but the sites are surrounded by mostly bare ground with very little grass. The overall appearance of the campground is poor. Several RVs had a very trashy appearance as if they had been here a long time and were not concerned about their appearance. Quite a few barking dogs unattended outside the RV. Lots of trash on the ground throughout the campground. It seems that little or no resources are devoted to the maintenance of the campground. The only positive is the price - $10 with a Senior Pass.

This could be a great campground, it needs some work. It took them two days to fix a water leak at our campsite. Make sure you're careful when you leave the campground and turn onto NC 210. We banged up our sewer house holder and the backend of our 5th wheel. The bathrooms where nice, big, and clean. With your access card it is only $10.00 for full hook ups, $8.00 for 20 amp/water. The staff is friendly and helpful, and you can build a fire everynight.

We enjoyed our stay. We choose to stay on the lower level without sewer hookup. We had it to ourselves. We liked the woodsy feel. The staff was superb and very friendly. As others have mentioned, it would not take a lot of money to make some meaningful improvements. Bottom line: great experience and we'll be back.

Not a bad location if you can get around traffic patterns & railroad tracks. Staff was pleasant but not very well informed. Hook-ups for most RV sites are on the wrong side, duh. Hope no one in a tent needs to make an emergency headcall, the bath house is up hill 200 yards from the tent sites. No reservation was needed. Pleasantly surprised by the rustic outdoors of this CG, except for the helicopters, this CG has a beautiful setting on the lake. I will stay here in the future, and probably longer. I used the CG on as a stop over during a trip home. This CG has a lot of potential, I hope to see it improve.

Cindooge left this review using the Directory software: Visited for ten days in August 2008 - Nice campground. A bit rustic but the staff were friendly and easy to work with. The entrance from Hwy 210 (Murchison Avenue) over the railroad tracks is very short with a steep dip on the highway down side. There is another entrance off of Honeycut going towards the riding stables. Pretty quiet except for helicopter traffic from Simmons Field. Internet connections very good with our Verizon aircard. It is short on bathroom/shower facilities for the cabins and campers but a new one is under construction. Lots of cabins. Some of the connections (sewer/water/electric) do not coincide with the your RV connections, i.e. sewer is on opposite side of your RV. But that was minor. There were lots of spaces available. Quite an enjoyable experience even with all the thunder and lightning storms we endured.

I must say that I agree with all the other negative comments. This is a poorly maintained campground. When we arrived the young woman who waited on us was really flaky. She was waiting on us and a young soldier and didn't seem to know how to do anything. Finally she told us that her computer wasn't working and that we could just go to our campsite and come back and pay later. When we did, we got another young woman who had a personal conversation with a co-worker the whole time she was waiting on us. With our golden access pass the site was a REAL BARGAIN at $10 a night, which kind of made up for the negative aspects. I had no complaints about the actual site. We were on 5A which was just fine. The campground is not on post, as listed in the "Military Living Military RV" book; in fact, it is quite a ways from Fort Bragg. The post is quite difficult to navigate, even with a map. We got lost numerous times, trying to find things that were right on the map and we normally get around quite easily. We were amazed at the high grass on post. This military brat NEVER saw neglect like that on any base I ever lived on. Had good reception at the campground with a Verizon air card and phone. Fairly good TV reception with antenna - about 10 channels.

We arrived on a Saturday afternoon with no reservations, and had no problem getting a site. As with many army installations, they offered Golden Age cardholder discounts, which made our overnighter a particularly good value. We chose a site down on the lake with partial hookups (w/e only). Lovely view out the side windows of our rig. The bad news was that the electric plugs for that site were not working. Marilyn, the CG manager, came down and tried to reset the breakers for that site, but to no avail. Looked like the breakers were totally corroded. Since we really liked the location, she offered us a 50 ft extension chord to plug into another, less desireable site. We took the offer, ran the cord and were set. While she was there, she and her assistant cleaned an incredible amount of non-burnable trash out the firepit. She is a good, customer relations manager. That said, I must note that the trails, lakeshore, etc., were terribly littered with unconscienable amounts of casually tossed trash (beer cans, potato chip bags, etc). This has as much to do with the cretins who threw the trash there, as with the management. But MWR at Ft Bragg really needs to get the CG cleaned up. AND THEY NEED TO PLACE MORE TRASH RECEPTACLES AROUND THE CG. It's kinda sad to see such a naturally beautiful place be allowed to become trashy. The full-hookup sites and bath house are on the top of a hill. No concrete pads, just fairly level dirt. The partial hookup sites are off the hilltop around the lake, and are generally not at all level. So expect to do some leveling if you take a partial hookup site. The bath house is a bit spartan, but is kept clean. For internet, we use a SPRINT PCS AIR CARD, and had good reception there. Overall, it was a good, if average camping experience. Again, kudos to Marilyn for being a good, customer-oriented manager, and I hope she'll light a fire under the MWR big-dogs to maybe get a work detail from the brig (or I guess the army calls it a stockade) to walk the trails and lakeshore to pick up all the trash.