cherry mountain road campsites

does anyone know if the campsites on Cherry Mountain Rd can be reserved in advance (and if so how/where), or are they first come/first served?

thanks!

First come first served when I stayed back in '05. Doubt it has changed.

What could have changed is if it is still a fee area or not. They may have dropped the fees there like at Haystack Rd.

I am pretty sure they are first come first served. They are quite popular and are usually full most weekends starting on Friday night. There are a couple of options on the north end of Jefferson Notch road that are not managed but used most weekends once the road is open.

I camped there on a few nights last summer and never paid a fee (but was expecting too, so that was kind of odd).

Jay

As I've mentioned elsewhere on this forum, the WMNF has never had the authority to charge a fee for undeveloped campsites such as those found on the Gale River, Haystack, & Cherry Mtn. roads. Read FLREA for yourself. The relevant passages in this instance are: Section 803(d)(1)(E) & Section 803(g)(3)(A).

The fact that the WMNF is dropping the camping fees in these areas means that they are only just coming into compliance with the law.