Campground Review: Forest Lake Thousand Trails, Advance, NC

Our 160 mile move from Lynchburg, VA to the vicinity of Winston-Salem, NC went quite well. Forest Lake Thousand Trails is just a few minutes from Lexington, which is a mid sized town that is famous for North Carolina barbeque.

We drove around the campground for a while checking out the available sites. Several are occupied by seasonal members and others had signs on them reserving them for some group that was coming in. I wanted to avoid the $3 a day fee for 50 amps, but the most desirable and available sites were all 50 amps. We decided to bite the bullet and pay the extra fee, not so much for the 50 amps as for the location right across from the adult lodge and pool. All in all, it turned out to be an excellent decision as the afternoon temperatures reached 90 several days and we were happy to run the a/c along with the washer/dryer, microwave, and anything else we wanted to run without worrying about tripping a 30 amp breaker.

All in all we like this place. There are several campers in the park but it is far from full. Unlike the Thousand Trails facilities in Virginia this one has the pools open (there are two of them) post-Labor Day. Sorry to say the spa is out of order but over-all things are in good shape. There’s a nice trail around the small lake, a worn-but-interesting mini-golf course, and laundry that gets a lot of use. There are also several cabins and a number of them are right on the lake.

My Verizon 4G signal couldn’t be stronger. From our campsite we can see the cell tower just east of the campground. Jackie’s T-Mobile is just a strong. That’s a rarity for us this summer.

We’ve done some sight seeing – Jackie will write about that shortly – but mostly we’ve tended to projects  “at home” and taken life easy.  Had we ended up in one of the more distant camp spots (several weren’t especially level or roomy) I think we would have been dissatisfied with our stay here. However, since we opted for the more expensive campsite right at the heart of the campground and with the 50 amp service, I give this place a thumbs up.