Forest Lake is a beautiful campground and preserve nestled in the forest of Advance, North Carolina. It is also part of the Thousand Trails network and our first stop as we make our way down to Florida, and then Santa Monica, California… chasing hummingbirds and finding cool rocks along the way. Although our initial objective was to stay here for only a couple of nights, the campground sits on a beautiful wooded area around Forest Lake and it is definitely worth exploring for more than two days… long enough to, hopefully, find a couple of cool-looking rocks that we can send back to our beautiful rock collectors in North Port, NY.

With over 400 sites, Forest Lake is very clean and well organized… and believe me, we know a nice campground when we see one and this one is in that category. We read the reviews before making a selection and Forest Lake has been given a 6.5 out of 10 rating, perhaps as a result of its old sewer system which you can smell from time to time (the hookups could use better covers to make sure they are tightly sealed.) With a beautiful lake and surrounded by nature, I give Forest Lake an extra point. Definitely a worthwhile stop on our journey.