Babcock State Park Campground

We picked this state park for a week long stay while we were in the area exploring the New River Gorge National Park. Since we were traveling in the summer and brought our dogs along, we needed a spot where we could leave our doggos in a safe and air conditioned space while we explored. We stayed in cabin 14 which is one of two Vacation Cabins. It had four bedrooms and two full baths along with a nice living/dining area and kitchen. There was also a lovely covered front porch as well as a simple charcoal standup campground grill and picnic table in the yard. The cabin was incredibly clean and well maintained. 

The grounds are also quite large and lovely. The staff are also friendly and attentive. We enjoyed several of the hiking trails and other features like the historic Grist Mill. There were many other amenities that we did not utilize but were well kept. There was a playground, group picnic area, tennis courts and a-plethora of other lodging options. From tent sites to RV hookups and other types of cabins varying in luxury. The campground also has a coin operated laundry facility that we used during our stay. 

For some reason I totally forgot to take pictures of the actual cabin! OOPS!

The park is so wild, beautiful and remote. The grist mill might be a bit overplayed on social media, but it was very cool and had lots of rocks to climb on, a little cave for the kids to walk in, and a spot to swim. The best part to us was the Manns Creek Gorge trail, which starts right at the campground. I took my three little boys down the trail through thick rhododendron, following the sound of rushing water. After about 3/4 mile, there is a sign that says "enter water at own risk." There you enter a little tunnel trail through the bushes and find a beautiful double waterfall with a swimming hole at the bottom. The falls arent tall, but powerful and beautiful. The rocks are slippery at the top, but the water at the bottom is perfect to cool off in. The campground has nice staff members, and everyone we met was friendly. There aren't any large or private sites to speak of, though it still has a nice feel to it. Our site was a "buddy site" with the one next to it, so there want a lot of space or privacy, but luckily they were nice and quiet neighbors. The playground is in good shape. It was a pleasant surprise to have laundry. The best part about the campground is where it is located.

The New River Gorge area is beautiful, but I did not care for this place. I am spoiled by the great state parks in Oregon and Florida.  

When I made a reservation I asked for a site that would accommodate my large truck camper and have a view to the northern sky. I was given site 8 which was completely shrouded by trees with low hanging branches. I would have damaged my camper or their trees or both. Almost everything is in disrepair. The showers seem to have been remodeled recently and they are OK. The rest of the bathrooms…not really. The sites are funky, unlevel, and many in disrepair. About half of the sites are electrical sites. None of the sites have water or sewer. The on-site dump is not completely level so my tanks didn’t drain fully. 

 It is convenient to visit New River Gorge which is close and this is its saving grace.  Racoons raided my neighbors camp while they were sitting right there in front of the fire so be careful.

The rangers that I interacted with had prominent stickers on their pickup trucks saying, “Make Dixie Great Again”. Hmmmm. These were private trucks, not state, but still inappropriate for all campers to see when entering the park.

We camped here with our dogs for 3 nights. 

The campground is about 2 miles from the Babcock State Park visitor center and trails. When you enter the campground, there's a little check in station. They have maps and sell ice. There is a small loop with electrical sites, but it's absolutely not spacious or private. 

The bigger part of the campground has non electrical sites and shares one bathroom. It is definitely more spaced out. The bathhouse has showers, restrooms, and even a room for laundry. 

The facility is a little bit older but got cleaned twice daily. Be very careful in which campsite you are when it rains. We were in number 20 and got flooded pretty good during our last night. 

It is about a 20 min drive to the New River Gorge visitor center. There are multiple trails all over the national park. It offers hiking, biking, horse riding, rafting, and canoeing. There is a scenic drive along Fayette Station Rd to take gorgeous pictures of the bridge. It is also a short drive to the town of Fayetteville. There are shops and restaurants. We had dinner at the Wanderlust Creative Foods and it was outstanding. 

Overall we would definitely camp here again.

This park is known for its iconic grist mill images, esp. in autumn.. There is a moderate sized campground with water and electric hookups available. A central bathroom serves all 51 campsites. I was here in late April and never saw anyone in the bathroom when I was there, but probably only¼ of the sites were occupied and many of those were with RVs. Bathrooms are clean, showers are warm. 

I was in site#33; the approach was sloped, but the top was relatively level with gravel and more than suitable for my teardrop camper. It was one of the sites on the inside of the loop near the playground and shaded by a large tree. The loop(50s) across the road from the check-in had generally open sites and were occupied by some large RVs. On the back section, the fronts of the sites were narrow, but opened up in the back. The main loop was relatively level and if you have kids, the inside sites provide ready access to the playground without having to cross any roads. 

The worst campsite in the whole campground is#17; I don’t think there’s a level spot on it. I had already concluded this during my walk-through before speaking to a couple who were pitching their tent. They remarked that they had originally reserved#17 and upon seeing it, requested a move. It should be left as a first-come, first-serve site for someone who is truly desperate. 

In addition to the grist mill, there’s a hilltop play area, picnic ground, tennis, volleyball and basketball courts. And there are trails everywhere! There are overlooks near the summit as well as along the drive(follow the signs to the overlooks rather than to the grist mill). One overlook seems like it would be a good spot for a sunset, but it was too cloudy the night I had free. 

I stayed here as a base for my exploration of the New River Gorge National Park and, in restrospect, I think I would have saved time overall if I had looked for a campground closer to Beckley. I wanted to see sunrise from Grandview and that necessitated a 55 min drive each morning. It’s about a 20-30min drive from the rim visitor center and bridge overlook. 

Google Maps will take you down Old Clifftop Rd which is freshly paved, but beware, it’s as though they paved a single lane down the middle of the road and there are drop-offs on each side. If this makes you uncomfortable, follow the signs for the park instead. Cell phone coverage(Verizon) was fair, but inconsistent, even within my campsite from moment to moment, but I could browse and respond to email. It was better at the Canyon Rim Visitor Center. 

If you’ve forgotten anything, there is a dollar store within a few miles of the park and shopping centers with everything you could need in Fayetteville.

We stayed here for 4 days at the end of July.  The bathrooms were cleaned twice a day for the COVID and the showers had good pressure.  Like all campgrounds, some sites are better than others.  We tent camp and for us, site 19, was one of the better sites.  I would not camp on this site with a RV of any type but for tent campers its heaven.  Plenty of room and space between us and the other campers.  The trails are wonderful throughout the park if you enjoy hiking as we do.  As a bonus, there was a cancelled bluegrass festival that week in Clifftop, WV,  so we had a lot of local bluegrass going on throughout the campground given many of the musicians did not cancel their campsite reservations.  The only con, as this was our first time camping in WV, was the no alcohol rule and the fact that no passes are given for vehicles indicating they were staying on site.  I would think that it could become a security issue if they can't identify who is actually staying onsite.  Otherwise, great campground!

***One last note.  The last couple miles of road getting here are rough…if you have an SUV you should be fine but i have a sportier suspension and it was not fun.  Also, if you are pulling a trailer, some turns are tight so be prepared.

Babcock State Park is one of the greatest parks in West Virginia. Most people come to see the grist mill, and it’s nice, but if that’s all you do your missing out.

For starters, most of the sites at the campground are great: fairly flat with soft ground and good tree coverage. The campground is split by Old Clifftop Rd, with the majority of the campground south of the road. We stayed on Site 15 (non-electric site), which I thought was one of the best sites. The campground was quiet, family-friendly, and clean. Some of the campsites were small and right on top of each other.

The campground is served by one bathhouse, centrally located in the middle of it. The bathhouse was fairly clean but well-used and includes flush toilets, showers, and hot water. A fairly new playground sits right next to the bathhouse. All the equipment was well-maintained and freshly mulched. Our site was close enough to the playground that we let our seven-year-old go by herself, since we could still hear her.

We only hiked on two trails, but it was some of the most fun hiking I’ve ever done. Mann’s Creek Gorge Trail is a two-mile walk from the campground to Camp Washington Carver. About a quarter of a mile you come the creek with a great swimming hole. We didn’t make it past the swimming hole but I’m looking forward to finishing the trail in the future. Island-In-the-Sky is a great climb through a tunnel of rhododendron that eventually winds up and around a rock shelf. To get to the top you have to climb up a couple ladders and over rocks. There are also several spurs off the trail that lead to overlooks and one that leads to a good size cave the size of the room.

I highly recommend that anyone looking to camp in the Fayetteville-area consider Babcock, you won’t be disappointed.

Babcock State Park, located in the thriving megapolis of Clifton, West Virginia is postcard perfect! https://wvstateparks.com/park/babcock-state-park/

The road in off the highway isn't too long, but it seemed long, winding, and up and down...especially as night fell. Driving backcountry roads in West Virginia, at night, is not my idea of fun, as I had several near misses with Bambi and her roving gang of miscreants...having no regard for traffic laws...and one knock down, drag out with minimal vehicle damage.

One of the beauties of West Virginia...it is a sparsely populated state with open, unchoked roads that lead to some of the most amazing sights. You must be willing to explore, but you will be richly rewarded.

In the dark, I did pass the campground signs without seeing them and turned into the State Park entrance...wound around past rental cabins to the park office, so I had to backtrack to the campground, which is located in a different area altogether. Driven during daylight hours, the signs are very apparent...so I'm blaming it on the deer.

We arrived midweek, the first of May, so we did not reserve a site. The campground has 52 sites, so I thought we would have a good shot as a walk-in. No worries...we shared the campground with two other campers. Our campsite (site 32) was on the inner loop of the main campground loop at sits around 2450 ft elevation. The temperature got down to 30 degrees and frost covered everything. Twenty eight sites have electric hook-ups ($28) and twenty four do not ($25). The inner loop has some mature trees but is wide open and close cut grass...every camper has a view of the other. Even the outside sites on the main loop are visible. The smaller loop to the right as you enter and a few sites to the left sit in slightly more wooded sites...but there is no foliage separating sites. There is also sites on the opposite side of the roadway when you enter the campground, but seem more like overflow sites...and a fair distance to trek for the showerhouse/restroom/laundry which is situated on the bottom of the main loop.

There is plenty of gravel parking pad for large RV/Campers at all the sites and are angled for trailer back-in. Tent pads are not define and grassy (or a muddy mix depending on weather and usage). Each site has a picnic table and fire ring.

The showerhouse/restroom is located at the front of the loop and was spotless and maintained at the time of our stay...but not climate controlled...as in, not heated. The ladies that keep the park facilities clean worked tirelessly. A very nice activity area for kids sat along the inner portion o the main loop.

The main entrance to the park offers several cabin rental, from economy to 4 bedroom, the park office/visitor's center/gift shop sit along the river. The park office staff were very helpful, friendly and wear many hats...like most state parks.

This building and surrounding stone structures, retaining walls, and staircases were built by the CCC and are magnificent and in great shape. The beautiful gift shop was once a former park restaurant of a bygone era.

Ranger Cochrane was a wealth of information about the park, it's history and neighboring parks. He graciously spent time answering my barrage of questions. Ranger Cochrane was yet another tribute to the fine personnel that WV parks have in place.

The park office is also the best location for postcard perfect pictures of the raging whitewater and gristmill. While not the original gristmill from this location, three remaining gristmills from around the state were dismantled and rebuilt into one at the present location over 30 years ago. The gristmill was very photogenic in the early Spring, but I can only imagine the splendor when the fall leaves change color.

Whitewater kayakers were readying to put in on the rain swollen and boulder strewn river that feeds into the New River below.

Boley Lake, a short drive up the mountain is picturesque and well-stoked with fish. You can paddle the 19 acre lake with personal paddle craft or rent paddleboats, canoes or rowboats from the Boley Lake Marina. Fishing is permitted, but you must have proper licensing...which can be purchased online.

Trails are everywhere and of every terrain and level of difficulty...over 20 miles of trails total. Babcock State Park is 4,127 acres, so there is plenty to see and do. Bicycling can be done on all park paved and gravel roads (no off-road trails), as well as along the Narrow Gauge Trail. And of course, being not too far from The New River and Gauley River...whitewater rafting is close.