Douthat State Park Campground

Swimming in this beautiful and very swimmable and safe lake is limited to a kiddie area - useless if you're looking for exercise.  Count on a ranger yelling if you go elsewhere despite the absence of "no-swimming" signs.  (Lots of signs about not feeding the wildlife).  Tennessee state parks, for example, allow swimming in huge lakes swamped with jet-skis and speed boats.  Lake Norris, Harrison Bay...  What's wrong with "swim at your own risk?"   No cellular signal which can be a plus.  Old fashioned pay phone available for the generation that knows how to operate those.

General: There are four campgrounds in Douthat State Park - White Oak, Whispering Pines, Lakeside, and Beaver Dam (equestrian), each in a separate location. This review is for White Oak. White Oak has 31 sites and It was full when we were there on a Tuesday in mid-October. 

Site Quality: All sites (except 17 and possibly 18) appeared level and were very generous in size with long driveways. Many trees separate the sites. A picnic table, lantern hook, and fire ring complete the site. Sites 22-29 are tucked further away from the others and the bathhouse. 

Bathhouse: Clean and modern. Showers were available but I did not use them so I cannot comment on how well they worked. 

Activities/Amenities: A dishwashing sink, fish cleaning area, and many hiking trails throughout the park, including one (to Blue Suck Falls) that has access directly from the campground. We hiked this but the waterfall was just a trickle when we were there! 

We met friends here, so it was nice to have adjoining sites. Bear warnings were posted throughout the campground, but we didn’t see any!

This park is in one of my favorite parts of VA. Very beautiful area with plenty of off grid seclusion! It’s a nice scenic drive getting to the park on a quiet and well maintained back road.

The rangers at the park are very knowledgeable and kind and have no problem answering questions. There are many camping areas in the park, Some near creeks and on the lake as well. There are also cabins here! Plenty of picnic areas and great fishing as well!

It’s $8 a day for a fishing pass and you can rent John boats or kayaks here as well, In season the lake and creek are stocked with plenty of Rainbow trout. You can keep them for dinner if you like! Just follow all DNR laws on size and amount!

Some spots include clean bathrooms, hot showers, soda machines, fish fillet tables, Picnic tables, fire pits and so on.

I highly recommend this park for your next getaway or along your way!

We will make this an annual event... the grandchildren love it!  Great camping, nice beach and swim area, lot's of hiking and biking trails, a campground store... everything you would need and want in a campground!

This is our favorite campsite and park that we’ve been to in the state of Virginia! We have so many more to explore but Douthat state park is huge the lake is so much fun, and the trails go for miles! We just started camping and hiking and can’t wait to explore more of the country!!

This place is definitely a gem. Wide open space flat well maintained pads clean bathrooms and showers. Excellent fishing no full time residents.

Douthat State Park has a lot of different trails for both hikers and mountain bikers. It's a great place to set up base camp and go out and explore during the day. The facilities are on par with other VA state parks. The bathrooms and showers are well maintained, but aren't anything fancy. There are a lot of campsites, and a lot of RVs and campers, but plenty of tent campers as well! There's very little Verizon cell service in this park.

We followed the signs off the interstate plus our RV GPS and Waze were right on. As we got to the camping areas there was a sign showing the campground names. We were in Whispering Pines CG and it wasn’t on the sign. However, a very short distance further there was a CG to our right and guess what, it was Whispering Pines. So we drove in and the camp host met us and handed us our info package and tags plus told us the basic rules and asked if we had any questions. We then proceeded to back-in site 16 with Water& 50 AMP. The back-in was just okay mostly because we were not on our game. Really nice and spacious sites in this CG. Really didn’t see where one site is better than another. There is a large creek to one side of the big circle CG but none of the sites sit right on the creek. On the creek side of the CG, some sites are just across the CG road from the creek. Another nice feature is that there is a workout area and playground out the back side of the CG, thus those allergic to kids don’t have to worry about being close to the playground. We got 2 bars Verizon and 3 bars AT&T. You are in a valley, so no OTA channels. Once we got towards the main state park area, spotty to no Verizon signal. We hiked the Blue Suck Falls Trail from the main park area. It was a 1.4 mile hike up to the little falls, which was a moderate to difficult hike due to the rocks and very shallow creek crossings encountered on the trail. Its well worth the trip to the Humpback Bridge about 30 minutes away. In our humble opinion, compared to other covered bridges we have seen in our travels its on par with the Bridges of Madison County. Douthat is a great little state park that we would definitely come back to again.

Stayed here in February 2021 at the Whispering Pines camp. Facilities are great, sites are close but not right on top of each other. Camping pads are as expected from state park. Great off-season camping as we shared the whole grounds with only a few other campers.

Only complaints are Whispering Pines is near enough to the main road that you get a lot of road noise, and the walking path to the lake has un-maintained stream crossings, which is probably ok in summer... but not as fun in winter.

We stayed here 4 days and 3 nights in November. We use a teardrop camper so we appreciated the water and electric hookup (although we disconnected the water at night to prevent freezing). The sites are large but there really aren’t trees between sites although we were on a corner and so had some sense of privacy. The bathrooms were incredibly clean and heated. Showers were terrific as well. Staff were kind and knowledgeable. A stream runs beside the campground and the lake, though small, is nice to paddle around in a kayak. We arrived the day after trout stocking and so there were quite a few fishermen in the stream and on the lake. I caught a few large trout in the stream on a fly but it really was a bit like fishing in a barrel. There are many hiking trails nearby with a variety of difficulty. We chose a couple that provided nice views. I imagine it would be a great place for kids.

This was by far one of the best camping trips ever!! I took my grandkids tent camping and we had a fantastic time. The hiking and lake is amazing. We spent a lot of time at the beach and it was so beautiful plus it has a water playground, a diving dock, trees close by so there is shade on the beach in the afternoon, and a snack shack. You can rent boats too. There are multiple camping areas which include one water side so you can have access to the water with your canoes and kayaks, one for big rigs, one for equestrian, and one for tents and smaller campers. This place is beautiful and quiet. We loved it here!! Make reservations because it books up quick. Also, they have many cabins and they are placed wonderfully on the mountain. We went to the Humpback Bridge and a cool train museum that were close the campground.

Camps are not crowded, nice swim lake good trails for hiking. Beware of possible bears and properly hang or store food and keep food prep items cleaned. You will see animals in this area.

Great shaded camp sites. Bathrooms were very clean. Individual showers with outside door access. The hiking in the park provided great trails with wonderful views. Rangers and camp hosts were very friendly. I would definitely go back. Falling Spring Falls and Humpback Bridge were a short drive away.

Douthat (Doubt-that) State Park is a campers dream!  Level sites with or with out hook ups, well spaced apart, fairly private, and in the middle of a pretty good forest!

Kid and pet friendly, this park has a nice lake for Kayaking/canoeing, multiple hiking trails with views, excellent opportunities for wildlife watching, and great biking trails.

It is off the beaten path so it appears to be less visited than other Virginia State Parks.

It’s a really nice campground. Has a large lake for fishing and swimming. Only downside would be that it’s hard to find a really level spot on your site. I got lucky but the sites around me not so much.

Stayed here for two nights in the middle of the week in the summer of 2019.  I stayed in one of the lakeside sites.

Generally this is a nice campground...not too big and pretty quiet.  I met more people in this campground than all of the others combined, a nice group of folks.   

Downsides are that it is pretty pricey ($40?) and the sites by the lake are not especially private, actually the area is pretty much wide open.  

The lake is nice, and there is nice hiking along the shore.

If you are fishing make sure you have a license.

Small beach head but is clean easily handycap accessible, park is cover a large area which can be hiked or driven, narrow country roads.had a fantastic time

A favorite of our for years! All types of sites and hookups plus cabins. Fishing, lake swimming, hiking, educational opportunities galore. Security is good but not overwhelming. Virginia is for lovers and camping lovers!

Douthat is amazing! There are three camping loops here but we love to stay in the white oak loop which is secluded and the majority of the sites have the creek on the back side of your site. My children love to go down in the creek and skip rocks, play in the water, and catch crawfish. they have a huge lake with a nice beach with lifeguards. You are also allowed to rent boats that go out on the lake. The damn to the lake has beautiful falls that take you to a small pond area where they stock it with fish for kids that are 12 and under. There are a ton of trails! We did one that took us to a scenic overlook of the lake and damn and another that took us to a waterfall. I also loved that we didn’t have cell reception in the white oak loop which meant I could completely leave work at home and enjoy the time with my family!

Great hiking and fishing. Lots of trails, with waterfalls and beautiful overlooks. Nice elevation changes. Decent topi map at front desk, but not good info in the take away maps. Only 1 Park Ranger (supervisor) had any personal knowledge about the extensive trails. No cell service, so no help there. Definitely going back for more hiking.

Kids fishing area and lots of creek access plenty of boats and the like, for rent

We went before the lake was officially open. The beach was covered in bees and there was garbage in the water.

Only 1 loop, Lakeside, that’s truly set up for tent campers. All other looos were geared toward motorized campers :(

Fun trails to go ride around on your bike all day

A quiet great place, we love to camp this park you have all you want if you love outdoors: lake, hiking trails, horseback riding trails, RV’s site, tent site, cabins... the rest is pure fun...

We staying in Whispering Pines campground which was actually a few miles how the road from the heart of the park. Nice large level stone lots, nice bathrooms and private showers, very clean. We did a decent amount of biking here, the main road is nice for road biking, we rode out about 15 miles and back, saw a black bear. Beautiful country roads. And the trails are great for mountain biking. Bring your legs, lots of climbing!

Lovely falls over a dam, sandy beach, picnic areas, hiking on a trail maintained by the (Youth Conservation Corps), kayaking. The tents-only area is close to the little lake. Lots of trees and shade, privacy is ok. Nice views over the lake along rolling hills. Nice and rustic.

We stopped here for the night on our way over to Johnson City from Shenandoah NP. It was a really nice, clean and relaxing place to do so. The dogs were able to go swimming before the lake opened up in the morning and everything was very clean. There were also many hiking options. My only advise would be to bring bug spray- especially in the summer. Those black flies were relentless!