Best Cabin Camping near Afton, VA

Thunder BRidge is a unique property tucked away in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Near Natural Bridge State Park in Virginia, the campground was once a CCC camp. Now it is home to many quiet tent sites, screen cabins, log cabins, and even some fully furnished rental cabins.

The campground is about 60% wooded, the rest is open ground with buildings from the camp's earlier days. The open area includes  several artists' studios.  At one edge is a forest creek, great for wading. 

The campground is mostly tenting sites and rustic cabins, but there are RV sites in the open area.

This is not a "resort" but you won't find a more beautiful, quiet campground!

We camped here the last night of the season (Nov30) and shared the campground with a mix of tent campers, car/van campers, and a few larger units. The bathrooms were plentiful, heated, hot running water, and a utility sink available. Our site had some privacy and some extra due to about 50% occupancy. Showers and laundry were closed for the season but are centrally located near entrance area of campground. Elevation above 3000 feet and plenty of deer! It was an especially cold night hitting a low of 14F. Very happy for the nearby heated restrooms with hot running water.

In our opinion this is the best campground in Shenandoah National Park. Sites are large and many offer privacy. Sites include fire ring and picnic tables. Some of the sites have a mountain view where you can watch the sunset. The campground has great facilities including flush toilets, hot and cold running water, indoor showers ($1.75 for 5 minutes), laundromat, camp store with groceries, camping supplies, wine and beer, sandwiches, and morning coffee. The sites are $15 per night in this campground, and there is an entrance fee into Shenandoah National Park (we paid $30 for a week). The Appalachian Trail runs thru this campground and offers some great hiking.

Part of the VA State Park system, BCL is exceptionally well-maintained. Most of the site are RV accessible, but there are a few tent-only sites along the lake, which is where we stayed. These sites are absolutely beautiful--great lake views, and while the only swimming allowed is at the roped off beach area, there is a canoe launch and fishing opportunities right at the campsites.

The tent pads are filled with shredded tires instead of gravel or dirt, which provides a little extra cushion, but can be uncomfortable on bare feet.

All sites have fire rings, lantern hooks, and extra long picnic tables. Tent pads are of varying sizes--we stayed in site A12 and our 6 person tent fit easily, and we could have fit a second one-many of our camp neighbors had 10 person tents set up.

The water view loop was not heavily trafficked, though the water does provide a hazard if you have small children as it is not roped off in any way. Our kids loved having the water right there and we loved watching them, it just requires extra vigilance. Loops B and C have more sites that are very shady but closer together, and there is more vehicle and bicycle traffic going past campsites.

Bathrooms are clean, and have showers and electrical outlets to charge devices if needed.

The park has lots of hiking, including trails that go directly from the camp sites to the swimming area, boat/canoe rentals, cabins, fishing, and a lakeside diner that sells concessions. Campsites allegedly have Wifi though we did not test this to see how reliable it is.

Cumberland County is only at 455' elevation, so the heat and humidity in the summer is intense--we were very uncomfortable our first night because of this, so fall would probably be the best time to go as it is when central Virginia has the best weather.

Montebello is a lovely campground. There are tent, RV sites and cabins with campground bathroom. There are showers, slop sink and laundry. The pond at front has stocked trout and a small lake in the back has bass and crappie. Suitable for paddle boats or kayak. There was also a playground for children. You check in at the cute store across the street.

I stayed in the tent area. The site has a fine gravel pad, picnic table and fire ring. I was in site 2 near the lake. A crowd with chairs sat above my site on the hill that were rather noisy. But biggest drawback was distance to bathroom which I had to drive to.

Lots of good trails nearby and a small one around the lake. I plan to return in the fall.

We did not have a reservation and were lucky to get a site. It is a large campground with 200 sites for RV's & tent campers. The site we had was primitive, no water or electric, but had a picnic table, fire ring, & a bear box. Although the sites were close, they were situated to maximize privacy. The campgrounds had plenty of restrooms with flush toilets & sinks. The camp store has laundry facilities and showers that you must pay for, $1.75 for 5 minutes. The grounds and facilities are very clean. An added bonus, you can access the Appalachian Trail right from the campgrounds that provides amazing views