Best Tent Camping near Amelia Court House, VA

North Carolina certainly puts its state park system as a priority! I am very impressed. This park is beautifully maintained, has myriad opportunities for recreation, and is in a scenic setting along Lake James and the Catawba River at the base of the Blue Ridge mountains. The park is quite large, and has an extensive set of trails for mountain biking as well as hiking, and the National Intermountain Historic Hiking trail also runs through the park. Water recreation includes kayaking, canoeing and boating with rentals available right in the oark, fishing, including trout fishing on the Catawba and feeder streams to it, and just lying on their beautiful beach—yes, even in December! Ranger led park programs are offered year round, this week included a natural history boat tour in the lake, and a naturalist talk on loons. The park encompasses several peninsulas and bays on Lake James, we were at Paddy Creek where there are nice drive in tent sites, but there are also more secluded walk in or hike in tent site options. The drive-in tent campground has a year round campground host, a brand new shower house and nice bathrooms, plentiful water pumps, and each tent site has a picnic table, steel fire ring, tent pad, and a well built “Bear Box.” Yes, this is bear country! Your food needs to be locked away in a bear box or you will have visitors

We’ve been here twice. Once for our anniversary and we stayed in one of the cabins with our dog, and once tent camping. The cabin was reasonably priced and comfortable. They are all grouped together and could be fun for a family reunion or some larger gathering with friends. The tent camping experience was with our kids, and it was a little hard to keep them entertained. The hiking trails were a short distraction, but not long or difficult enough to wear them out.

Awesome place. Crazy raccoons.

Boat in sites. Tent camping. Reserve early, especially weekends.

Have fun!

A lot of effort was put into remodeling the bathhouses, making them surprisingly welcoming. Many variations of tent sites available and sites are easily located.

This campground is good for horse back riding (have stables you can rent) or tubing down the James River (have tubes you can rent). They'll take you to the drop off and you can float down. Have to be 6 or older (we had a 4 yr old), the grass at all sites was 6-10" high making it not fun for anyone, esp. kids (we have 2). They were mowing on the day we left.

As far as the tent sites by the river it's a good 50 to 75 feet from the campsite to your vehicle. There is not really good access to the river from camp sites except for two of them. There is plenty of room at the campsite and some trees for shade. Unless you are bringing horses and staying there, the showers and nice bathrooms are a drive away. Tent sites have permanent holes in the ground and no running water. if you know what you getting into it would be OK.

Tent sites are shady, although some can be VERY close to one another. There’s a nice beach area and the park seems to offer boat rentals (unsure of COVID policies at the moment, though). 🛶

The playgrounds and amenities for kids are cute, and the bathrooms are clean. The park sells wood and has a little mini outdoor library and charging station which is adorable and something I don’t see often 💜

Bear Creek Lake is a bit off the beaten path which was one of the things I really loved about it. My kids and I camped in a tent on the Chestnut Loop, which was well shaded by trees and the bathrooms were incredibly clean. The sites are a little close to each other for my taste, but everything else was so nice I didn't let it bother me.

The lake itself is smallish, but the scenery is beautiful. We rented kayaks and the staff were all very nice and helpful. There is a small beach area for swimming, but I'm not a fan of swimming in lakes myself so I skipped visiting that area. Instead we hiked the very scenic trails around the lake, which are well marked for the most part.

In all, this was a very nice park to visit for camping, hiking and kayaking. I imagine I'll be returning again in the future.

Paddys Creek Drive-in Tent Camping 

I know you can't control the weather but the night we tried to stay here, it POURED! I'll get to why it is an issue in a bit. The park and campground are one of the newest in North Carolina. The facilities are nice, new and clean. The campsites are big but on a hill with parking below the sites. The camp pad is surrounded by a wood frame. That is the catch - the wood frame! When it started to rain, the water pooled up in the camp pad area since it had no where to drain. In a matter of minutes, our tent was floating in 6 inches of water. We could have toughed it out but at this point it was early enough in the night to just pack up, mud, wet tent, wet dog and all. I would try again but I hope it doesn't rain.

This park was well maintained, as most state parks have been.  However, the sites were a good size but were very difficult to get even a small trailer into the site due to the narrow roads.  We were tent camping, in the beginning of May, and the weather was cold and wet.  The swimming area was nice for the kids, but no lifeguard was on duty at that time.  No luck with shore fishing from everyone I talked to.  The sites were a good combination of sun and shade, great view of stars on clear nights.  Common areas can fill up with groups during the day on weekends.  Courthouse was only about 15min away and offered a very interesting visit of a historical site.   Overall, not our favorite campground, but this was mainly to the pain getting into a site.

This state park is amazing, it is close to the Richmond metro but allows an easy and wonderful retreat to nature. I was there in early June, and it wasnt crowded, though I can imagine it might be later in the summer. There are numerous camping options here, ranging from tent camping to RV’s to camper cabins to yurts, to regular full service glamping cabins, all in different sections. There is also an area set aside that could be rented for a group retreat or group summer camp, with groups of cabins around meeting space and dining hall area. The full service cabins are new and very upscale; the camper cabins are older but well maintained. The yurts are lovely too. I car camped in a standard site, all the campsites are wooded, shady, fairly private and well spaced. The park is huge and has lots of recreation, from miles of hiking and riding trails, biking and more. Very family friendly, with playgrounds, an incredible waterpark and pool, and nature programs at the visitor center. There is also a summer series of concerts etc in the park. Highly recommended!

So much to say! We’ve loved our trips to Pocahontas, even in the cold months of December and March. For one, the bathrooms/showers are nice and toasty (and super clean). I was there in December for a camping and mountain biking trip with Scouts. The group site we were at was very spacious and private. There were a few RV/tent sites nearby but not very close. We felt quite secluded but it wasn’t too far to walk to the bathrooms. The bike trails were epic fun! Some areas were more challenging than others, likely because there had been a lot of rain and wet leaves on steep bike trails can be tough to avoid slipping/sliding. But we made the best of it. I returned a few months later for a NOLS Wilderness First Aid course that was held in a large dining hall on the park’s property. It couldn’t have been more perfect! We camped there and drove to the dining hall each day for class. It was very well-organized! I have fond memories of this park and look forward to returning during other times of the year for more fun things to participate in!

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.

This is the largest state campground in VA. It is very pretty and clean. Nice facilities modern but not new, clean. Lots of tents and good level tent areas at each camp site. You have a little bit of room and the sites are tucked back in the trees. It was a quite night, I slept right through. North Star Truck Camper GMC 2500HD. One more in my quest for 1state park in every state, 4/50!

I gave this campground a 3 out of 5, mostly because it wasn't very memorable. I had a good time there with my family, but there wasn't anything that really stood out to me.

Also, I really love to hike and get out into nature when I camp. Powhatan, Virginia isn't the best place for that compared to all of the amazing wilderness you can find in other parts of Virginia.

The sites were a little close together for my liking, but they were still very nice.

The staff was very helpful and friendly.

Overall, Paddy's Creek is really nice. The bath house seems nearly new & clean. The sites are all nicely taken care of, & even though they're a little close together there are enough trees to separate them. Also, down the hill ~100 yards, through the forest, was a nice little private "beach" on the lake!

One note: The camping area for sites 6 & 7 are about 8-10 steps down from the parking pad. This wouldn't be a problem if you're ground camping, in fact, it may even be a bonus because it gives you even more privacy! But we have a roof top tent, so it wasn't ideal to have our vehicle & tent a little disconnected from the fire & table area. It's not a deal breaker, but I, personally, wouldn't book these particular sites for a roof top tent.

Camping with our Taxa Cricket; sites are slightly inclined, with some better than others— the tent and small camper sites are deeper in the woods (and flatter!). Very clean and tidy.

We stayed at site L12 on the Long Arm Campground #2. The paddle in was ok but there was some boat traffic. The site was very nice, however, it would be better to choose a site from 14 or higher. Sites 11, 12, and 13 are nice but the landing is in a shallow algae filled cove. Not ideal for swimming. I've seen complaints about the tent pads holding water but since there are plenty of trees for hammocks, we did not use a tent.

This was our first time camping at state park with our dogs and it has been great. We were able to score a campsite with a view of the lake and easy access to the Channel Cat Loop trail. Our tent pad was covered in rubber pieces which made for a comfortable base for our tent, and the separate area with fire pit, picnic table and pattern hooks was awesome. Another couple joined us and there was plenty of room for all four people and three dogs to spread out. Fell even more in love when majority of campsites left on Sunday, leaving peace and quiet all around. Bonus is having the dog only section at the swimming beach, which made for a fun afternoon with our pups.

If you are in an RV this place makes sense completely with a standard rate of $44 for a basic water and electric site or $46 to add sewer. But if you are a tent camper like myself the price point of $44 is a bit to much just to lay my head on the ground with a few amenities. There are far more locations in the area at a much more reasonable rate for tents.

With that being said, this campground is quaint and nice. With a catch and release pond, a nice pool, a rec center and an additional catfish pond there are plenty of activities to keep you busy. Not to mention, this place looks like a story book location early in the morning with the rolling of the fog across the hills.

I did notice a few other negatives however at this camp. There are two bathhouses but they are kind of small considering the volume of people which stay here. I would recommend showering during somewhat off hours to avoid the influx of people. Also the WIFI here was a bit weak if you were not near the office.

All in all this place is nice I will say and should I travel back through this area in an RV it would be worth the price point in going back. As I was in a tent however I feel it was a bit much to give it a higher rating.

The trails at this park are very well maintained. They are designated as hiking, biking, and/or horseback riding, so you'll know which trails are best for your activity.

This park has some of the best bike trails in the state - over 25 miles. Several new mountain-bike-only trails opened just this year. The difficulties are clearly marked as Novice through Expert. They even installed maintenance equipment at the entrance of each new trail so you can make minor adjustments without carrying your own equipment.

A number of the hiking trails through this park are wide fire roads. Smaller paths wind throughout the park connecting the larger trails together. Be sure to get a park map before you start your adventure. This is the largest state park in Virginia and it's easy to get turned around.

If you're into Geocaching, or want to learn how, you can pick up a hand-held GPS from the park office along with a list of the geocaches located in the park. The geocaches are rotated on a fairly frequent basis, so there will always be new caches for you to find.

Pocahontas State Park has a great Nature Center where you can pet or hold some of the smaller snakes, and watch the box turtles wander around. Here you can learn about the local plants and wildlife so you know what to look for out on the trail. There are even craft activities for the little ones. Just check with the park office or the Nature Center for a schedule of events.

For water lovers there is a large swimming pool that is open during the summer months. If you're camping for the night, your entrance to the pool is included in your stay. Or, if you prefer kayaks and canoes, you can put in at Swift Creek Lake for a flatwater paddle. The park has rental equipment if need to borrow gear.

The southern end of the park has been designed for the horse lovers. There is ample parking for trailers and miles of wide trails so you don't have to ride single file. The park includes new facilities for your horses including two exercise rings. There are no overnight facilities for horses at this park.

The camping sites are nothing special. Tent and RV camping are in the same area. They do provide plenty of room for your tent, and include a picnic table and fire ring. Many of the sites are in almost full sun, so you may want to bring a shade of some type with you.

Beware that there is a huge tick population in this park. Be sure to wear bug spray if you'll be out in the woods at any point.

All-in-all, this is a fantastic park for families. There is a little bit of everything for everyone in your family.

The facilities here are some of the best. The bathhouse was immaculate and the campsite large enough for two tents to share comfortably. Would definitely recommend.

The most convenient campground in proximity to Kings Dominion. Clean bathrooms, well maintained. Recommend the raised platform for folks with tents if it rains as the video will show.