Best Cabin Camping near Big Island, 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!

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!

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 went off season in March of 2018. It was the perfect time to go as it was still "wintery", but had days of mild weather to allow for hiking. The lake is huge and allows for boating and fishing. There's a beach that you can swim from. They have several cabins that are well maintained and clean. We stayed in a cabin. But, we also checked out the tent camping pads. I would not recommend for camping with a tent as the sites are stacked on top of each other offering little to no privacy. The RV/camper sites might be better. I can't say for sure as I don't rv camp. The cabins were phenomenal. They offer a clean and basic setup with a wood stove. The exterior has a porch/deck, grill, firepit, and picnic table. Some of the cabins backup to the lake. The cabins are spread so that their is ample space between them offering privacy. Beautifully maintained, the park was pristine. The visitor center is large and offers education, camp store, literature. I am going back!

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!

While my initial feeling was one of a run down campground, it's obvious the new owners are working to make it better. The bathhouse is nice as is the pool. The store was sparse but adequate. The lawns were kept up and looking good. There is a very nice playground and a pet exercise area. You can fish in the lake though we didn't catch anything. Wifi is free and open so no password and therefore, not secure. Trash picked up each day. Our site 33 was full hookup and a very nice, mostly level, spacious, and had a covered picnic table on a deck. Not all sites have full hookup. It was separated from the site on one side and close to the site on the back side. My only complaint is about the people who walked past our site along the lake side (about 10 ft. between our sitting area and the lake and even less from our picnic table) when 2 other sides of the lake were wide open with no camping near the lake. Not the campgrounds fault.

The sites along the lower area near the lake were shaded mostly, some more than others, while the sites up the hill at the top and near the front entrance (pull through sites) were not shaded much. There are cabins for rent as well up on the top of the hill.  Overall, a nice campground with potential and the new owners are doing a good job.

Stayed here for a long weekend. We had our 20 foot camper trailer and our friends stayed in - cabin. Pro’s:Our campsite was nice, fairly private and backed up to a creek. Relatively level site. Location of campground was excellent with convenient access to breweries, great hike, blue ridge parkway, etc. large campground with lots of camp sites.

Con’s: we called and called to to inquire about some of our reservation needs, could rarely reach anyone. Rarely staffed in the shoulder season of the fall. Asked about fire would and was told told that they don’t have it ( they didn’t say they were out or didn’t have any at that time, just they don’t sell firewood) Later in the evening a new set of campers checked in after hours and had fire wood waiting for them. Our friends checked in after hours and we’re not provided a door code for their cabin and someone had to crawl through an unlocked window. No after hours number. When staff informed the next day, no attempt to apologize. The cabin seemed to be infested with stink bugs. Bathrooms were poorly maintained. Definitely functioning and clean but needs sim TLC and upgrades. Trash bins through out site tipped over every morning and didn’t seem to be collected. The electric hookup circuit breaker was very loose.

Overall, I would choose somewhere else to stay next time.