Best Campgrounds near Mcdowell, VA

We found this campsite well-maintained and just as it is described on the Dyrt booking website. There’s no running water or facilities but as long as you come prepared it’s an easy one or two night campsite. It’s super close (only an hour drive) to Shenandoah NP! Host is super responsive to questions/concerns that arise but it’s not necessary to communicate with them if you prefer the privacy. The site is located off of a road in a quiet neighborhood. Not very well marked but if you follow the directions after booking you’ll find it no problem. The houses as well as the road in the vacinity produce noise but nothing out of the ordinary. We hiked up the hill that the site is on the base of which was a fun excuse to explore/stretch our legs and watched the sunset from up there. Great little spot for our 2p tent! Anything bigger might be a tighter squeeze but you could probably manage with some creativity.

KOAs have a standard formula that you can count on: clean, full RV hookups, easy in and out etc. This one has all that - and more! One of the features I look for in campground is hiking trails right out of the campground. Most KOAs don’t have that - but this one does! Great hiking trail info the hills and woods at the back of the property. Gave me and my pups a chance to run, walk & stretch. Also, many KOAs are right near highways or big roads. Not this one. It’s about 3 miles off highest 81, and no highway noise at all. So peaceful. We will return!

I camped out there for 5 days in my tent, which included a Friday and Saturday night. During the weekdays, it was quiet and lovely. Sure, the occasional dog barking, though typically from a distant farm.

But then came the weekend crowd .... It immediately became a very unpleasant experience. In spite of the posted rules about the number of vehicles/people per site, and in spite of the rules about being quiet after a certain reasonable hour (I can't remember if it said 9 PM or 10 PM), the place turned into party central with one of the sites within 50 feet of my own campsite suddenly blasting music, lots of loud yelling and laughter, at least 6 vehicles. Even with earplugs, I could not make it quiet enough to sleep.

What annoyed me is that there is in fact an on-site camp host who surely would have heard the same unruly volume, but did nothing to tell them to stop or be quiet or even to disperse since they were above the limit per campsite. 

So if I ever return here, I will NEVER do so on a weekend. The spots are just too close together if the camp host isn't going to do anything about party-central campers.

We strolled up the mountain in our 39ft skoolie. It snowed and we had a really good time!

There were a ton of things for the kids to do here which was great. I really enjoyed the water park myself as it was in the high 90's/low 100's when we were there. Our campsite was fine near the river, nothing spectacular though as we were on the end of the row and our site had a bit of a slope to it. I'd stay here again.

First time camping here in RV. Run/hiked the AT to Hanging Rock. Bath house was warm and clean! Quiet but quite a few other friendly after Christmas rv campers. Great time, just wish the rain would have held off!

Every year we my family does a "friends and family" camping trip.  We always try to stay somewhere where there are a lot of activities and the campsites are spaced far apart.  (My family tends to be loud).   Jess Judy fits this build.

We have camped at Jess Judy at least a half dozen times and I aways enjoy it.  We normally go in August so that we can swim, fish, hike, go tubing, rock climbing or just go exploring.  Our last trip was in late September and even though it rained the entire time, it was still a nice trip.  

Jess Judy is:

Remote - Jess Judy is in the middle of nowhere, in order to get to the campsites you have to drive 3 miles down a gravel road that tends to wash out into the river.   In addition to the access road, there is no cell service with in a 20 min drive.

Small - Jess Judy only has 3 group camp sites and there isn't too much separating them from each other. 

Primitive Sites - Jess Judy doesn't offer any running water, or other amenities besides two latrines that may or may not be clean.  Be prepared to bring in all of you water and be ready to clean a latrine. 

Tent Camping Only - Jess Judy only offers tent camping for groups, works for us but not for everyone.

Lots of Activities - Jess Judy offers a lot of outdoor activities including fishing, hiking, kayaking, rafting, river swimming, star gazing, rock climbing, etc.

In short, we love Jess Judy, but I know that it really isn't for most people.

This was such a awesome campground!! First time ever staying and everybody was so helpful and friendly. He had the camp host come and check on us to see how things were. We stayed at the group 105 site and could not have been happier with that pick. It was off all by itself with the other 4 group primitive sites. Sites were huge and you could arrange and set up however you liked. Really loved that having 2 vehicles and 3 tents we had so much room. Loved the bathhouse being close too. Just a quick little walk/or drive around the corner the showers and stalls were so clean as well. Fire ring was huge too and they have wood on site. We even checked out the restaurant and bar/brewery on site. Everything looked so cool loved the way everything was set up. We will 100% be coming back and do the group site again. ur original plans of going off into the national forest and dispersed camping got canceled so we hated we couldn't do that. But this site the way they are set up really makes you feel like you are still out there disperse camping but with the luxury of a campground being so close. Loved it so much!

This place has tons of activities for kids and teens. This place has a family feel to it.

Went in August and it was very buggy, also had someone park pretty close which when I drive down a really long dirt road that is questionable for my van, i want it to be private and this was about 5 miles of dirt road to get to it.

I love this campground, it’s 5 to 10 minutes from BV, right on the river, primitive with bathrooms, which is fine with me, I sleep in my forerunner with my two dogs, plenty of land and trails, it’s perfect for what I need👍

Less than 10 campsites, all with fire circles and a public bathroom site. each campsite is on the river, very beautiful.

There are numerous disbursed camping sites at this location. We arrived on a Sunday and found all the sites near the vaulted toilet empty.

The campsites are boarded by boulders. The toilet was one of the cleanest I have seen. Most sites have good shade while still open to the sky.

Sites are level and have good back-in driveways. Fire rings are large. We removed lots of trash from our fire ring, mostly aluminum cans.

My Rv sustained damage from a tree. The staff were awesome but the owner wasn’t. She wouldn’t even acknowledge me or say how sorry she was. Then she had me assigned to the worst site in the park. I have never been treated so terribly. She was only interested in her revenue and not the people.