Whether you're a tent camper, an RVer, or just passing through, Mcdowell, VA has a lot to offer. Mcdowell is an adventure-filled destination for those who love the outdoorsy camper lifestyle. But it's also great for those who prefer to spend time near the city, exploring and sightseeing. Search nearby campsites and find top-rated spots from other campers.
"There is no cell service within 30 miles, so for an outsider who doesn't know the area, it was difficult to find the campsite. You also better bring everything you need beforehand."
"This camp site was easily accessible and seats to find. The rates were very low and affordable for an avid backpacker. I stayed on one of the walk in sites with a tent pad and fire pit."
$45 - $99 / night
"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."
"Arrived after hours, staying one night. Our tag was waiting for us with a map to our RV spot with E/W by the creek and pond. It was off season, so plenty of spots and privacy."
$30 - $50 / night
"Stokesville campground is a little rough around the edges but offers access to lots of miles of trails in George Washington National Forest."
$20 - $40 / night
"We use a teardrop camper so we appreciated the water and electric hookup (although we disconnected the water at night to prevent freezing)."
"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."
$22 - $38 / night
"Staff was friendly, sites were well maintained and great location. Bath houses were clean and the chimneys were cool!"
"stayed here to be somewhat close to the national park. we ended up staying an extra night because we enjoyed the camp so much. staff was all around lovely. had a few trails around and a camp store. only"
"Spruce Knob is the highest point in West Virginia and offers great views."
"Quiet, secluded. Campground has drinking water and accessible vault toilets (spotless). No electric hook-ups. Sites are clean. Grounds are well-maintained."
$16 - $85 / night
"Our spot was right there on the water, there are bathrooms at the top of the hill. Campsites are drive up and can fit 2 vehicles. The spot also has a fire ring and picnic tables."
"I stayed on campground 1 on a lake side site with access to the lake, the views from my tent were breathtaking! The campground is clean, it has shower and flushable toilets."
"This campground has an awesome location between Harrisonburg and Luray/Shenandoah. It has great amenities like a pool and playground, a camp store and lots of friendly and helpful employees."
"Positive: Friendly staff, close to Shenandoah NP, quiet camping, every site has a fire pit. Negative: Pricing rather high"
$35 / night
"We had a gravel pull through spot with a picnic table on a wooden deck, fire pit, and full hook up. There is a pool and a playground, however they were both closed due to Covid."
"This campground is open year round and is right off the highway. There is a gas station right next to it as well as a safari park. "
$29 - $45 / night
"And of course their lake that has two jumping decks, water slide, snack bar , restaurant and off to the side a little store for floats with putt putt golf and Jenna,etc."
"Lots for them to do, great swimming lake, employees were a pleasure. Trash pick-up was awesome !! Our site was gorgeous. Not a full hook up(more on that later), but absolutely perfect."
GuideClean and right beside the safari park in Natural Bridge, cave mountain is few extra miles but is nicer in my opinion if you want nature and peace. This place does have hookups and sites are on top of one another not spaced out. It does have WiFi available and your phone will work here. Has a gas station right in front of it’s entrance and is directly off interstate
RangerThis camp ground easily accessible. Store, Bathrooms, and running water are very close. Seemed very family friendly. Some of the campsites are super close to a creek and its worth trying to get one of those! these sites are walk in, but there are some drive up sites in other areas. Crabtree falls and the AT-the Priest shelter are very close!.
GuideSite 034 Loop Morr Dates of Stay: August 30-Sept 1 Average Daily Temp: 78 Average Nighlty Tem: 64 Pet friendly spot with access to firewood on site for small fee. Tent pad, fire pit, one picnic table, and lamp post on site. Close access to Lake area with a 100 yard walk through pathway off the site. Great shade for those hot sunny days. Plenty of room on the site for tents and vehicle parking. Neighboring sites offer fair amount of privacy. Site had some trash scattered around by previous visitors. Needed to do some checking for broken flashlight pieces and glass before I allowed my dog free roam.
GuideA friend and I stayed here 3 nights while visiting Marlinton for the annual Roadkill Cook-off. Facilities are decent however Wi-Fi is extremely weak if you are more than a couple hundred feet from the restrooms. Because this entire area of WV is in the National Radio Quiet Zone, there is zero cellular service with 1-2 hours drive in any direction. If you can't get the weak WiFi service, you won't be using any data services. (Not necessarily a bad thing, but don't expect to notify family that you have arrived or are ok. Also, make sure any electronic devices you will be using for navigation have offline maps loaded before visiting.) One huge gripe is that technically you are limited to 1 sleeping unit per site, even if you only have 2 or 3 people sleeping in individual 1-person tents or a hammock. This either is not listed in the reservations information or is buried in the small print. The person checking us in told us about this, but allowed the 2 of us to camp in the same site. Being strictly a motorcycle camping person, neither I nor any traveling companions would be packing s large tent that could house all of us. The same thing could be said of 2 or 3 backpackers traveling together. For the nearly $30/night charge, this would become FAR too expensive and I'm not likely to stay here again simply because of the fear that the campground's silly rule might be enforced the next time.
LegendCampground Review: Canaan Valley State Park and Resort, Davis, West Virginia
The Canaan Valley State Park and Resort is situated in a very popular outdoor activity area...for every season. Winter brings copious snowfall and the skiing here draws thousands...downhill and XC. The summer sees backpackers, hikers, mountain bikers, gravel grinders, car-campers and RVers. Not only do you have hiking trails here on the State Park location...you can drive up to the nearby Dolly Sods Wilderness Area for camping, day-hikes or multi-day backcountry trips; Blackwater Falls (10 miles north) offers memorable falls, great hikes with long gorge views (Lindy Point a favorite). Even Seneca Rocks and Spruce Knob are only 30 minutes or so away. Possibilities are endless in this neck of the woods. This very weekend was to be the Mountainbike Festival, but due to Covid-19, well you know the rest of that story. The Abe Run Trail was a pleasant trail leaving from the campground.
The campground portion is not expansive but 34 sites are situated in three small loops (see photo of campground map). Primitive tent sites don't have water or electric and parking is roadside but you are within 100 yards of the "Comfort Station." The three "tent only" sites have only been around for a couple years...but sites 1 and 2 are in a nice grassy area away from the RV loop 2. Always verify current rates, but June 18, 2020...mid $30's nightly for nonresidents (WV residents get 30% off). Primitive tent sites were $17 a night.
The Resort Lodge, Golf course, swimming pool and a covered ice skating rink (obviously the last three mentioned being seasonal) were further up the windy park roadway. (See rates on park website).
The campground "Comfort Station," is a restroom/shower/laundry and soda machine building. The gender specific restroom/shower rooms each have two wooden stalled modern facility stools, two shower stalls (men's are separated by a shower curtain, women's by a wall); a separate unisex ADA restroom/shower sits adjacent to the men's and appears newer.
The grounds are well-maintained and manicured as are all WV State Parks. Trails are scattered throughout the park. some are foot traffic only, others permit bicycles. The Back Hollow Trail was predominantly a mown grass trail but occasional wooded sections were rocky two-track. This is Wet Virginia, so expect to experience rain and bring foul weather gear in the summer months. I have mastered the fine art of campsite tarping due to West Virginia camping. It also still gets chilly in these mountains during the early summer months.
Deer meander through the primitive tent sites with their fawns each morning and evening. A kid's playground is situated beside (separated by a field) primitive tent sites 1 & 2.
We spent three days in June and experienced afternoon rain showers daily, but arranged our hikes and bikes around them.
TravelerDon't stay there if you have a large group of any more then 10 campers. We called ahead and asked if they had a group site and they said they did. Sites are hard to read where the boundaries are. Also quiet hour means bed time there. No quietly sitting around the fire chilling.
LegendThis campground has an awesome location between Harrisonburg and Luray/Shenandoah. It has great amenities like a pool and playground, a camp store and lots of friendly and helpful employees. I love that they will pick up your trash and deliver firewood. We stayed in a non-electric grass tent site in loop D. The sites are great! Nice and flat and shady. They come with a huge fire pit and a picnic table. There is only one bath house in the campground that has plenty of bathrooms and showers. A very nice stay!
GuideI'm sure this is an amazing campsite, but it was a little to rustic for my liking. There is no cell service within 30 miles, so for an outsider who doesn't know the area, it was difficult to find the campsite. You also better bring everything you need beforehand. There are no grocery stores anywhere near the campsite and we didn't have any food with us. The firewood is unbundled and there are no showers. We ended up not staying here because we were not prepared. It is nice that each campsite has a stone "oven" as a fire pit and a trash can on site.
RangerWe spent five days here over Memorial Day weekend, the campsite itself is nicely wooded, has a well-supplied store with very friendly staff, a stocked trout pond, and has a nice small lake. The trout pond is a nice touch you can fish without a license, and you pay for what you catch, we enjoyed fresh trout for dinner during our stay, and from what I saw, anybody with a hook can catch one. We watched them restock the pond in the morning before the holiday weekend. The other lake on the property is a nice place to walk, the campsite provides kayaks and paddle boats as well, at no charge. We had a site on the permitter, which was nice, as the interior sites are really on top of one another, we were just a few sites off the lake, but backing up to the woods certainly gave us a little more privacy. The sites are rather small and close to one another, and definitely showing signs of age from the washed-away, uneven gravel pads, to some other aging amenities. We noticed serval sites loaded with perhaps a dozen people, often blasting music (during the day and not during quiet hours, but still…) really living it up, not the fault of the campground, but it did seem a little unregulated and overrun with multiple vehicles in the roads etc. There is a central restroom facility, just the one, for the entire campground, and the men's room was 2 stalls and a urinal with 2 showers, it was cleaned daily, although not what I'd call spotless, and the woman's room apparently had some plumbing issues the weekend we were there. The location of the campground is remote with zero cell coverage or wifi, and other than the store on-site, there isn't much outside of a few hiking trails, within 30 minutes. Roughly 45 minutes away are from some breweries and wineries. I think we would have enjoyed this campground a little more had it not been as busy, the older facility couldn't really keep up with the crowd.
Frequently Asked Questions
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According to TheDyrt.com, the most popular glamping campground near Mcdowell, VA is Seneca State Forest with a 4.7-star rating from 12 reviews.
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