Best Tent Camping near Shenandoah, VA

We hiked the one mile into the campground and stayed for a night. It was a pretty flat walk from the overnight parking area to the campground. In the campground there is one bathroom facility with two vault toilets (although one of the doors was locked while we were there, which was unpleasant with a full campground). No running water or showers in the bathhouses. Non-potable water pump is near the restroom. Boil water at least three minutes before consuming. There are two areas with firewood (purchase when you check in or pay $6 cash at the kiosk - honor system). Each site has a bear box, fire ring, picnic table, tent pad with pea gravel, and a lantern pole. Definitely will be back!

The park has wide open rolling hills and mountain views. Lots of families picnicking and flying kites 🪁💙

Loft Mountain was the third stop on our tour of Shenandoah National Park. First stop traveling south on Skyline Drive was Mathews Arm and second was Big Meadows at about the halfway point. Loft Mountain is at about the 3/4 mark. These parks are well spaced for viewing and hiking in between each campground.

I'm a big fan of campgrounds in national parks. Why do I like this one? Pretty much the same reasons as I liked the other Shenandoah campgrounds:

• All the basic needs are available in a scenic setting.

• Generator-free sections (because I hate noisy generators)

• About 75% of the sites are first-come, first-served sites so you should always be able to find a site if you arrive early.

• The $15 price is a bargain and our Lifetime Senior Pass cuts the fee in half.

• Hiking: There's a lot to keep you busy in the entire national park, but rainy, foggy weather kept us from exploring as much as we'd like. We'll be back!

Things to Know About the Sites

• Some sites have food storage boxes. Use them as an alternative to keeping food locked in your vehicle.

• Walk-to tent sites: It's not a long walk to your site from a designated parking spot.

• I was surprised to see that most sites (other than walk-to tent sites) have long, pull through parking pads, and most have a grass buffer (and possibly a few trees) separating the site from the road. These asphalt pads can accommodate RVs of all sizes and have a spacious area behind the pull through with a picnic table, fire ring and room for a tent. Great sites!

• Generator-free sites in loop F and part of G are reservable sites. If you want one of these sites, I recommend a reservation. See the site map photo.

Amenities

• Restrooms with a utility sink outside some of them

• Potable water and trash/recycling stations are spread throughout the park. These are all shown on the site map photo.

• Camp store with ice, wood and limited food choices is a short walk from the campground entrance.

• Showers: $1.75 for 5.25 minutes. These are located in a restroom near the campstore and look new. There is a handicapped accessible shower/bathroom combination.

• Laundry facility near the camp store

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

More quiet than the Big Meadows area (less people for sure!). Simple campground, with all you need to experience a wonderful time in Shenandoah. In the more northern area of the park, and we found that with a Thursday-Sunday time frame there was so many less people. Bathrooms are simple, and no showers. Our site B125 was not huge (are any sites here huge? I didn't see one!), but we had space for our larger North Face tent on the tent pad (just barely!). Our site had a fire ring and picnic table, though no bear box. Seems like some sites had the boxes, and others did not. Be sure to lock up your food and anything questionable here. Policy was pretty strict about that. B125 was tucked against a hill and woods (and man those woods are right at the edge of your site). Across from us was a handicap site, and next to us was a handicap site as well. It meant we had basically no neighbors for our early June weekend camping. Saturday night was quite full all around (still no neighbors for that spot). Some spots at Matthews Arm are reservable, others are first come first serve. It's cheap! You can park some trailers here, but it probably depends on your set up which spots would be best for that. There are a number of trails that you can get to either from campground, or sorta close. We hiked out near the group site and could get to Overall Run Falls (which I believe is the tallest in the park). As with all Shenandoah hikes, a good amount of up and down on this one. We really enjoyed our visit here and will definitely be back! 

Don't forget to wait for full dark, and then look up. Breathtaking. 

So. Many. Stars.

Came here for the first time in February 2017 to do a shakedown on some new backpacking and camping gear. Super friendly staff and easy check in process. Parking is in a locked lot steps away from trail head which leads to campsites about a mile away. Campsites are in a wooded area of park well away from other park attractions so it's very quiet. Sites are spaced far apart and come with tent pad, picnic table, fire pit and lantern pole. Non potable water is available via hand pump near rest rooms. Rest rooms are very nice and clean. No showers. This was one of my favorite camping experiences ever and I will definitely be back!