Five River Campground, Parsons WV...a hidden oasis!
John and Joyce, are wonderful owners, caretakers and hosts (and have travelled to many an interesting and exciting destination themselves if you can get them to sharing).
Interestingly, they bought this parcel of land 14 years ago purely to host Bluegrass festivals...(which, by the way, they do quite successfully... nominated this year of "2017" as one of the five finalists as the best Bluegrass Festivals in the world, not yet decided at the time of this review).
If you are a BG fan, you can join thousands of attendees here at Five River Campground from over ten countries (seriously! Like Tahiti, Sweden, Germany, Holland and such), if not, choose a different week to visit...because they jam 24/7. Over 3500 festival attendees, 1500 camped at this campground.
We visited two weeks after said festival and were one of two tent campers along Shavers Fork River (one of the feeders that comprise the Cheat River).
The Five River Campground is not huge, nor comprised of vast acreage but appears visually large. If you are a tent camper, it's perfect on slow days and weekends. My thought is, with so many big name sensational campgrounds in WV to chose from and absent advertising, Five River Campground rarely gets a second look.
It sets at the end of a side street (Walnut St) at the edge of town (Parsons). A small, quaint mountain town. As we made the turn off 219, a group of townsfolk were involved in a cakewalk outside a historic community building. Gotta love close, small town community.
There are no actual designated tent sites which is part of its beauty. You simply locate a spot of your choosing along a half mile grassy stretch of river and set up camp, give Joyce a call and they come to you. At this writing, tent sites are $15 nightly. They drop off a fire ring and grate...and firewood ($5 a bundle) should you desire).
with our tent sitting five feet off a gurgling river with mountains as your backdrop, well...it just doesn't get much better or tranquil.
The RV/Camper section is separate and two rolling knolls away so you neither see nor hear them if you are camped on the river.
A meticulously clean showerhouse/restroom/laundry building is centrally located and closer to the RV/Camper sites. RV/Camper sites have power and water. Tent sites do not. In fact, tent sites might be considered primitive, possessing no picnic table...perfect for me! Water spigot and outside dish washing sink are also located by the shower house.
We chose a small cluster of trees beside the river so I could string a tarp and hammocks (it does seem to shower quite a bit in WV).
It should be noted, the tent sites along the river do not offer much privacy from each other in the way of foliage or natural visual barriers...distance is your privacy.
We visited on a weekend and there was only one other tent camper, quite a distance away in the other cluster of trees.
The river melody is loud enough to drown out most other distant noises. Our stay was peaceful and serene.
Fishing on the river is popular (and successful) with a WV license. The Shavers Fork river (a Cheat River tributary) is also ideal for rafting, tubing and paddling. Most will take out 11 miles downriver before class 3 rapids (and higher) begin.
Five River Campground was the ideal choice for a weekend stay before venturing to Dolly Sods Wilderness for a long backpacking trip. Plus it is one of the only campgrounds in all of WV where you have cell service...and wifi!
A campground I will definitely look forward to returning to.
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