Best Campgrounds near Brandywine, WV

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!

Big Meadows Campground, located in Shenandoah National Park, offers a great camping experience with spacious sites and essential amenities. The campground is a popular spot for those looking to explore the park, with easy access to scenic hiking trails like Dark Hollow Falls and other beautiful park features. While there are no electric hookups, the campground allows the use of generators during certain hours, ensuring comfort while enjoying nature. Visitors appreciate the clean facilities, which include bathrooms and a camp store offering laundry and showers.

Wildlife, including deer, adds to the charm, and the nearby Big Meadows Lodge provides a cozy dining experience after a day of hiking. The campground is situated right off Skyline Drive, offering stunning views and plenty of outdoor activities, making it a great base for exploring Shenandoah National Park. The campground is open from spring to fall, with reservations required, and it offers a peaceful escape into nature.

One downside is that the campground closes for the season from late November to March, so be sure to plan your visit during the operating months.

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!

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.

We camped here the last night of the season (Nov30) and shared the campground with a mix of tent campers, car/van campers, and a few larger units. The bathrooms were plentiful, heated, hot running water, and a utility sink available. Our site had some privacy and some extra due to about 50% occupancy. Showers and laundry were closed for the season but are centrally located near entrance area of campground. Elevation above 3000 feet and plenty of deer! It was an especially cold night hitting a low of 14F. Very happy for the nearby heated restrooms with hot running water.

Campground is meticulously clean with daily restroom cleaning and trash pick up. Very small campground store on site but a much larger store at visitor center. Nice amphitheater with interesting ranger programs. Busy traffic in park but nice trails are accessible from campground. Visitor Center, gas station, food walking distance from campground.

Best and cleanest campground we have stayed at. Great amenities and close to the national park for hiking and exploring. Luray is a nice little town with some good food options

Love staying here for just a night couple small trails around the area not any great views but it is very peaceful in the woods. The only thing is it is next to an off-road vehicle trail and there was a lot of action coming down until about 7 PM. Wouldn’t have bothered me, but it did bother my dogs. 😅

The tent sites are ON TOP of each other. No trees. Zero seclusion. This is an rv resort.

Tented a cabin for two nights to hide from bad weather. Cabin had electric service, a microwave, electric heater, refrigerator and lights. The campground had no other guests during our stay.

The campground is long and narrow bordering on Abrams Creek. We took daily walks to the end of the campground and enjoyed the scenic views.

The campsite has port-a-potties for each cabin and for groups of campsites. Water was clean and had no oder.

The only concern noted was the bath house. It was poorly lighted and made of what looked like left over materials.

The gentleman that checked us in was a wealth of knowledge. He told us all about the campground and told us they offer an outdoor shower. Their were two outdoor shower stalls which were shower curtains next to the shower house.

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.

Sites are located less than a mile from the paved highway. We found 5 spots just off the road. All were easily accessible by cat or with a small teardrop trailer.

True boondocking, haul it in, pack it out. Evidence of a cat hole in the site we picked

Sites were quiet at night. Some traffic related to logging activity. Looks like a popular weekend camp spot for locals.

We camped during the week and had nobody else camping on weekdays.

Present! Lytle noise..

Reservations are made through the National parks service "recreation.gov" website. Arrived for tent camping for 2 nights and found that my original planned site wasn't very hospitable to tent camping due to the slope, Conferred with park ranger who easily changed my site to a better one with no fee. My stay was quiet and the bathrooms were clean and well stocked. This is a great base camp for getting out to hike the Appalachian trail and the local water falls in the area. Firewood and some camping supplies can be obtained onsite and there is a park wayside store and cafeteria a short distance away (i highly recommend the honey breaded chicken).

That's the best way to describe this park. It has the primitive feel, campsites are in the natural woods as opposed to a pristine tent pad. I love how open and natural it feels.

However, the plus is that there are lots of little amentities, a coffee pavilion, wood to buy, portapots, and an incredibly kind "staff." I'm mobility impaired and it was just my dog and I. The guys were super helpful bringing the wheelbarrow of wood to me, which would have been difficult for me.

The river is beautiful, but you do have to go down a bit of an incline to get there. On the beach there are rafts, paddleboats, chairs, and across the river there is a ladder to climb up on the rocks.

The property was clean and quiet other than the occasional diesel truck going down the road.

It was dead when we arrived; only saw two other vehicles. Very quiet and secluded. Easy to navigate and find a spot.