Best Tent Camping near Circleville, WV

A great, quiet campground with fewer sites than most.  It is about 5 miles from the summit of Spruce Knob (highest peak in West Virginia).  Tow campers smaller in size can certainly make it, although mostly tent camping which I like.  Some drive up, some drive, park, and walk up.  There is a single water source and I'd highly recommend boiling first.  H20 does NOT taste good at all.  There are a couple of outhouses, and no shower facilities.

Campground 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.

Beautiful river access directly from tent site! Lots of amenities from hot tubs, fishing pond and a heated pool. Staff was friendly and site was well maintained. Bathrooms were clean. Only complaint is that tent sites are really close together.

Hot clean showers, all the tent sites platforms were covered with mushrooms and map is labeled completely wrong. 3 stars for the high quality amenities available but needs site maintenance.

Nice tightly packed campground including tent camping. We sent up camp D22. Very tight spacing. Noisy neighbors with no consideration for other campers. No water/electricity. Over $100 for 2 nights. Nice staff. Bathrooms ok and clean. Camp store nice with decent pizza delivery possible. We mountain biked at Bryce ski resort 40 minutes away.

Love this place. Only wish is that the tent sites were more wooded for shade. And to hang lights and hammocks.
The staff were great, bathrooms super clean. Love all the hiking trails and just the beauty of the are. Will be returning soon.

This Koa was fantastic. Spent my Labor Day weekend here and loved it. The staff handled the crowd great and they had loads of activities for kids. Everything was very clean and kept up really nice. The tent sites were pretty close together but we had great neighbors.

This campground has incredibly clean bathroom and shower facilities along with an immaculate site. Each tent site is fairly large and has a flat mulch covered spot for a large tent with a picnic table and fire pit next to it. The site is about 8 minutes off the highway and makes a great stopping point. Would definitely stay here again.

We really enjoyed camping here. Took a great hike to Fridley’s Gap and went swimming in the water hole. The tent site was big and clean and the staff was super friendly. They have chickens and ducks roaming around and Our dog got to chase a chicken off the site. She loved that! Will definitely so back!

Very nice campground. The facilities were conveniently located and clean. The car Camp sites were spacious and well separated from other camp sites. If you don’t need your vehicle at your campsite I would highly recommend the walk-in tent sites because the view of Seneca Rocks is incredible. Less privacy than the vehicle sites from other campers but a really beautiful open space.

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.

The camp host Orv has a very unique campsite setup not too far from the house/mushroom farm area. We got a nice tour of the mushrooms currently growing at the farm. The camp area sits under a canopy of cedar trees. If you are tent camping or have a camper van the area is fine. Large RV will have a difficult time setting up in the camp area.  The camp area is quiet and there is plenty of firewood for use.

This is great camping at a low cost! They have tent sites available and camping with electric! Plenty of trees and great amount of shade!!! You will enjoy the wildlife in this park! There are a bunch of trails to explore! There are a few over looks that provides a beautiful view!!!! And of course there are gorgeous waterfalls!!! Take a hike you can get pretty close to a few of them! Happy Camping!!!