Best Campgrounds near French Creek, WV

This is one of our favorite places. The park is beautiful, and so are the nearby Canaan Valley Wildlife Refuge and Canaan Valley State Park.

The campground is better suited to tents and small to medium size camping units. I think the person who designed it was not familiar with camping units other than tents. Loop 1-30 is one way going clockwise. Loop 31-65 is one way going counterclockwise. But in both loops, to have your door facing away from the street, you have to drive counterclockwise if your site is on the outside of the loop, and clockwise if your site is inside the loop.  In some sites, the electric pedestal is on the wrong side, so you'll have to use a long cord and take it under your unit to reach your electric hookup.

There are two water fill stations, one at the camp store where you check in, and the other at a water fountain near the bathhouse in loop 31-65. They are supplied supplied with a green garden hose, not a white potable water hose, so we unscrewed the hose and used our own. The water tastes unusually good.

The dump station is in a section of loop 31-65. You have to go the wrong way on a one way road to be close enough for your slinky to reach it. The non potable rinse water is across this road from the dump station and it has a white hose--beware--this is not the drinking water! You stretch this hose across the road to rinse your gray and black tanks and slinky.

Some of the sites are not very level, and many of the pull thru sites share some driveway space with another pull thru site or a back in site. There are two pairs of sites that share a pull thru--OK for people traveling together, but otherwise a headache if you're arriving and leaving at different times.

Once you have dealt with all this inconvenience and oddness, you'll find you're within walking distance of the falls, a small lake, hiking trails that go through beautiful forests with rhododendrons, hemlocks, spruce, and hardwoods. The camp store is limited, but the staff is very friendly and helpful. The nature center is one of the best I've ever visited, and park naturalists provide programs on weekends. There are kayak rentals in summer. The lake has a swimming beach, but you can pay to use the swimming pool at the lodge for better swimming. The lodge also has a huge lobby with a cabinet containing jigsaw puzzles. We worked on one on a rainy day when we didn't want to be outside. Davis and Thomas have some interesting shops and good restaurants.When you get back after a day of adventures, you'll find clean restrooms with hot showers that are actually hot. And the T-Mobile service was good enough for my husband to stream a movie while I sent photos to my family. The park was very busy for Labor Day weekend, but it was a family atmosphere and after dark, there were few lights and little noise.

Gerald Freeman Campground is a GREAT place to get away if you are looking to disconnect. There is NO SERVICE of any kind up here! We have a powerful WeBoost on our RV and STILL no bars. There are a few places you can move around to and maybe get 1 bar, but they are hard to find. Starlink works great though, and once established you can use WiFi calling for your phone. The scenery is beautiful here, and you almost have to look straight up to see the sky because you are surrounded by mountains. The lake/creek/river(I'm not sure which it is because it says lake, but it has a slight current) runs directly by the campsites and there is easy access for fishing, kayaking, and other aquatic activities. The campground itself is SUPER clean, and so are the shower houses. The sites are level and well maintained. Some sites have full hookups(W/S/E), while others have W/E, electric only, and primitive. Make sure you know what you are booking so you don't get surprised. Some of the nicest sites are electric only. There is a little store on the property for a few essentials, but it is small with limited selection. Our water pressure at our site was very low, only around 20 lbs, so we had to rely on our pump and tank, but we could at least fill it so it was a non-issue for us. We are a full-time RV family, traveling the country with our three dogs, and we will be staying here again in the future. It's a safe, clean campground with everything that you need and a GREAT family atmosphere!