Best Dog-Friendly Camping near Hacker Valley, WV

This campground was perfect. It’s up on a hill and the sites are spaced out pretty well. It’s behind a hotel. Our site had room for our 26’ hybrid with 3 beds, plus two cars, chairs, and our two dog tie outs. I loved that it was near the main highway but up on a hill so you didn’t hear the traffic. The pool is part of the hotel property and the campground is allowed to use it anytime it’s open. There is a grocery store and a Walmart within a mile. There is also a small dog park on site. Sutton lake was about ten minutes away. I definitely recommend this campground.

Greenbrier River Trail Milepost 63.8 Primitive Campsite, Located between Clover Lick and Clawson, WV (south of Sharp's Tunnel)

The Greenbrier River Trail is one of the most beautiful and often most remote trail I have had the privilege of bikepacking. If you aren't familiar with camping in West Virginia, you are in for a treat. The WV State Park system is fantastic and the State Park employees take incredible pride in keeping all their parks beautifully maintained despite poor budgets to work with. 

GRT MP 63.8 Primitive Campsite is close to 17 miles south of the Cass Railroad Station. Trail conditions were wonderful, typical Railroad ballast, crushed gravel...at times it was wide like they recently removed the track, and other sections grass has grown down the middle to make it two track. All flat with a gentle one percent downhill grade from Stumptown to North Caldwell. Frankly, it wasn't discernible...but I'll take it.

Wildlife and songbirds were abundant and as shocked to see you as you were them. Oftentimes, the deer would run the trail ahead of you for 200 yards before cutting off onto their sidetrail.

The trail itself is recorded at differing lengths depending on what you read, but we started at MP 80…at Cass Railroad Station...traveling south to North Caldwell.

PROS:

• Free camping(First come, first served) 
• Newer Adirondock Style Shelter 
• Newer Large/Clean/Stocked Pit Latrine 
• Raised Tent pad(pea gravel) 
• Cold well water- Hand pump 
• Metal Fire Ring 
• No Cell Service 

CONS: 

• No Cell Service 

NEARBY HIGHLIGHTS: 

• Cass Railroad Station 
• Snowshoe Mountain Ski Resort 
• Seneca Forest (**Thorny Mountain Fire Tower)
• Seneca Rocks
•  Spruce Knob(WV Highest Elevation) 
• Green Bank Observatory 
• The Greenbrier Resort

*Note in the video, I initially thought the steel containers were bear proof storage, but I was incorrect and they are bear proof trash receptacles. 

This is bear country, so we kept all our food items and toiletries in a bear cannister during our trip. We did not experience any encounters or sightings, but fellow cyclists traveling in the same direction, observed a juvenile bear during the day along the trail.

In fact, WV has an abundant wildlife population and it is evident along the Greenbrier River Trail, which set this trail apart from other bikepacking trails I've traveled.

You will see in a couple photos that a certain slithering resident was unwilling to give up his claim on this Adirondack Shelter, we attempted to dissuade him, we even gently relocated him, but he was neither afraid of our presence nor was he about to pass up a roof over his head. So we acquiesced and moved to the raised tent pad 100' down the trail. He was a very curious character.

In June, you can anticipate random, short afternoon or evening cloudbursts...but they can be gully-washers. Nights were cool and most mornings I wore a long-sleeve Merino shirt.

Riding and camping along the picture-perfect Greenbrier River offers fantastic views and opportunities to cool off...bring your swimwear.

If you’re looking for a place to camp in West Virginia, don’t even bother with this campground, head over to Audra State park instead.

We generally love most camping experiences and make it work, but this one was so bad we left 3 days early. When I kindly called to cancel, the nice Park ranger said he completely understood and would actually refund us for our entire trip (which we didn’t even mention or ask for).

The only good things about this campground were the friendly staff and the updated bathrooms.

Almost all sites are walk-ups, which is NOT noted on their site. Also, almost all sites are on a hill. The pictures do not accurately show this. We had site 33 (probably the worst site). The entire site was on a slant and covered in rocks, I tried to capture it in a picture, but it just doesn’t look as slanted as it feels when you are standing there. There was no flat spot for our 10 x 20 tent, so we had to sleep on an angle. (I felt like I was falling out of bed the whole night!) 33 should NOT be a site.

There is a HUGE raccoon problem here, even during the day. I wish we were warned ahead of time. Many people bring an extra tent to keep their food in. Our dog barked the entire night as the racoons kept coming up to our site and even our tent. At one point they even put holes in the outside of our $300 tent!! The next day we tried to make the best of our trip and decided to check out the lake. We had left our cooler and a couple small Rubbermaid bins of food on the table while we headed down for an hour. The car was far and incredibly hot during the day, and we didn’t want to give them any incentive to go after our tent again, so we had no other option. While we were gone the raccoons tore open our cooler, ate some of our food, and scattered the rest of our food and water in the woods. (This is probably why there is so much food that can been seen scattered near the campsites).

The lake was pretty but there was a ton trash all around it, such a shame. I had to pick up a bunch of pieces of glass on the shore of the campground so my dog wouldn’t get hurt. You technically aren’t allowed to swim in the non-beach/swimming area unless you are jumping off a boat, but people were doing it anyway. You cannot bring dogs in the designated swimming area.

While the bathrooms were nice they are a very far walk from any of the shaded/non-electric sites, and you are not permitted to drive up to them. There are only 2 showers. Both were kept clean but had 100’s of little green bugs and a ton of months and mosquitos on the. To get to the bathrooms you must park at the top of the hill and walk down (not a big deal for us, but may be for some).

The electric sites have no shade or privacy, and they are all on top of each other.

The hostess was very accommodating and friendly. We had a packaged delivered to the campground before we arrived and had no problems with it. Ice and laundry facilities are available. The sites were level and easily accessible, no shade but that worked well for us using the Starlink.  There were pull throughs and back in sites, I think there are tent sites in the field beside the RV area.  The sites were full hookup and clean. Campground is pet friendly,  with a large area to walk dogs beside it. The New River Gorge NP visitor center was approx 20 min away, hiking trails were close by.  We did not do shopping or laundry at this location but I did see a Walmart in the vicinity and I am sure a laundromat would be in the city too. The campground had a small common area with chairs and a fire pit. for group gatherings.

This campground was off the grid and beautiful. We had site #17 but if I stayed again I would prefer site #18. Both sites were VERY spacious, secluded, and right on the lake except 18 had a little bit better view of the lake. The sites were also right near the bathrooms. This campground does not offer electric or water hookup but if you are prepared for that then this campground is a 5 out of 5. They do offer showers, and have a very small store with some essentials like ice as well as kayak and canoe rental but it closes after Labor Day.

The lake was beautiful. There is a great hike around the lake as well as other hikes offered that are accessible in the campground. Make an effort to get up and see the sunrise over the lake - you will not be disappointed at the beauty of the sky and the mist over the lake. Kayaking around the lake was fun, and there are many types of fish in the lake.

The site is pet friendly - we travel with my dog and cat who also enjoyed the spacious, secluded campsite. Jim the camp host was friendly and always around if you had a question. Site offered picnic table, fire pit, and bear hook to hang items out of reach of the black bears. We did not see any but did see deer, rabbits, red squirrels, and other little creatures roaming around. 

Bathrooms offered flushable toilets as well as showers. They were clean but did have lots of daddy long legs to keep you company. Water was hot and had good pressure. It was a push button timed shower but you could keep pressing the button if you were not done yet. 

This is off the grid and does not really have provisions especially after Labor Day. It is a stretch to call it a store but it did have ice, drinks, bait, peanut butter and few other essentials. Again closed after Labor Day. Had no cell service (Verizon) as well. Also not near town - closest was about 45 minutes. As long as you are prepared and bring what you need, this place is a beautiful campsite and made it in my top five favorite campgrounds. 

I included some pictures and follow us on Instagram @pawsfuradventure for more pictures and reviews.