Best Glamping near Hernshaw, WV

Just a quick FYI, there is no camping in the winter. We stopped by for an overnight while enroute to Ohio. I don’t always check ahead while road tripping , I see a recreation sign and decide to stop for the night. This CCC State Park is very picturesque and has several hiking trails and the man-made lake is small but offers plenty of recreation possibilities.

I found the layout a little strange. The visitors center/ office sits right on the entry road but there is no parking in front of it. If you need to stop there use the parking area immediately to your right and then walk up.

The staff was limited , one grumpy older gentleman who never said a word to mej, just gave me sour looks like I was somehow putting him out by walking into the office. The younger gentleman was very informative and helpful. He answered questions about the parks history and suggested the best trails due to the slippery weather that was going on. We enjoyed a hike around the lake and then went on our way. I will be back for their camping season and to check out more of the trails. You could easily spend some time here and enjoy the surrounding area attractions. Check out Chocolate Moose in Beckley if you enjoy unique tasty coffee and excellent, friendly service and Tamarack for some West Virginia local art.

We love summersville lake after stopping randomly on a trip down south last year. We stayed in an upper lot during the week for a night and liked it better. This year we booked a week with friends and stayed on lot four. The lake is amazing, clear and has so many visual gems that I highly suggest a visit. While I will list some negatives here , I will say we plan to go back for the lake. The campground is around 50 a night depending on some spots and we watched many RVstrailers come and go. For the business the campground is doing I would expect better bath houses. They were ok but state parks in west Virginia have had better. Gross as in they didn't look cleaned regularly, the shower heads were terrible, never looked cleaned, rusty. My stall had a used tampon in it one night. I prefer my camper shower but here is the other issue, no sewer hook up in the rv/trailer sides just water and electric. I felt as though if you stayed for more than a week they should offer a free one time honey wagon service. Let's talk garbage. We stayed up near the bathhouse and playground bc we have little ones. The garage trailer sat for more than 6 days just baking in the sun. By our 5th day we could barely stand to stay outside around our campfire the odor was so bad. As campers we are used to our fair share of smells but garbage dump isn't what we are looking for....be careful where you pick to set up.

Babcock State Park is one of the greatest parks in West Virginia. Most people come to see the grist mill, and it’s nice, but if that’s all you do your missing out.

For starters, most of the sites at the campground are great: fairly flat with soft ground and good tree coverage. The campground is split by Old Clifftop Rd, with the majority of the campground south of the road. We stayed on Site 15 (non-electric site), which I thought was one of the best sites. The campground was quiet, family-friendly, and clean. Some of the campsites were small and right on top of each other.

The campground is served by one bathhouse, centrally located in the middle of it. The bathhouse was fairly clean but well-used and includes flush toilets, showers, and hot water. A fairly new playground sits right next to the bathhouse. All the equipment was well-maintained and freshly mulched. Our site was close enough to the playground that we let our seven-year-old go by herself, since we could still hear her.

We only hiked on two trails, but it was some of the most fun hiking I’ve ever done. Mann’s Creek Gorge Trail is a two-mile walk from the campground to Camp Washington Carver. About a quarter of a mile you come the creek with a great swimming hole. We didn’t make it past the swimming hole but I’m looking forward to finishing the trail in the future. Island-In-the-Sky is a great climb through a tunnel of rhododendron that eventually winds up and around a rock shelf. To get to the top you have to climb up a couple ladders and over rocks. There are also several spurs off the trail that lead to overlooks and one that leads to a good size cave the size of the room.

I highly recommend that anyone looking to camp in the Fayetteville-area consider Babcock, you won’t be disappointed.

CAMPGROUND REVIEW: Army Camp Campground, New River Gorge National River, WV

Army Camp Campground, New River Gorge National River, Prince, WV https://www.nps.gov/neri/learn/historyculture/army-camp.htm

If you have never treated yourself to the beautiful diversity of the New River Gorge National River, you are truly missing out!

Rock climbing, mountain biking, whitewater paddling, rafting, hiking, camping, birding?…it’s all here and more. I’ve spent over 150 days camping and hiking in West Virginia n the past four years and keep finding new, wonderful places to enjoy.

There are three very nice, somewhat primitive, free, campgrounds located within six miles of each other right outside Prince, WV. Grandview Sandbar and Glades Creek along one side of the New River and Army Camp across the Rt 41 bridge and downriver.

Note: vitally important to realize there is no running water at any of these campgrounds. You must bring water or filter it from the New River…which I wouldn’t recommend.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3QnnaIl-xgE

Each site has a picnic table, grill, fire pit, dual lantern post and pit latrines. Of the three New River Gorge National River campgrounds in this immediate area, Army Camps pit latrines are maintained but in dire need of paint. Parking and tent pads are gravel…(making tent peg placement laborious). Plenty of hammocking opportunities.

Army Camp is open for day use fishing and picnicking. The campground consists of one small loop with five sites on the outside perimeter and five on the inner perimeter. Scattered mature trees dot the inner circle with open line of sight. Outside perimeter sites are wooded and offer more privacy. Though all sites are separated by 50 ft or more.

Army Camp lies in a narrow river valley between steep, wooded 2500-3200 ft mountains offering spectacular views.

Military history buffs will appreciate the remains of an Army training encampment along the gravel road driving in. Known for equipping soldiers to build floating bridges across rivers to move troops and heavy artillery.

Though all campground trails are short and directly to the edge of the New River…innumerable trails are a short drive away.

Caution: Use extreme prudence if choosing to enter the New River itself. This is an incredibly popular whitewater rafting and paddling river…currents are fast, powerful and dangerous.

At this visit, after a night of rainfall, the New River has swollen beyond its boundaries by 50 feet or more on either shoreline.

Song birds, robins and crows competed vocally during daylight hours. Interesting insects crawled the river’s sandy shore and a brightly colored Eastern box turtle searched for higher-dryer ground. The powerful drone of the New River never subsides.

**When breaking camp, it was noted the New River had encroached another 100ft through the woodland, flowing alongside the campground loop gravel drive…30 ft from our tent pad. Even though it had not rained in 18 hours, the New River continued to swell beyond what I thought probable. Exercise greater wisdom than I did.

Product Review: New Primus Trailbottle S/S 1.0 liter

The new Primus Trailbottle stainless steel line offers a 0.6L, a 1.0L, a vacuum 0.5L, and a vacuum 0.8L. For purposes of this review, I’m putting the 1.0L S/S Trailbottle through its paces. https://primus.us/products/trailbottle-s-s-1-0l?variant=38421366546

The Primus Trailbottle 1.0L comes in four (4) color options: black, red, light green and powder blue. Being on the trail or kayak in direct sunlight, I opted to not pursue the black so I could keep fluids cooler. The added bonus of brighter colors decreases the chances of me losing the bottle.

As a Review Ranger for TheDyrt, these products were provided by Primus https://primus.us/ .

I have been using various Primus stoves for many years with great success while backpacking and paddling, so I look forward to their new innovative and trustworthy products.

The new Primus Trailbottle S/S 1.0L appears larger than it is. I was initially surprised by that illusion and feared it wouldn’t fit in my Gregory Baltoro Sidewinder Bottle holster…but fitment was actually easier than most water bottles. The bottom is a full inch smaller in diameter than the shoulder.

Dimensions:

•Height: 9” Base to Top of cap

•O.D. Base: 10.25”/ O.D. Top: 11.25”

•Weight: 10 grams

Materials:

•18/8 Food Grade stainless steel

•Tritan lid (BPA free)

One clear benefit of the S/S…it doesn’t possess or retain flavors…you get only what put in it.

While the Primus Trailbottle S/S version has lightweight, thin walls that can likely dent with misuse…longevity of use sets this apart from the basic plastic or Lexan bottle. The mouth of the bottle is fairly large, making it easier to fill or add ice. Not being double walled, exterior sides sweat with ice cold beverages, but the painted surface has just enough grip texture not to slip when wet. The temperature of the Trailbottle contents will be felt by your hand.

The screw-on lid has an additional small screw-on tethered cap. Instead of knurling around the sides of both caps, Primus uses a triangle pattern that mimics the cutout pattern on their stove/pot cooking systems Primus states the bottle opening and thread pattern fits some water filtration systems, but not my Katadyn Vario…nor does my Sawyer Mini thread onto the cap, as the threads are located on the inside of the spout..

The rubber lanyard attaches to the small threaded cap by a recessed ring, then snakes through a bar on the larger bottle screw lid and attaches to that lid via a rubber style pop-rivet. Personally, I would not attach the Primus bottle to my pack by this rubber lanyard, but will run some para cord through the integrated bar on the lid…to carabiner to my pack (if I didn’t have a water bottle pocket).

When partaking of its contents through the smaller lid opening, it is like any other solid-sided bottle. However, I found it was much easier pouring Trailbottle contents into a cup than a wide-mouth bottle.

Final Thoughts

I like it’s distinctiveness, versatility and light weight. I’m looking forward to many years of service from the Primus Trailbottle S/S 1.0 liter.

Ole' Henry's has a very nice setup with a Giovannis pizza restaurant and camp store on site.  It is privately owned and the owners are very nice.  Vicky and her family run it with some workers that make it very nice.  The showers stalls can accommodate about 7-8 people at a time in the men's and women's bathrooms.   

The playground are has a nice swing set and a couple big wooden play structures.  There is blain drain pipe slides coming off one of the hillsides that is a kid favorite.  they also have a little 55 gallon barrel train ride for little kids.  The creek nearby offers up a good, safe swimming hole for all the kids and adults.

Giovanni's pizza restaurant on site has wifi.  This campground is located out in God's country.  Its very beautiful and is near several attractions with 5 minutes to the Mud river and about half an hour to Waterways water park.  Of course you're in the heart of the Hatfield and MCcoy trail ride system.  The coal river is nearby for float trips.  There really is a lot to do in the area and after a fun filled day you can come back and relax at Ole' Henry's after having a nice meal.  The website shows the restaurant menu and all of the prices for tents & RV's.  They also have cabins to rent on a back section of the property out of view of the tent and RV sites.

Not to mention they have a store where you can buy almost anything you might need in case you forget something.

There is a pony that lives on the site and is very friendly.  It scavenges for free food and the children love it.  There is also a few cats or so that live on site and is very friendly to children.

I would hands-down stay here again. I even considered asking if they needed some seasonal help!

I needed a place close to the town and gorge for a basecamp.

The fact that they had reliable WiFi throughout the park was a huge bonus for a remote worker.

The staff was friendly, helpful, and the restroom facilities were quite nice. They even delivered firewood right to my site!

It is super close to all that this recreational area has to offer and I think they might have access to some hikes right off the property (although I didn't explore them!)

Only bummer was my own failure to prepare for an overnight rainstorm, which resulted in a broken pole on my ARB awning.

It has since been fixed and it was my fault and mine alone!

We are new RV ers so we asked Ken for help to get to our site. He walked with our RV behind him, so nice!

Beautiful area, close to New River National Park. Very accommodating staff. Includes wifi, PBS TV, small dog run, small playground, picnic shelter, laundry, bathhouse, firewood, ice,etc. Clean, friendly without all the fancy extras. Reasonably priced.

Very comfortable and quiet campground. Camp hosts (owners?) and staff are very friendly and helpful. Close to local towns for services. The full hook up RV sites seem crowded, but the electric only sites were spacious and shady. I had a little deck with a picnic table. Even though the land is hilly, almost every site was level. The area where I camped had a single porta potty, but the main service area had clean showers and reasonably priced laundry. Short hiking trails are nearby. A children’s area is available but looked little used.

This was my first stop with my new 5th wheel on my way down to Tennessee. We just stayed for one night. We actually had to change our reservation to the following night. They were great with changing it. No questions asked. The owners were very nice. They walked us to our site and helped us back into our spot. Everything worked well with all of the hookups. It was a quiet and clean campground. Very close to the highway and also close to Walmart and Lowe’s for supplies. I would definitely stop again when passing through.

Rifrafters is a wonderful family run campground that was the perfect location for us to explore New River Gorge NP and the surrounding area. The area is very hilly and the campground is no exception but they did a good job of creating roomy, mainly level campsites. Unlike Bear Mountain Campground, Rifrafters is far enough off of US 19 to avoid most of the road noise. The bath house was VERY clean and the showers had great water pressure and plenty of hot water. Cell reception for Verizon was 3 bars, but the campground Wi-Fi was awesome! It was strong enough and had enough bandwidth for my wife to work remotely while the kids and I went whitewater rafting(go with ACE Adventures, they're great). The details make or break your stay and Rifrafters gets them all right. Good, steady power and water at the site, Wi-Fi, dry firewood, great bath house and clean/tidy everywhere. Lastly, the location was perfect for us. You''re just a few miles from the bridge and visitor's center to the north and a few miles to shopping/necessities to the south. Having stayed here made us realize we'd rather camp near US 19 and use our toad to drive the windy roads into t

We stayed overnight on our way up the coast and had a great visit. I wish we could’ve stayed longer. The campground was very peaceful and shaded people were very friendly and the facilities were exceptionally clean.