Best Tent Camping near St. Albans, WV

TENT camping with a simple firepit…… $63 PER NIGHT!!! it used to be $15. Ridiculous for a bare spot to pitch a TENT

This place is really nice. Super clean bathrooms and flat platforms for tent camping. It’s a little pricey in my opinion but it’s easy to get to and close to lots of climbing.

This place is awesome for anyone looking to pack a day full of activities. The white water rafting was incredible and the staff all around was FANTASTIC. The only downside would be the campsites (tent camping) being very close to one another.

Fantastic campground! Staff was super friendly and we were escorted to our camp site. Facilities a little dated but clean! Pool area was clean! We tent camp, but walking around, the camping trailers did not appear to be crowded together. For us this is a fantastic place to overnight and will return again when traveling through the area!!

If you tent camp they don’t allow access to the bathrooms other than a porta potty open to the public and no showers either. Kinda messed up. The fish were not biting for anyone. It’s part of a public park. The staff were excellent thought, and the price of $20 a night unbeatable. Cheapest to visit the Mothman

Went there in October. No attendance around and not many campers. Sites are very bad for tent camping and not the bet for RV’s. Back ins are sort and most sites have no level ground even for the picnic table or fire ring. Showers were clean but cold. Vault toilets only and stuck to high Heaven. Not serviced well at all. Hiked the lake view trail, poorly maintained. The upper loop from the beach end is very hard to find and not marked at all. Even more disappointing than Hope Lake which has its own site problems for tents.

We have stayed at Pappys multiple times this year and each time is better than the last. We tent camp and always have plenty of room. Campground is located right next to the East Lynn outlaw trails. The owner and staff very friendly and even set us up with a local group to show us around. They also offer parking and you don’t have to worry about any one messing with your stuff because there is alway some one there! Just an absolutely awesome place for kids and adults.

From whitewater rafting to the waterpark to their 15+ different adventures, Ace Adventure Resort has it all. The tent campsite I stayed at was out in the open and had no privacy, but the bath house was clean. The small cabins are very nice, with more room than it appears from the outside. The hot tub was a great addition for those cold nights after rafting.

We live close to this park and frequent there, sometimes just day trips. Tent camping is great and just like most places there are a few sites that are the best. Park offers hiking trails from the camp sites to the beach area or packing up the swim gear and using the parking lot. The beach area is back water from the ohio river. It is a sandy rocky mixture. There are boat rentals during peak months. There is a frisbee golf course that is top notch. The only down side to this ohio state park, are the bathrooms; they are port a pot facilities that can be pretty raunchy.

July 4th 2017 FMC Sportsmans Club camping trip

Campground Review FMC Sportsman's club is a private membership club. It's a very family friendly campground that boasts a decent size pool and playground. You have opportunities to hike and four wheeler ride in the woods. We Stayed on a temporary tent site right beside the bigger lake on the property. There are three lakes total. You can fish 2 out of the 3, the other is a brood pond set up to allow the fish to grow bigger. This is a place that my family goes to often because it is close to home, convenient and helps us get outdoors when we don't have time for a big trip somewhere. There is a shower house on site, and during the daytime hours when the pool is open you can use the pool house showers for bathing. The tent sites offer electric hookups, while all the other sites offer full hookups for popups or 5th wheel campers. There is plenty of wildlife around the property. You will hear and see many bullfrogs as you camp beside the lake. You will see deer roaming the hillsides and find turtles roaming the area. All in all this place is a nice setup for families with kids that want have somewhere to go every weekend in between bigger camp trips.

Gear Review As a Ranger for The Dyrt, I get products to test from time to time - today I am testing a Home front field strip knife from CRKT. Check out the website here - https://www.crkt.com/ (View video)

Campground Review: 

River Expeditions in Oak Hill, WV, is an all-in-one camping-to-glamping resort for outdoor adventures in the New River Gorge where I shared a 3-day adventure with a young lady who was a first-time camper. We both enjoyed the friendly, knowledgeable staff and all the amenities, including an outdoor swimming pool, game room, restaurant and saloon.

River Expeditions offers tent camping, safari tents, RV sites, bungalows, mini-cabins, deluxe cabins, and even luxury cabins with private hot tubs. Prices range from$15/night for tent camping to nearly $400 for the luxury cabins with a 15% discount for booking online, and a 50% discount from November 1st to March 3rd. All accommodations include a complimentary continental breakfast. 

River Expeditions is spread out over a 100-acres, with the tent camping located in open meadows, surrounded by trees. The RV camp sites are too close together for my taste and the gravel parking spots are all on a slant, so it would be a challenge for larger trailers to get level there. My camping buddy and I upgraded from my tent to my RV van due to thunderstorms and heavy rain. We selected spot#6 which allowed us to park parallel to the electricity and mostly avoid the downhill slant. 

The New River Gorge National River has some of the best whitewater rafting in the country, so we booked a trip on the lower New River and it was great! River Expeditions has good gear and great guides like Porter who had us cracking up when he shared some local folklore. He gave us lots of opportunities for a relaxing swim outside the raft. We also got to test the power of a whirlpool and jump off a huge rock, while we paddled downstream through the rapids. 

The New River Gorge is a climber’s dream, so we booked an evening of rock climbing with David Wolff, Director of the New River Climbing School and he was amazing! I would describe David as an expert instructor, combined with psychological counselor, who helped my camping buddy cope with her fear of heights during the rappelling portion of the outing. 

There are lots of great hiking trails in the New River Gorge. The 2-mile Endless Wall Trail has been rated the #1 National Park trail by USA Today. The view from Diamond Point is amazing, with the rocky outcroppings overlooking the New River. You’ll often see climbers scaling nearby rock walls and you can watch rafts negotiating the rapids in the river below. Tip: There are two small parking lots which can fill up fast, you may want to arrive early on the weekends. If you have a big party, you can carpool from the Canyon Rim Visitor’s Center which is worth a visit to use their flush toilets and get free trail maps. 

We also hiked the 3-mile Long Point Trail which gives you an amazing view of the New River Bridge, a steel arch bridge, more than 3,000 feet long, which spans the gorge. If you visit on the third Saturday of October, you can join tens of thousands of visitors who watch dare devils base jump from the structure during the annual Bridge Day celebration. 

On the final day of our visit, we tried River Expeditions’ 3-part zipline in the pouring rain, something I wouldn’t repeat because I was too soaked and cold to enjoy the experience. I’d describe it as a beginner’s zipline, so if you’re looking for something more dramatic, with better views, you may want to check out the competition at Ace Adventure Resort. 

The only negative caveat of our stay was a run-in with the resort owner caused by unpredictable hours for the pool and other amenities, which closed early with no advanced warning.  We were threatened with eviction when I used the half-covered hot tub at 9:30 PM after we were told at check in it stayed open until 10 PM.

Product Review: 

As a Ranger for The Dyrt, I get products to test from time to time, so my camping buddy and I wore Banner and Oak hats during our 3-day adventure in the New River Gorge.

I want to be honest, without trashing Banner and Oak, because I love their American-made hats and would definitely recommend them. 

With that said, I’m disappointed that Banner and Oak has apparently abandoned their founding pledge to sell American-designed and fabricated hats, with 95% of the materials sourced in the United States. 

I noticed the recent change when I opened my sample box and two of three hats inside were made in China and Bangladesh. 

My favorite hat of the trio is the American-made Banner and Oak Scout with a patch that pleases my soul, featuring the phrase“Freedom To Explore” embroidered across the top with a stars and stripes tent centered underneath. This hat is well-made, with quality materials, and generates positive comments whenever I wear it. 

The quality of the China-made Banner and Oak Trailhead hat is fine, but the brand is unknown in West Virginia, so when I showed it to other campers, they wanted to know something about the company. I told them Banner and Oak is a relatively new American apparel brand headquartered in Arkansas, so they seemed confused by the“Made in China” tag inside. 

The hat made in Bangladesh is the Banner and Oak Pathfinder from the women’s line. The quality is noticeably inferior, with puckered seams and the front logo slightly off-center.

All three Banner and Oaks hats I tested have a list price of nearly $30/each, so my buying preference would be for any style of their top-quality, American-made hats, designed, fabricated and sourced in the USA.

On the border with West Virginia. There aren’t really sites on the water but there’s a nice path to the lake from the camp sites and lots of deer. We spent most of the time on the water (there’s a power limit on the boats) but the campsites were nice in a simple kind of way (showers but no flush).

Go to Beech Fork! I’ve been camping here with my family for close to ten years now and we always have a blast. I’ve stayed in primitive sites and RV sites and you can’t really go wrong with either (my review will be 4 stars until I check out the cabins)! Whether you’re looking to spend some time on the lake, fish, hike, bike, or even learn a thing or two about West Virginia history, Beech Fork will typically have you covered. The park stays clean and the staff are pretty good people as well!