Best Glamping near Waiteville, WV

We picked this state park for a week long stay while we were in the area exploring the New River Gorge National Park. Since we were traveling in the summer and brought our dogs along, we needed a spot where we could leave our doggos in a safe and air conditioned space while we explored. We stayed in cabin 14 which is one of two Vacation Cabins. It had four bedrooms and two full baths along with a nice living/dining area and kitchen. There was also a lovely covered front porch as well as a simple charcoal standup campground grill and picnic table in the yard. The cabin was incredibly clean and well maintained. 

The grounds are also quite large and lovely. The staff are also friendly and attentive. We enjoyed several of the hiking trails and other features like the historic Grist Mill. There were many other amenities that we did not utilize but were well kept. There was a playground, group picnic area, tennis courts and a-plethora of other lodging options. From tent sites to RV hookups and other types of cabins varying in luxury. The campground also has a coin operated laundry facility that we used during our stay. 

For some reason I totally forgot to take pictures of the actual cabin! OOPS!

Babcock State Park, located in the thriving megapolis of Clifton, West Virginia is postcard perfect! https://wvstateparks.com/park/babcock-state-park/

The road in off the highway isn't too long, but it seemed long, winding, and up and down...especially as night fell. Driving backcountry roads in West Virginia, at night, is not my idea of fun, as I had several near misses with Bambi and her roving gang of miscreants...having no regard for traffic laws...and one knock down, drag out with minimal vehicle damage.

One of the beauties of West Virginia...it is a sparsely populated state with open, unchoked roads that lead to some of the most amazing sights. You must be willing to explore, but you will be richly rewarded.

In the dark, I did pass the campground signs without seeing them and turned into the State Park entrance...wound around past rental cabins to the park office, so I had to backtrack to the campground, which is located in a different area altogether. Driven during daylight hours, the signs are very apparent...so I'm blaming it on the deer.

We arrived midweek, the first of May, so we did not reserve a site. The campground has 52 sites, so I thought we would have a good shot as a walk-in. No worries...we shared the campground with two other campers. Our campsite (site 32) was on the inner loop of the main campground loop at sits around 2450 ft elevation. The temperature got down to 30 degrees and frost covered everything. Twenty eight sites have electric hook-ups ($28) and twenty four do not ($25). The inner loop has some mature trees but is wide open and close cut grass...every camper has a view of the other. Even the outside sites on the main loop are visible. The smaller loop to the right as you enter and a few sites to the left sit in slightly more wooded sites...but there is no foliage separating sites. There is also sites on the opposite side of the roadway when you enter the campground, but seem more like overflow sites...and a fair distance to trek for the showerhouse/restroom/laundry which is situated on the bottom of the main loop.

There is plenty of gravel parking pad for large RV/Campers at all the sites and are angled for trailer back-in. Tent pads are not define and grassy (or a muddy mix depending on weather and usage). Each site has a picnic table and fire ring.

The showerhouse/restroom is located at the front of the loop and was spotless and maintained at the time of our stay...but not climate controlled...as in, not heated. The ladies that keep the park facilities clean worked tirelessly. A very nice activity area for kids sat along the inner portion o the main loop.

The main entrance to the park offers several cabin rental, from economy to 4 bedroom, the park office/visitor's center/gift shop sit along the river. The park office staff were very helpful, friendly and wear many hats...like most state parks.

This building and surrounding stone structures, retaining walls, and staircases were built by the CCC and are magnificent and in great shape. The beautiful gift shop was once a former park restaurant of a bygone era.

Ranger Cochrane was a wealth of information about the park, it's history and neighboring parks. He graciously spent time answering my barrage of questions. Ranger Cochrane was yet another tribute to the fine personnel that WV parks have in place.

The park office is also the best location for postcard perfect pictures of the raging whitewater and gristmill. While not the original gristmill from this location, three remaining gristmills from around the state were dismantled and rebuilt into one at the present location over 30 years ago. The gristmill was very photogenic in the early Spring, but I can only imagine the splendor when the fall leaves change color.

Whitewater kayakers were readying to put in on the rain swollen and boulder strewn river that feeds into the New River below.

Boley Lake, a short drive up the mountain is picturesque and well-stoked with fish. You can paddle the 19 acre lake with personal paddle craft or rent paddleboats, canoes or rowboats from the Boley Lake Marina. Fishing is permitted, but you must have proper licensing...which can be purchased online.

Trails are everywhere and of every terrain and level of difficulty...over 20 miles of trails total. Babcock State Park is 4,127 acres, so there is plenty to see and do. Bicycling can be done on all park paved and gravel roads (no off-road trails), as well as along the Narrow Gauge Trail. And of course, being not too far from The New River and Gauley River...whitewater rafting is close.

Site 034 Loop Morr Dates of Stay: August 30-Sept 1 Average Daily Temp: 78 Average Nighlty Tem: 64 Pet friendly spot with access to firewood on site for small fee. Tent pad, fire pit, one picnic table, and lamp post on site. Close access to Lake area with a 100 yard walk through pathway off the site. Great shade for those hot sunny days. Plenty of room on the site for tents and vehicle parking. Neighboring sites offer fair amount of privacy. Site had some trash scattered around by previous visitors. Needed to do some checking for broken flashlight pieces and glass before I allowed my dog free roam.

A friend and I stayed here 3 nights while visiting Marlinton for the annual Roadkill Cook-off. Facilities are decent however Wi-Fi is extremely weak if you are more than a couple hundred feet from the restrooms. Because this entire area of WV is in the National Radio Quiet Zone, there is zero cellular service with 1-2 hours drive in any direction. If you can't get the weak WiFi service, you won't be using any data services. (Not necessarily a bad thing, but don't expect to notify family that you have arrived or are ok. Also, make sure any electronic devices you will be using for navigation have offline maps loaded before visiting.) One huge gripe is that technically you are limited to 1 sleeping unit per site, even if you only have 2 or 3 people sleeping in individual 1-person tents or a hammock. This either is not listed in the reservations information or is buried in the small print. The person checking us in told us about this, but allowed the 2 of us to camp in the same site. Being strictly a motorcycle camping person, neither I nor any traveling companions would be packing s large tent that could house all of us. The same thing could be said of 2 or 3 backpackers traveling together. For the nearly $30/night charge, this would become FAR too expensive and I'm not likely to stay here again simply because of the fear that the campground's silly rule might be enforced the next time.

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.

We stayed 3 nights at Fort Chiswell. Although first impressions weren’t that great, it grew on me. This is a lovely park right off the main highway. You don’t hear any noise because a large hill blocks every thing off. RV sites aren’t really spacious, but are shaded with a picnic bench. No fire pits allowed. You are surrounded by farm land on two sides and it was relaxing watching the cows and sheep graze on the hillsides. There’s a large pond stocked with koi fish. The grounds are well-kept. There is a pool that hadn’t opened yet. The public bathrooms and showers were clean, but really could use some upgrades. The only issue I had was with the multiple signs to pick up after your dog, but the only waste receptacle was the dumpster near the front entrance.

Campground Review

As a Ranger on The Dyrt, I sometimes receive compensation for reviewing campgrounds like this one. Middle Creek Campground is the perfect place to use as a base camp for all of the outdoor activities in the area. Getting here was a lot easier than expected. The campground is only 6 miles off the I-81 Arcadia exit. We were quickly in the Jefferson National Forest where the road winds through the forest along Jennings Creek. It was absolutely gorgeous. Around every turn we saw fishermen wading into the water or sitting on the banks.

Check-in is at the fully stocked camp store where you'll likely be greeted by the two resident dogs. They mostly lazed around all weekend and watched people coming and going. The RV sites are directly across from the camp store, but the tent sites were tucked back into the woods. The upper tent campground was closed for renovations during our stay, so we chose from the 8 or 9 sites located in the lower tent campground. All of the sites were roomy and featured a small fire pit, picnic table, water, and electricity. Several of them even had a pull-through site and would work well for a small pop-up. Bonus: most of the lower tent sites have direct access to the creek! There were only four other tent sites occupied the whole weekend. It was very quiet and peaceful.

We chose site #76 because the creek wound around the back of the campsite and had a gentle slope leading down to the creek. We knew our dogs would love splashing around in it! Once we got everything set up I realized that the site was bigger than I'd originally thought. There was more than enough room to set up our Kingdom 4 tent, 10' canopy, and camp kitchen to glamp in style. We brought a 15' lead for the 2yo beagle so he could go down to the creek on his own or hang out with us. Even at the end of his lead he was nowhere close to the road. Check out the video below for a 360' view!

The bathhouse was at the back of the camp store. Like the rest of the campground, the facilities aren't fancy, but they are functional and clean. Both men's and women's featured two showers where the water was nice and hot! There are even washers and dryers around the corner.

Firewood is available for purchase onsite. We paid $7 for a bundle at the camp store, and it was delivered to our site just a few minutes later. The bundle was huge! We had more than enough wood for two cooking fires.

Because our visit was so early in the year, we weren't able to access most of the amenities. There is a good-sized pool and pavilion on a hill behind the camp store. Right beside that is the swimming pond with two large slides in the middle, plus a small beach. There is another lake at the front of the campground designated for fishing. There are no trails in this campground, so if you want to hike, you'll need to drive about a mile out to where the Appalachian Trail meets Jennings Creek. Or, drive to one of many trail heads within the National Forest. There are also plenty of pull-off spots along the road if you want to wade into the creek.

During our stay, we observed the staff cleaning, fixing, and getting ready for camping season. The bathrooms got a fresh coat of paint. The roads through the campground were recently groomed with new crushed gravel. All of the picnic tables and sidewalks were being power washed. The game room was also being renovated! Downside: we didn't have water at our site the first day. About half-way through the second day one of the workers came around to let us know they were turning it on and to let it run for a bit since it had been off all winter. That made it much easier to wash dishes in a bucket at camp. There isn't a wash station in the campground for doing dishes, so we had to improvise the first night. The biggest turn-off for us at the campground was the RV section right across from the camp store. It seemed like the sites were really packed in there, one on top of the other. I've never been RV-ing before, so I'm not sure if this setup is typical, but I wanted to point it out.

All of the staff that we came into contact with were super friendly and helpful. We were immediately made to feel welcome. It felt like spending the weekend with friends and neighbors instead of strangers.

Product Review

As a Ranger for The Dyrt, I get products to test from time to time - today I am testing Nature's Coffee Kettle with Colombian Arabica Coffee. I am completely unable to start my day without coffee even when I'm sleeping in the woods. Nature's Coffee Kettle is a packable system that provides you with delicious, pour-over coffee in the backwoods. The "kettle" is a specially designed pouch with two sections. The top section holds the pre-filled coffee filter in place while you slowly pour hot water over the grounds. It features a zip-top so you can close it up while you're waiting for the magic to happen.The bottom section is the reservoir that holds all of that coffee goodness. Coffee refills are also available separately. The entire system packs flat for storage in a camp tote or in your backpack.

The directions on the back of the bag are super clear and even contain pictures. The key to making the perfect brew with Nature's Coffee Kettle is time. Don't rush it. This is not instant coffee. It is the real deal and will be worth every minute. Slowly pour 1 cup of hot water over the filter, zip up the top and let it sit for a minute or two so the grounds can soak up all of that water. This is the most important step. Then, unzip the top, and keep slowly adding the rest of the water. How much water? I used my coffee mugs to measure out the right amount of water into the kettle before boiling. After you've poured all the water into the bag zip it up again and let it sit. Then, just twist off the cap and pour!

The pouch is reusable, so don't toss it out. Dispose of the filter and rinse out the pouch. It will be ready to go the next time you need some caffeine. Nature's Coffee Kettle comes in a variety of coffee flavors as well as orange pekoe black tea, apple cider, and hot chocolate.