Candace and Sean B.

The Dyrt Pro

Washington, DC

Joined August 2021

Decent getaway, close to the big city

Very convenient spot near the DC area. You wouldn’t know it, but there’s literally a massive junkyard and industrial areas about 2 miles from the park. I’d rate it a 3.5 if given the option

It’s a nice wooded area. Some of the campsites are close together, others are spaced better. All sites are covered in varying levels of gravel. The campground ring road is narrow, not much room to navigate when backing a camper into sites. The sites inside the loop have electric hookups. I did not notice pull through sites, did not see a camp store. Firewood is self serve, honor system.

As others noted, due to it’s proximity to Andrews AFB you are going to get lots of helicopters, jets and transport planes flying around day and into the night.

When they are not buzzing around in flying contraptions it can be peaceful and quiet.

Bathhouse is small but clean, there is hot water. No dishwashing station. Seemed like they had just added some new H2O pumps around the camping area. The pavilions have new picnic tables.

Some good hiking trails in the park, you might come across people on horseback. I saw birds, frogs, deer, a rabbit and too many snakes while hiking. Looks like they have archery practice ranges, not sure how that works if people are hiking. I could hear a fair amount of gunfire while hiking. Guessing there’s a target practice area as it’s not hunting season.

Did not see a camp host. The rangers cruise around a few times a day.

Deer Spring Loop

Deer Spring Loop is near the top of the mountain.

This is not a pet friendly loop.

Site 112 is level, mostly shaded, backs up to the woods and has electric.

The site is between two cabins. Not a problem except the cabins were empty and the ac was running. Noisy and kind of wasteful.

There are lots of good hiking trails in the park. It’s a nice walk to the lake. Note that the hike back is 2/3 uphill.

They sell ice at the camp entrance, which is nice.

The bathrooms were moderately clean and had plenty of hot water.

I was not aware that there was a camp host until the third morning as I was readying to leave. I approached another camp to ask a question and they said they were the “camp hosts”.

Decent small campsite

We stayed in site 4 which was fairly level if you park in the right spot. The bathrooms were clean and the hosts were friendly. No cell service, but if you go to the Visitor’s center during the day they have WiFi. The history of the location is interesting. We won’t spoil it for you.

Nice amount of little trails. The reason we gave it 3 stars, in the morning fighter jets were screaming overhead at treetop level. Really ruined the atmosphere and sense of being out in nature.

First VA outing

This was our first time camping in Va in our Popup.

This is a nice spot. Easy access to hiking trails and swimming or fishing in the lake.

The bathrooms are clean and they have a decent dish washing station.

All RV sites have H2O and electric.

A few of the sites did not seem to be very level.

The sites are fairly close together.

All sites have partial shade or more.

Other campers were very friendly and helpful.

The host family was fantastic when we were there.

The firewood for sale was good. Not the prepackaged stuff that can be hard to get burning.