Scouting Trip Report: SW Virginia, Western NC

[ron]

[p]Here are some great places we found, and one to avoid.[/p][p]
[/p][p]Note: Our goals here are parks with electricity and nice bathhouses.  I will use the bathhouses to keep our tanks on our little 14dbs from getting full, but I am squeamish if they are old, poorly lit and in disrepair.  I will take outdoor showers out the back of our CL when possible, and like a guy, generally go away and pee in the woods, but at night and the Ms. ......... strictly in the CL. [/p][p]
[/p][p]We also camp mid week in spring and fall, rarely in summer heat.  We want to be out by ourselves as much as possible, hike during the day, and use the microwave, heater, and running water in our CL.  Glorified backpacking.  We also shun bright lights, street lights and want dark skies to stargaze.  [/p][p]
[/p][p]New River State Park in North Carolina. We accessed this from I-81 in SW Virginia, dropping south into NC. Very small park, 30 sites at most, and most all of the sites were acceptable and even desirable.  Great almost new well kept bathhouse.  Defined camping spaces, level, and gravel surface.  Hiking to the New River and river outfitters were in the area.  Bathhouse has very low outside lighting, so dark night skies.  LOVE IT.  This will be our first trip out this fall.  30% full mid week, last week. Not a lot of shade, which is fine as temperatures go towards fall and winter.  [/p][p]
[/p][p]Fairy Stone State Park and Philpott Lake:  Both are within 30 miles of each other.  FSSP, is all of the above,  great park and facilities.  A bit older than NRSP.  It was under dense foliage, so all shade during the summer.  Great bathhouse here too.  Small park, 30-40 sites tops, some OK, some pretty darn good.  FSSP was 30% full mid week. [/p][p]
[/p][p]Philpott Lake is an Army Corp of Engineers lake, similar to our TVA lakes in my area.  The difference is that the shoreline is owned by the ACE and generally there is no development on these lakes, just pristine shoreline.  We LOVED this place, and when we go back we will do 3-4 nights here and maybe 2-3 at FSSP.  Philpott was definitely my choice of the two.  Did not see the bathouses, but the sites directly on or above the water were spectacular.  Bathhouses may be dated, as those at Kerr Scott Lake were so. I made do with these.   Hoping to find this campground sparsely populated in mid to late October.  Mid week last week it was 70% full on the lake loop, the wooded loop was barely used.  Beach with lifeguards.  Very nice place.  Do be aware of July and August and maybe even September thunderstorms which come quickly and with a terror.  We talked to folks that use this area a good bit and it is to be respected.  The day before we drove thru they had such a storm, which downed a big tree, tore out limbs and damaged camper awnings.  We will wait till the summer heat and storms have passed.  Do note that the ACE also has a lake in NC, just SE of Boone NC, called Kerr Scott Lake.  We were there last fall and it is very similar and desirable.  NC wineries near this lake[/p][p]
[/p][p]Also, we only explored Goosepoint Campground at Philpott Lake.  There are three other campgrounds on this lake, and Kerr Scott too has at least 3 if not 4 campgrounds. [/p][p]
[/p][p]On up past Lynchburg VA, all three of these parks are reasonably close to each other, and near civil war/historical areas.  Great history and learning experiences abound.  [/p][p]
[/p][p]Holliday Lake SP, spelled with two "L"s.  Very nice SP, clean, defined level spaces.  New section for large campers has 8 spaces and brand new bathhouse.  Older section has 30 or so sites, and acceptable bathhouse. Mostly open, little shade. Swimming area, and canoe rentals year round at the main office.  Very lovely little place.  We will go there and I will walk the 100 yards to the new bathhouse.  Again, very acceptable place.  30% full during the week.  Probably late October into November, mid week .......... I expect less than 10 campers in the entire park.  Only 1 camper plus the host was in the large site loop.[/p][p]
[/p][p]Bear Creek SP:  had 60% of the spaces closed during the week, due to low occupancy.  We know why.  Old bathhouse in disrepair, terrible layout of sites, all packed on top of each other.  We knew in 2 minutes this was not the place for us.  Virginia should close this and divert the funds to other parks.[/p][p]
[/p][p]James River SP: Oh my goodness, if you want to see Sasquatch, this is the place.  Our Garamond took us on miles and miles of unpaved roads in this tri park area, so disregard this and stay on paved roads.  The gravel roads were in great shapes, but got everything dusty.  One 11 mile stretch had state signs to watch out for pedestrians!!! Really?  Someone walking 5 miles from anywhere. I probably would have noticed a walker.  [/p][p] [/p][p]Sites were huge, flat and had the most area between sites as any park I have seen.  Great bathhouse, low lights, no streetlights, well kept and newish. It is either in the G. Washington National Forest or some other forest, the ole memory slips, but it was definitely out there.  20% full at best, mid week, last week.  I can see that when leaves are gone, before the early snows, that one would be the sole person in this big, big country.  Indeed perhaps a bit intimidating.  Will get here hopefully in new moon phase, and the milky way would be easily visible.  Lots of trees, but also lots of big wide open roads to view the stars.  In many of the above parks we made notes about our favorite sites, here there was no need.  All are great, and I think that you cannot even reserve site specific in Virginia anyways.  Any sites here are great.  Looking forward to this one for sure.  Sasquatch here we come. [/p][p]
[/p][p]Productive trip this one was.  Eliminated one undesirable location, and found at least 5 other very nice state parks or Army Corp of Engineer camping areas. [/p][p]
[/p][p]Hope this gives you some good ideas.  Let me know if you get to one and like it.  Don't get our best spot.    [/p][p]
[/p][p]PS, my wife mainly, and I, write a small article called: The Happy Campers.  It is in our local free monthly paper, and most of this info will be in the next issue.  You can reference the current issue, and info about our home park at the paper's website.[/p][p]
[/p][p]outnaboutmagazine.com[/p][p]
[/p][p]It is about our home area, the beautiful upper east Tennessee.  [/p][p]
[/p][p]  [/p]

[leslie]

This is a really good scouting report. I will refer to this when we plan to camp in this area, possibly in about a year from now. 2016 is planned, mostly. Will be in southern Georgia for Christmas, then Florida for January and February, then Georgia again for beginning of March. Virginia for May. June in Maine, then we will head west across the northern part of the US to visit our son's family in Pacific Northwest, and possibly a meetup with LL owners in July in Oregon. Then we will head back to Louisville to home base before we head south for the winter. Retirement is a blast!

[ron]

Leslie, You Go Girl!!!!  We are so impressed with your travel schedule. I want to be like you. let us know of any places you like on the Gulf side of Florida that are on the water.  --Anita (Ron's wife)