Blackwater Falls State Park

Blackwater Falls State Park offers up the best of West Virginia. In this video, we provide a tour of Blackwater Falls State Park. Our tour of Blackwater Falls State Park explore Blackwater Falls, the lodge, several overlooks of Blackwater Canyon to include the Pendleton Point and Lindy Point Overlooks, Elakala Trail and Falls, Pendleton Lake, and the campground.

We're glad we picked Blackwater Falls and early October. The colors were amazing. Our arrival was functional but not overly welcoming. We had Site 45 and felt it couldn't have been better. 45 puts you in the back, low traffic area of the campground with Back-In pads. Closer to the front seemed crowded as the "half circle" drive-through pads put everyone's unit closer to the road. It felt like driving through a gauntlet. Our pad wasn't level but we found that by dropping our rear wheels off the end of the pad it leveled up just fine. We had nice trees and space at our site with open spots on either side but mostly tenters in our section. The water fill and dump station were nearby but not close enough to be bothersome with traffic. We enjoyed the trails and dinner at the Smokehouse in the lodge which also offers beautiful views of the gorge. The two falls we saw (Blackwater and Elekala) were worthy destinations. Lindy Point was an especially enjoyable hike. Nearby, the town of Davis offered grocery and gas options and Thomas is also close by where we found a pharmacy. The well paved roads and the careful ground maintenance made traveling through the park a pleasure. Our arrival was from the west and the GPS sent us through some back roads that while paved were only one lane and winding at times. Double check your route to make sure you're on roads suitable for your vehicle. He hope to return to Blackwater and also explore other West Virginia State Parks.

When I booked our site the website stated it was an electric site suitable for RVS. When we printed our confirmation, it stated it was a 'tent site', and what we found was a 'pull-through' site with the electric post at the back of the lot. The choice was to 'pull through' with no electricity, or back onto the site. We chose electric, of course, but the site sloped severely and we could not get our camper level and spent the entire stay with about 8 inches of slope from one side to the other. The 'pull-through' sites are almost ALL significantly sloping, and we saw numerous people having extreme difficulty with leveling. The only remotely flat sites are at the top of the hill. Also be aware that the 'pullthrough' sites are right next to the road. That means the wall of your camper will be within 6 feet of the road and vehicles using it.

The website states there is laundry in the campground (false), and there are no dumpsters. The ranger I spoke with said to drive our trash to the maintenance building, which is a few miles away.

The bathrooms were spotless, however hot water is iffy and if someone flushes the toilet, uses the sink or is using the other shower (there were 2 stalls in the women's side), you will see the water flow reduced to a trickle. Water was sort of hot but lukewarm if someone else was also using hot water. There was no soap in the women's bathroom, only hand sanitizer. Of the 2 shower stalls, only 1 had a working lock.

My biggest complaint was that there is a separate building for handicapped, family bathroom, with a large sign which said 'door is locked at all times, get key at maintenance building'. This is outrageous--a disabled person who cannot navigate the step into the showerhouse is forced to get a key from a location several miles away? Pretty sure that violates ADA laws and it is shameful.

The camp office had nice firewood (not slabs) and ice. The location cannot be beaten for access to Blackwater Falls State Park. Would return IF we could book one of the more level campsites.

Walking distance to beautiful hikes and falls. Bathrooms were clean and decent enough, close to all campsites (I’m very picky about bathrooms). Campsites we’re very roomy, not all had tree coverage but the outside loop does. The towns of Davis and Thomas are nearby and are great to walk around and visit shops. Will definitely be back again!!

We loved the campground and this was our second time camping there-first time was in a tent and this time in our TT. Our site however was not great for our 34’ TT due to the slope of the paved area. It appears they recently ran all new electric for the sites and the bathhouses have been remodeled too. Site 15 is not ideal, but we will head back and choose a different site next time. Our site recommendations - 9 & 53 are both pull throughs and are level and back to woods; 40 is level and near dump station; and 45 & 47 are both back-in sites, but level and back to woods.

We enjoyed our stay. Lot of trails within the park. Some sites may have privacy issues but we didn't see it as an issue for us. We got lucky and had an almost dead level site but there are some tricky sites there so choose your site carefully. The roads within the campground are narrow and the sites, which are asphalt, are pretty narrow as well, maybe 10'. There was a 5th wheel across the road from us in a drive through that gave up, they just couldn't get level. Don't know where they went. Every morning and evening there were a number of deer roaming through the park. The bath houses are old but clean. Since there was no wi-fi and sad cell service we went to the lodge and use their wi-fi to download some youtube videos to watch a night.

No issues checking in: fast and friendly.
5 acre field, with bathhouse smack dab in the middle.
RV sites on either side of a ring road that encircles the bathhouse.
There is another loop of sites, but we did not explore.
No privacy; can see every other site in the ring from your site, but a decent amount of space between sites.
Decent pull-through and back-in sites.
20/30A only.
Non-level site.
Beautiful park, great hiking, gorgeous waterfall and gorge.

This was our first stay in a state park campground in West Virginia and it was a great stay. Arrived during a steady downpour and rented a cabin for the first night but camped the second night. Two loops - one with electric sites and one without. Very reasonable rates - $25 for electric ($22.50 with senior discount) plus you don’t need a state parks sticker as you do for other states. Rates are also the same for residents and non-residents. Not all sites are level and some are very close together (which would be good for people camping together). Inside sites have no privacy between them; some of the outside sites have some trees offering privacy. Flush toilets and showers plus coin laundry. Bathrooms were clean but although the showers appeared to have new shower heads, they were a bit sketchy looking (shower shoes would be a definite). Very limited cell service but WiFi is available in the lodge and cabins. Great hiking trails.