Camp Burson

Stayed for a quick overnight and reserved a nice paved pull through in the middle. I should note it was paved driveway and gravel picnic area. Very impressed with bath house in the back - clean bathrooms and private showers, plus laundry room. There are bathrooms in the front by the office that are older but still somewhat clean, or as clean as they can be. Great mix of rigs, tent campers, as well as 2 yurts. There’s a trailhead loop entrance right off the back of the campground. Clientele were very friendly, lots of families, and dogs. Somewhat active/noisy up till quiet hours, but then dead silent through the night. I got a good sleep. T-Mobile was only 1 bar of LTE but campground WiFi was decent.

We stayed just one night at Camp Burson, and we regretted it so much…we needed longer here! We were in site 13, right beside the creek. The site is a little short, but we had no issues with getting our 29ft TT in and parking our truck. The camping area is HUGE! Great picnic table, fire pit, etc. The fire pit has a grill, and we decided to cook over the fire since it was such a pleasant evening.
The campground is IMMACULATE! The camp hosts are working non-stop cleaning sites, and it shows. The ranger at the office (Cathy) was wonderful! We arrived very early (normal checkin isn’t until 4pm) as we were having some truck issues, and she and the camp hosts worked to get us to our site so that we could take our truck back into town for repairs.
Cell service was a little spotty, but the campground did have WiFi which worked pretty well for us until later evening (I suspect it was more spotty then because of more people being in the campground for the night and using it).
The lake loop trail is right beside site 13 and leads to the lake and eventually to the beach and park entrance (a little over a mile). We biked the trail which wasn’t crowded at all.
There are also some amazing hiking trails that leave right from the campground.
If you are staying here, you also must check out the Hungry Mother Grill right up the road. We popped in for a late breakfast after our morning hike on the day we were leaving, and it was wonderful! Great food, AMAZING prices and super sweet people. Another treat if you’re staying here is the drive-in movie theater just up the road. They have movies showing on the weekends (Thursday through Sunday), and it’s fabulous!
We thoroughly loved our visit here and will be back very, very soon!

GPS (Garmin) will warn you about road length/weight limit, not sure it is accurate. Take exit 50 to US 11 and head south to state route 16 (Park Blvd.) Follow the 16 to the park entrance. The road is in good condition but narrow. Finding the site is easy. Site 24 is pull through, 90' asphalt and gravel, full hookup with 20/30/50 amp on the post. Needed 1" to 2" leveling on the left. This is a long narrow site with wooden picnic table, fire ring, and lantern post. Didn't try Wi-fi but the T-Mobile cell signal was good. The bath house was clean with flush toilets and individual shower rooms. There is a laundry in the bath house. This is our second trip to Hungry Mother State Park we think it is the best. There is hiking, biking, boating, swimming, and fishing in the park and the lake is right next to the campground. Nearby are longer bike trails in Damascus, VA and Saltville, VA. There are several small towns to explore with shops, museums and attractions. Highly recommend this park, one of our favorites. The camp Hosts are the hardest working I have ever seen, each site is raked before the next camper comes in.

Hungry Mother State Park is a gorgeous, older historic park. Lake, beach & trails are lovely. Cabins are scattered throughout the park. There are three camping sections. We stayed in Burson. The campground is located right on a lesser traveled highway, and there is no security. The ranger station was not manned when we stayed there. There were slots outside where we picked up our envelope stuffed with everything we needed to camp and visit the park. We felt very safe. The campground is not very scenic, but very comfortable, with a row of sites that have full hook up. The rest have water & electric. The hookups look like they're newer, and are well maintained. A good, quiet campground for families, or for a quick stop off of I81. Cell service is very unreliable.

We visited family in this area and this was the first time staying here.
It was a clean level back in. Very easy to set up. They only have electric and water so you have to dump, which was easy too.
The people were so nice and the grounds and bathroom were very clean. They had a great laundry room(1.50$)
And a pretty creek was in the back of us.
They rent these cool round house things too.
We didn’t have but one bar of cell coverage.

We stayed two nights here, separated by two weeks. We needed an overnight for outgoing and coming back from a journey up north. We enjoyed both stays. This campground is a bit distant from the rest of the park but we were overnighting anyway so it was nothing to us. The sites are nice and level, some with full hookup, some with partial. One of the bathhouses is a bit older but there is also a nice new one. Both are clean. There is a laundry which is a plus and there is guest wifi. The reservation system has some sites that you can reserve specific and some that just have a pool of sites to choose from when you get there. With these you are guaranteed a spot, you just aren’t sure which one til you get there and see which non-specific sites are still open. Lastly, it isn’t too far from town so you can pop in for groceries or a meal. Would stay here again anytime we were in the area.

We stayed at Camp Burson October 10th-14th. At last minute we extended the trip and went a day early, so our first night was a site on the back side without sewer. The remainder of our stay was on a site (#15) with full hookup. This site was a back-in with a separate parking pad as well. Each site has a large picnic table & fire-ring. Firewood is available for purchase. The campground was small & well maintained. The Camp Hosts were very friendly & helpful! We enjoyed hiking all of the trails and kayaking the lake during our stay. The only downside was the lack of decent cell service, even when showing two bars.

Old RV park that State Park runs now.
Next to Back of the Dragon. Many loud motorcycles all day.
Site next to us had an RV and 4 autos. More than 6 people on one site.
Loud and noisy.
Restroom need better cleaning. More gravel needed where turning through mud.
These are just my honest observations.
Beach was very good some trash buried in sand.
Trails were nice.
I might stay again but in the very back away from road.
Marion had a Walmart. Sales tax 12%. Highest I’ve seen anywhere.
Wifi near the office was working 99% of the time.
Price a little high for this park.

Stayed at Camp Burson for two nights on our way north. This state park is excellent with many trails and a really nice beach at the lake with a swimming area and boat rentals. There are three distinct campgrounds: Royal Oak with high platforms for tenting - no RVs allowed, Creekside CG for smaller campers (very windy / hilly road with hairpin turn to get there) and a half mile before entering the park they have Camp Burson for rigs up to 35’. We stayed at Camp Burson on site 4 and had full hookups. It was a tight squeeze but we just fit and it had nice shade all day long. The campsites are level with a gravel bed, picnic table and fire ring. Upon arrival, park in front of the center building, then enter the office by walking around to the rear (COVID-19 limitations). Some sites are site-specific reservable some are not, the ranger will tell you what sites are open and you can walk around and decide which one you want. The camp hosts onsite are excellent and keep the place spotless. One host assisted us by advising us best site for our size rig and he was right. Cell service was tough to come by, Verizon okay - ATT no signal. (at our site). We did not use the restroom facilities as we are self-contained.

Now for the caution - the road into this state park (Park Blvd Rt 16N) is clearly marked as not open to trucks over 35’. The campground itself states RVs no longer than 35’. The road into the park is the reason why they have this policy - it is very windy and steep in areas. Also, follow the parks driving directions - use exit 47 off of I-81, to Rt 11, and then right onto Park Blvd. You avoid driving through the town of Marion and DO NOT TAKE CHATHAM HILL ROAD as some apps will recommend. It would be impossible to tow ANY vehicle in some sections of that road.

We would camp here again if we were staying longer as the state park has much to offer, but for a quick stop off of the interstate we would go to Fort Chiswell RV park.

We were here over the 4th of July, had a "non-specific" site reservation, which meant we had the choice of about 7 sites on arrival. Ended up in a nice pull-through. Even though the place ended up packed, it was still quiet during quiet hours. This is truly one of the better CGs we've come across, in a beautiful location. You have to go to the Virginia Creeper bike trail (rentals available in Damascus), it's an easy 17 mile ride downhill the whole way. Great swimming at the park lake, real nice golf course nearby.