The Best State Park Camping in Wild & Wonderful West Virginia
Arguably the most beautiful, and most popular of WV’s state parks is Blackwater Falls. The camping area itself is nothing particularly special (several spots organized around a large loop with varying degrees of privacy), but the hiking and vistas in the area, particularly in “leaf peeper” season, is some of the most rewarding east of the Mississippi.
Nearby Canaan Valley Resort State Park is a good primer for those interested in exploring the state’s “resort state park” systems, where you’ll find amenities from laundromats to golfing, video arcades to spas.
Much of the state park system in West Virginia is centered around these resorts, or in the case of the “regular” parks, fishing, hiking and wildlife viewing. While it may be a bit different from what you’re used to from the state parks, they provide the gamut of options for those of us who enjoy kicking back and glassing birds or teeing off and wasting the day away on the back nine, and in any case, are still the best option for camping in the state.
National Forest Camping in West Virginia
Looking to get away from the hubbub and guffaw of hookups and organized camping? Well, you might not find it in the even wilder, even more wonderful national forest camping areas of West Virginia…but only because even those tend to have some type of electrical hookup.
Take Seneca Shadows for example, where you can get 30 amps of electricity running through your rig while camping in the middle of the forest. Of course, if you really want to get out there in the rough, plenty of opportunities to do so abound–such as Red Creek Campground in the Monongahela National Forest.
RV Park Camping in West Virginia
The Mountain State has no shortage of private RV parks, from the lavishly expensive to something that feels a bit more…permanent.
Places like New River Campground put you feet from this gorgeous national scenic river, where you can dip your toes, cast out your line or float your kayak. Riftrafters nestles you just outside of Fayetteville, one of WV’s best small towns, where hip pizza pubs and chapels turned coffee shop await the hipster in you.
When the eastward winds blow and you find yourself wondering if you’re in Appalachia or the mid-Atlantic, the Northeast or somewhere South; grab yourself a map of West Virginia, point your front bumper at any given small town on your route, and find out why West Virginia is one of the east’s best kept secrets.
