Cowans Gap State Park

I arrived after office hours and my tent site was clearly marked. Site 224 slopes downhill from the road. Parking spot and connecting area to tent pad are steep. Nowhere on the site is completely level but tent area was tolerable. Could be an issue in case of heavy rain. Nice picnic table and fire ring. Long walk to the bath house. Be sure to check water spray before choosing a shower. Some are much better than others. Bath house was clean. Have $5 cash exact for firewood. LOTS of hiking trails in this park with varying difficulty from easy to hard. Saw a bald eagle on the lake trail. Small but beautiful lake. Did not have AT&T coverage at site but was able to get coverage in the picnic area near the beach. I was looking for solitude and quiet and this park was perfect for that.

We have an older 5th wheel and older truck. I was NOT a fan of the elevation and steepness of some of the roads but truly nothing was wrong with the park amenities or the site, etc. Stumpy Lane specifically was brutal going up then there were definitely some rough roads within the park as well. Just figured I’d warn for those who may be in a similar rig situation!

Stayed here for 3 nights in mid July. Semi level site with good space. Paid on line and checked in at the office. They leave a tag at your site to show who is camping there. Restrooms and showers well kept. Wash dishes at your site. Firewood pricing was okay but the wood we got was pretty wet. Pretty area with nice walking. Beach with boat rentals within walking distance. Wooded with some trees between most sites. Would stay here again.

Being new to trailering and not knowing any better, we waited to the last minute to try to find a site over 4th of July. Luckily, there was a dog friendly, electric site available at Cowan’s Gap State Park. It’s only a 2 hour drive for us with a 3pm check-in/check-out time so we decided to try it. We really enjoyed our short stay. We enjoy hiking so being at a start park is great. There’s a 1.5 mile loop around the lake that’s very easy and a 1.7 mile hike near Loop A that’s pretty as it runs next to a creek but it’s definitely overgrown. The website and instructions for check-in were a little confusing so hopefully this will help newbies like us:

1) Loop B and some of Loop A are pet friendly. The website says sites 1-30 in Loop A but it’s more than that - they just haven’t updated their pet policy. They also don’t allow you to say your bringing a pet when you book online so be sure you are booking a pet friendly site (I called to double check).
2) check-in with the park office when you arrive. The signs when you pull in don’t really tell you where to go so the park office will help with a map.
3) there is no water at the sites. Only water pumps spread throughout. The streets are narrow so pulling off to the side is difficult. Our site was across from a pump so it was super easy to fill with two 25 ft hoses.
4) The sites are gravel and mostly level but they are kind of small. We have a 27 ft trailer and fit fine with our truck but would not have been able to have any tent campers with us. If that’s your plan, book a larger site.
5) if you have a generator, bring for back up. We lost power once but the neighboring site said it happened a few other times before we checked in. Mind you, it’s July so everyone is using their AC’s but it’s also not the time you want to not have power.
6) restrooms were relatively clean and there were enough spread throughout so we didn’t have to walk far.

Spent a couple of nights in our new-to-us campervan just to see what winter camping was like. We were there the second week of November and the temps dropped down to the lower 40's at night and during the day got up to near 50. Most of the sites were blocked off with just the one loop we were on open. There were only a handful of campers while we were there. The sites were not too close together. Finding a level one would be challenging but we always have the lego block levelers with us and used them to level our van. It was very quiet but then again the time of year was a huge factor. The bathrooms were warm and clean. All in all we will likely go back in the warmer weather to swim in the lake. At our site we barely got a Verizon signal, almost none. But just walking around we got connected and were able to download emails, etc.