Douthat State Park Campground

We stayed in the Whispering Pines campground loop to get a better chance of cell signal to attend to some work. The campground itself is not too bad, and the sites certainly spacious and level.

Check-in was a bit on the odd side - since the campground is so far from the office (and before it), you're supposed to have your check-in packet waiting at the kiosk for you. Then you just fill in a registration slip. Ours however wasn't there, so we just proceeded to our site and hoped that was ok. A ranger dropped our packet off later in the day.

Individual showers at the bathhouse was definitely nice. And there's a park area with a small fitness trail right off the campground. Our site (10) was a bit exposed to the main campground road so there was a bit of traffic noise, but not too mad. There is a babbling creek, which I wish they had designed the park better around to enjoy.

But otherwise, you're several miles from the rest of the park. There is a bike trail, but it was pretty overgrown and really not 'fun'. So we used our e-Bikes on the main road, which is narrow and twisty, to get to the visitor center. There you will find a camp store with a grill, and a beach to swim at. A couple other campground loops, and just a whiff of cell signal here and there.

I don't recall what we used to get online here, but between our three cellular carriers it just worked fine. So that's the plus. Otherwise, if you're coming to Douthat to experience the park - we recommend one of the other loops closer to stuff. They were quite RV suitable with hook-ups.

Gorgeous and roomy campsite. We stayed in the Whispering Pines Campground which is one of four different campgrounds in the park. Whispering Pines is the first campground you will see when entering the park from Clifton Forge and I-64. It is about three miles from the park office and all other park facilities. The approach was all on nice and easy driving roads. Our site was very spacious and private and appears almost all the sites in the campground were similar, except for a few that were in the middle of a field across from the dump station (I believe WP 22 and 23). Everything in our site, the common areas, and the restroom facilities was immaculately clean. We also never heard another soul in our site. Virginia State Parks are always so nice and clean in my experience. The campground host in Whispering Pines was super nice and friendly and offered us some nice advice and things to do in the area. We got no OTA TV and cell coverage was minimal. I was able to text, check email, and make calls on AT&T. T-Mobile did not work at all even though the device consistently showed one bar. Whispering Pines in the only place in the park with any cell coverage. We toured the three other campgrounds and none of them had any service. The Park does offer WIFI at the park office and the store/snack bar area which was blazing fast! If you do visit be sure to check out the park office, there is some nice interpretive info there and the two ladies we met in the office were super nice. The lake and trails looked beautiful, we had rain most the time we were there, so we didn’t get a hike in. The surrounding area is gorgeous. The towns of Clifton Forge and Covington both had cute old towns and the Alleghany Highlands are is worth exploring.

We followed the signs off the interstate plus our RV GPS and Waze were right on. As we got to the camping areas there was a sign showing the campground names. We were in Whispering Pines CG and it wasn’t on the sign. However, a very short distance further there was a CG to our right and guess what, it was Whispering Pines. So we drove in and the camp host met us and handed us our info package and tags plus told us the basic rules and asked if we had any questions. We then proceeded to back-in site 16 with Water & 50 AMP. The back-in was just okay mostly because we were not on our game. Really nice and spacious sites in this CG. Really didn’t see where one site is better than another. There is a large creek to one side of the big circle CG but none of the sites sit right on the creek. On the creek side of the CG, some sites are just across the CG road from the creek. Another nice feature is that there is a workout area and playground out the back side of the CG, thus those allergic to kids don’t have to worry about being close to the playground. We got 2 bars Verizon and 3 bars AT&T. You are in a valley, so no OTA channels. Once we got towards the main state park area, spotty to no Verizon signal. We hiked the Blue Suck Falls Trail from the main park area. It was a 1.4 mile hike up to the little falls, which was a moderate to difficult hike due to the rocks and very shallow creek crossings encountered on the trail. Its well worth the trip to the Humpback Bridge about 30 minutes away. In our humble opinion, compared to other covered bridges we have seen in our travels its on par with the Bridges of Madison County.
 Douthat is a great little state park that we would definitely come back to again.

We stayed at Whispering Pines campground site 11. A very nice campground with huge and level sites. Showers are the best! Two bars on Verizon and very speedy. Downsides: 1. Sites on inside of the loop are very exposed and 2. The many great Douthat trails are some distance away 2 miles or more). But, it’s a great campground and we will stay again!

Prettiest part of Virginia. From I-81 take I-64 West for 35 minutes and exit towards Douthat State Park. There are several campground loops. Our favorite is Whispering Pines and site 10 is our favorite; it's at the bottom of the loop closest to the stream and path to the large playground area (kids will love this playground). The stream has trout in it. You can take your web chair across the road and sit along the stream with your morning coffee or fishing pole. The campground is surrounded by mountain hills and pine trees. Campsites are clean and level. Bath house is average for public campground facilities. You can kayak/boat in the lake and fish.

There's a wonderful restaurant in the park with a deck that overlooks the lake; the deck is a great place to have appetizers, wine and enjoy the view. There's a visitor center with a gift shop. There's several trails and the park has access to a trail that enters the George Washington National Forest. There's a part of the campground designated for horse campers. There's a lakeside campground that is primitive. There are numerous cabins available. The boat launch is by the primitive lakefront campground.

The park has a sandy beach with a playground. If you book during Easter, the park has an easter egg hunt on the beach for children. It gets very crowded, but they have kids decorate a milk jug for the egg hunt and there's farm animals to pet...Easter is fun at the park.

Fishing: The lake is stocked annually (usually in April) with Trout. There is no fishing during the trout stocking. There is a smaller pond where they put trout in and have kids fishing day (only kids can fish for trout). Many fish make their way into the stream that runs along the Whispering Pines campground and you are allowed to fish there. Normal Virginia Trout fishing license is required by adults 16+.

Sites are deep and the scenery is beautiful. We've been twice and already booked our 3rd visit; can't wait. This park has an 11-month booking window and most of the Virginia State Park Campgrounds fill up fast. AT&T cell coverage was minimal (1-2 bars). Bring a cell booster.

As usual, Virginia State Parks are the best! So many things to do here - swim at the lake, hike the trails, Geocache, picnic, Ranger programs or just relax.
We did not have a site-specific reservation, so we had to pick one of the few remaining spots on a Saturday afternoon. Fortunately, we had a fair amount of privacy. We did not get one of the sweet spots on the river though. We were able to hear the calming river noise from our site.
Didn't get a chance to swim, but we were impressed with the beach with its concession stands, picnic tables and lifeguards.

Douthat has been one of our favorite Virginia State Parks, and after purchasing our first camper, we knew that there was no better place to break 'er in than this scenic setting.

We stayed at the Beaver Dam campsite - which is horse-friendly, although we were not traveling with any furry critters. The setting is beautiful and well laid-out. Check-in was easy, and the staff was friendly. The site was easy to get to, with excellent facilities nearby. Water and electric all easily accessible... and the dump station was clean and easy to use. (And that's coming from someone who'd never dumped a camper before this stay.)

We even grabbed a bite to eat at the park's restaurant overlooking the lake. Gorgeous views, and good food.

We'd definitely stay here again, and it's the perfect location for those weekend Virginia Tech football games, less than an hour away. Also, there's a huge Camping World about half an hour down the interstate.

I have both Verizon and AT&T cell phones, and neither had a lick of service, but that was to be expected in this location.
Also, our camper antenna couldn't pick up any stations - so be prepared for a relaxing tech-free stay! :)