Harpers Ferry Campground

If your reason is to visit Harpers Ferry, then I read that the other campground has 5 star great location, 0 star dealing with the management. So I chose this campground, that was marked down for the RR and dirty camp bathrooms.

Why would I return? Kelly the camp host is 5 star. Visitors to Harpers Ferry can park at the Park Office, or train station, either way, they pay $20 to park, so says the literature, and it is a 3 day parking pass whether you are parking an hour or 3 days. So from our spot, RV122, walk 1 mile down the path between the canal (not C&O) and the CSX RR tracks, and you enter Harpers Ferry at the train station. Or bike, which is faster than walking. Another reason you might want this campground is the zipline and floating down the Potomac.

Getting here. The office and the campground are at 2 different addresses. You should go to the office at 408 Alstadts Hill Road, Harpers Ferry, WV 25425 before you try to go to the campground. Why? The campground is nestled in between the CSX RR tracks, and the Potomac River. Saying this again, the CSX RR is between wherever you are coming from, and the campground. This is significant because the tunnel under the RR is not built for campers to go through. 2 tight turns, and 11' clearance. Instead, one is directed some distance away to where they can cross over the RR at a surface level crossing, and then back to the campground. Directions will be given to you at the office.

Us getting here. We were directed to the office by those in the office. The office was manned by 6 HS age girls, and 1 guy. Their purpose was to take the money and help the people who were there by the hundreds, to get with their guide or whoever, bus and gear for everything but camping. I did not know where to bring my rig to, to get to their office. 1st 2 parking lots were blocked by so many cars. I finally parked in a loading zone, and the girls first said that I had to simply turn around in the narrow space to get out. I pointed out that there was a trailer attached to my pickup truck, at which they did not know what to do. They talked and decided that I could cruise deeper into the parking lots that I was in, and maybe I could find a way to turn around. There is no out, and the lot was not designed for large vehicles. I did, having to wait on adults and children going to and coming from their cars, lots of them, and finally made my way to the furthest parking lot from the office where there I found enough open spaces to get turned around. I have decided that next time, I am going to continue past the office, and pull in where the school busses with trailers pull in to load up their river rafter groups, for there were no cars in there. If they don't like it, maybe they can tell me where best to go. Inside, they did not have a reservation with my name on it, and so did not know what to do. I produced the printout of my paid reservation from the website, and the guy there instructed the girls how to create a reservation, which they did, and gave me that. After we, with truck and trailer had left the office, we followed the many turn directions through the countryside to the campground. When we saw the low RR bridge, we were glad we did not try that way. We got to our campsite just fine, and we were the only ones there. Maneuvering room was tight, and I chose to back down the road a ways to a turn around point so that I could back back down the road and back into my site on the passenger side. There was a kind of narrow post gateway that I did not want to attempt turning within if I wanted to back in with the site on the drivers side. I consider myself a good backer. The water hissed in the site next to it, apparently the people that were in there, ran into the water supply point with their trailer while pulling out, and so maintenance had to replace it. Next site over, we watched another try to back in there, and his backing skills were ok. Perhaps all of us watching made him nervous. The campground host removed the post markers, (so they are set to be easily removed for situations like these) so that the guy could back his trailer in. Maintenance said that campers are bumping into water and electric connection points all the time, and breaking them. If they do that, it is ok. They will fix it. But if they get mad and run over it, then that is not ok and they will get charged.

The $72.05 per day with water and electric only: Prices vary as to what day, and where. We got a lower rate because it was a Monday-Thursday, plus 15% off because we signed up for 3 nights. The $72.05 includes all taxes and fees.

Train noise: It is not that bad. There are no crossings in the immediate area, so you probably won't hear any horns. If you listen, they blow the horn in Harpers Ferry, and that is a mile away, so I am not going to say that you can't hear the horn. I am just saying that it is not an issue, that far away. Mostly commuter trains, a few and more noisy, heavy freights.

Camp bathhouses: No! Yes they have them. I feel so sorry that for the tent campers. In our area, it is toilets and whatever on a car-hauler size trailer with a 1000 gal tank black tank underneath. Those that went in there, said it really stank. They have a nice looking on the outside bathhouse up on the hill, I looked inside one of the rooms in it, and it was covered in mud. Groups of teenagers camp here and participate in these zip-line and water sports. Their tent campsites are some dirt, mostly mud. I hope that explains it. A high-pressure wash, everyday, would greatly help the cleanliness of these rooms. We only used the bathroom in our trailer. There is a dump station provided which we will use when we leave.

Camp host Kelly is a camper herself, and very, very nice and helpful. You can rent an electric bike, but if you have one, this is the place for you. There are public restrooms for us tourist in Harpers Ferry which are clean, and there are places to sit and secure your bikes for free. I think I saw only 5 public places to park in the "Lower Town" Harpers Ferry which were not owned by the park service. There may be more.

#1 Q&A listed at each restaurant I saw, "No, you are not in VA. You are in WV."
Also know that the old canal between the campground and Harpers Ferry is not the C&O Canal. The C&O Canal is on the other side of the river. Easy to get there. The Appalachian trail enters Harpers Ferry from the south, and crosses to the other side of the Potomac via a public path that is on and beside one of the CSX RR tracks. The C&O Canal is 185 miles long, stretches from Washington DC to Cumberland, Maryland, and all the canal towpath that I have seen is a very nice bike trail. Again, bring you electric bike if you have one. Easy ride from this campground into Harpers Ferry, walk it across the RR bridge on the path provided for the general public, Harpers Ferry is at C&O mile marker 60.

Zipline: There is a many tower zip line in this campground, but not in this side of the campground that I am in.

Hookups: We chose a site that has water and electric, only. There are a number of sites where the zip lines are, that also has sewer. Camp host says that there is talk of installing sewer on this side too.

Seasonal: Talking to the camp host, not sure what is on the website, but best just call the office and ask. This side of the campground, with water and electric only, is shut off during more winter months than the sites that have sewer. Depends upon demand. So if you want an off season site, best call the office.

We are right on the Potomac River. 1 mile walk down the path to Harpers Ferry.

WiFi: Campground offers GREAT wifi access to the Internet.

Wife & I stayed in spot #53 (water & 50A). It was at the east end of the RV sites next to the river and tent camping area. The campground is situated on a very narrow patch of land next to the river and requires all rigs over 10' to take a 20 min detour to avoid an old, stone rail tunnel. The camp host "Momma T" met me there and guided me into our spot. She did a great job taking care of us during our stay.
RV sites on the riverbank are not leveled, so you will want to bring all of your leveling gear with you. Place is located an easy drive to either Harper's Ferry proper or to Charlestown, so, once situated, it offered a picturesque camping spot. Early May, it was a little on the chilly side and not very busy. No rafters or zip-lining going on, so I guess we missed all that excitement. There is a couple that regularly puts on a show with their wave runners and we did get to share in the 9lb catfish one of the regulars caught off the boat ramp while we were there.
The dual freight rail lines did create quite a bit of noise. Close as they were (100') I didn't really mind them. I tried sleeping with and without earplugs and didn't notice any real difference in the quality of my sleep.
Amenities-wise, we liked the proximity to town (I only cooked twice). No sewer hookup requires you to dump on the way out and their dumpsite, while well appointed, is not level or easily accessed. Your trailer will end up pitched away from the dumpsite making emptying your holding tanks difficult. Also, since you are in the Potomac River Valley, don't count on quality cell service no matter what kind of hotspot rig you have. The bathroom/bathhouse situation could be a lot better. The only showers are located in a bathhouse up a rather steep walking path on the complete opposite end of the campground and isn't easy accessed from any campsite. It's an especially long hike for tent campers - which just seems cruel.
Will have to ask the wife, but I think we would probably come back with her parents because her dad was a train engineer for BNSF. In all, it is tight and noisy for the price.

This campground is actually right long the river, which is lovely. But between trains and zip lines, not quiet. The directions to get from check in location to the campground are clear, no map, but written directions get you there. If you have an RV and need more than 11’ clearance, the trip around the low bridge is out of the way. Very confusing on the way out without a map. Electricity was over voltage and if we did not have surge suppressor we would not have known it and likely would have blown our electrical,system. For the price, I would suggest looking elsewhere.

Have waited six months into our RV life to start reviews for fair comparisons. We stayed here to meet up with friends in Harpers Ferry. It has been our most expensive site in six months, but suspect that’s par for the course in this area. Prepare for the noise with the overhead zip lining (which is cool to watch), the frequent passing train, and the honking of horns going through the tunnel. All that being said, great view and the guy in charge couldn’t have been any nicer. Brought us free firewood for having to wait less than five minutes to get into our site, which we really didn’t mind. The reason it was delayed was they were creating a new site, and when we expressed the desire to stay longer than our initial reservation he let us take the new site. Yes it’s noisy, but we really enjoyed it. Great areas for dog walking. And can walk into town from the campground.

Other then the fact we didn't have sewer hook up, power and water only, it was a great experience. Beautiful site. Great staff. They even let me use some of their tools to modify our bed. We were there over Halloween, our kids live fairly close and we had just returned from a trip with our new 5th wheel. Halloween trick or treating was awesome with our grand kids visiting that night. Near the train tracks was a little noisy but not to bad. Kind of got use to it. Definitely would stay there again. We're talking of taking another trip soon and obviously staying there again. To get there was a tad tricky, but it was absolutely worth it.