New River State Park

I chose this campground because I wanted to bike the New River Trail State Park in Virginia. This campground is about 35-40 miles from the trail. Virginia doesn't have RV camping at the New River Trail State Park. I prefer to stay in government run campgrounds. After booking my stay here I found out Claytor Lake State Park is near the New River Trail State Park. There are several sites in this campground that in my opinion are laid out wrong. There is no consistency in the way they are laid out. The water hookup is on the opposite side of the the electrical hookup in some sites. The sewage hookup may be all the way to the back of some campsites while halfway back at others. Some of the sites provide electrical hookup but not water or sewer hookup. The campfire ring and picnic table is on the driver's side in several sites and some require going up a flight of steps to get to while others require going down a flight of steps to get to. I stayed in site 12 which has full service but the site right next to me only had electrical. Try to be sure of the sites layout before you reserve your choose.

Small campground with spacious sites. Great natural screening between sites. Camp hosts were very friendly. Fairly dark for decent stargazing. Surrounded by trees, but site was clear enough for Starlink. The only note of caution is the the road leading to the campground is narrow, windy, and steep (hence only 3 stars for access). Campground access road is even steeper. Our truck struggled a little but we were able to make it. We would recommend coming in through Jefferson which seems less treacherous then from Sparta.

New River State Park has a truly wonderful campground. Sites are reasonable secluded (which doesn't show in the photos) with one exception (11 &12, a great buddy pair). Some site are configured "backwards" such that the utilities would be on the passenger side of the vehicle if backed in (1, 4, 8, 11, 16, & 17) but even these could be accommodated in most cases or would be a really great tent site. Some sites are multi-level with the picnic table and hearth above or below the parking pad, these always have steps to the make things easy. There are lots of nice, easy to moderately difficult trails down to the river and a gorgeous visitor center. The bathrooms are modern and immaculate, a really nice change of pace. The roads coming in are wind around bit but easily negotiated, hence the 4 start rating there. Just can't say enough about this CG.

Stay away from site 005! That is the most important point of this review.

New River State Park was highly rated in most of the reviews we’ve seen. We weren’t so impressed with it. However, let’s start with the positives…

This is a great location for accessing the New River for kayaking, canoeing, and tubing. There is an outfitter very nearby. We didn’t take advantage of these opportunities. This is a beautiful area of NC. The campground appears to be fairly new, and the facilities were clean and spotless while we were there. The campground has only 19 sites, which were not all full during our stay, and it was a very quiet and peaceful setting. T-mobile service was 4 bars and blazing fast. We did eat at the nearby BBQ joint and it was fairly good. So far, so good.

However, the campground is laid out very poorly. Of the 19 sites, I counted six that I would consider “good”, with enough room for outdoor living outside your camper door, and the connections appropriately placed. Many sites were so narrow that there is no way to have a “front porch”. The split level arrangement of the sites that others have pointed out, is actually a detriment in my opinion. Maybe it allows for more sites in a small area, but does not improve the ambience of the sites themselves. Also, most of the sites have little shade. Site 005 is quite possibly the worst RV site I’ve had the misfortune to camp in. It is just carved out by the side of the road, and your camper door is only about 15’ from the road, with a wooden border cutting the “front porch” in half. The picnic table and fire ring are on a raised platform about 8’ above the camper, and on the back side with no shade. No privacy in this site.

Good hiking opportunities are important to us. However, there are only about 3 miles of trails directly accessible from the campground. Nice trails, but just not enough of them.

Overall, we were disappointed and aren’t likely to return.

This is New River State Park in NORTH CAROLINA - not Virginia. (VA has a similar-named park.)

Halfway between Sparta and West Jefferson on a windy road (R221); access is MUCH easier from Blue Ridge Parkway via the West Jefferson Route. West Jefferson has the closest full-sized supermarket.

There are several hiking trails and a modern visitors/interpretive center highlighting the history and ecology of the river.

Campground is on a high bluff in a bend of the New River, but there are no water views from campsites. This quiet, clean, small campground has only about 20 sites, each with spacious adjacent tent pad. Hookups available.

Adjacent to a new cell tower - there is very strong cell signal for those who need it.

We stayed here four days to test our travel trailer and internet setup for our big tour thru the US. Verizon connection worked good to work from my notebook with meeting and Office 365 stuff. Sprint was not working at all, we had absolutely no signal on the whole campground. The sites were all huge and came with a firepit and electricity (30 amps), some even with water and sewer. The dumpstation is at the exit of the park and reachable for any trailer/RV/motorhome. We enjoyed it here and will bring our kayaks next time, our dog was happy as always. Staff was super friendly and could recommend the BBQ place ten minutes away (we would recommend it too)

We enjoyed our stay at New River State Park. We wanted to go after Thanksgiving to get a Choose and Cut Christmas Tree farm. Unfortunately, I did not think about booking this until a month before and all the sites were taken. Checking the reservation system daily paid off. About 10 days before 2 spots opened up. We got our tree and enjoyed walking to the river while there. It was so peaceful.

Our site was nice with one step up to the tent platform. Nice picnic table and fire pit. This platform and the platform to the site below (17 I think) back up to each other.

Verizon cover was ok on extended.

Really enjoyed the layout of this campground. We stayed at the walk-in sites US Highway 221 access. The sites were level with gravel throughout. Included the traditional picnic table, lantern post and fire ring. I liked how the fire rings left up exposing the concrete base do they can be cleared of ashes. Ours was completely clean when we arrived. The bathrooms were very clean and shower water hot. Not as close to the river as I would like but nice to be near it. Also liked that they had several rolling wagons available to transport your gear to the site. Unfortunately it is when Zeta blew through so we bailed earlier than expected because of high winds. Verizon cell service as perfect. We stayed in a tent in site 26.

We stayed 5 nights and it was wonderful. Each spot has its own patio area (some are raised or lowered) with a picnic table and fire ring. Within the park you can access the river which is beautiful and there are a couple trails that we loved. If it’s a clear night you can see the Milky Way. Most sites are only electric, no water or sewer (so fill up your tanks on the way in!). The only downfall is you must be in the park by closing, summer is not bad at 10pm but winter is 7pm. We have already booked Christmas and next Summer here.