Northwest River Park & Campground

I remember staying at Northwest River park as a child and was excited to share a trip with my daughter - make new memories. Unfortunately, our experience was very different than I remember / had hoped it would be. We arrived late and were told that it was not a problem, just check in at the office in the morning. Early the next morning, we received a loud knock on the door of our RV. It scared me awake as I am unaccustomed to people knocking on the door. I went out to find a ranger reminding me to check in. Ok, understandable, it was late morning. When we got straight and headed out of the RV, we were ‘greeted’ by two very large and aggressive dogs in the campsite next to us. They were pulling on their leads hard
enough to be standing only o. their back paws. The leads were attached to a not-so-secure looking clothesline which also had several pieces of clothes on it. We spoke to the office about the dogs and they told us there was nothing that could be done but to let them know if there were more incidents. Later, the one dog would break free from his collar and shoot straight to our toy poodle. From that point on, we took our dog to a nearby park to walk, every morning and every night. Our second day in the park, we were awakened to several police and rangers 5 feet from the front of our RV. An officer approached me and told me that the car in front of our spot had been stolen and asked if I had seen anything the night before. I had gone out around 1 to retrieve something from my car but didn’t notice anything off. The people camping next to us (who were also one of only 3 campers in our loop) were being questioned and another person came up and stated that he had seen one of them in the car that was presumably stolen. The incident left me feeling uneasy in our RV and we did not venture out after dark. Fortunately, a couple of days later, the campers and their dogs left. The RV pulled out but there was a tent pitched on the site that stayed a day longer. The day that the police were there, I took a walk across from our site and saw a pile of odd items in the fire pit. There was a license plate cover, some clothes, a razor blade and other things that were very out of place. no one had camped at any of these sites the entire time we were there. Thinking it could helpful for the rangers and police (and realizing the potential danger for dogs and kids i. the campground) I went up to the office and let them know. The girl working the front thanked me but rolled her eyes abs appeared annoyed. Okie then, did my due diligence:). The stuff remained i. the fire pit for the next 3 days. We were fortunate to get good campers next to us after they left but we both realized the previous campers had abandoned two cats. I actually knew the name of one as I heard the campers call it on one occasion. Our new neighbors let the office know but the cats remained there till we left. It was sad. The stay was buggy (despite using spray, we have tons of mosquito bites) and anything but relaxing. I spoke to a couple of the rangers there and they said they had been struggling to keep vagrants out and even told me some other unpleasant stories of recent campers / incidents within the park. In short, our stay did not provide new happy memories. Instead, my daughter and I left saying we would take Northwest River off our list of campgrounds to visit again in the future. So bummed.

The best thing about this park is the location. As a launching pad to see the area it is really great. You are about an hour from Kitty Hawk and the OBX, and 45 minutes to the VA beach boardwalk. You have plenty of place within an easy drive when you need to resupply. There is a Walmart and a Super Target within 10 miles, plus a bunch of places to eat. Two local YMCA locations are within an easy drive, but no Planet Fitness.

The part itself is just average. It is very wooded so that really helps with the VA heat. If it rains be prepared for a swamp. It’s well known for its poor drainage. Gravel pads are all pretty level. The shared water is what it is. You will see 2-6 hoses tapped into one outlet with hoses run all over the place. You will also see people that “live” in the park as well. Near me were two families that live there and move when their time runs out. One family was living out of two tents, the other family lives out of what looks like a utility trailer and a van.

The park is clean and well kept. The restrooms and showers are just “park clean”. I have seen better and worse. They do have private shower areas which is pretty nice to have.

My Verizon cell coverage wasn’t the best 4-10 down, under 1 up. T-mobile was much better at 200 down 10-20 up.

This was our first stay at this park. We came in at night and so couldn’t see much. We woke up to a gorgeous view outside our windows! Large clean wooded sites. Bathhouse was clean. Showers are in individual rooms with locks on the doors. Hot water and great water pressure. The playground was AMAZING. My kids loved it. The whole park was calm and peaceful. There was plenty of staff in the park and park rangers were continually driving around. We are full timers and travel with our large family. Everyone said this was one of their favorites. We will definitely be coming back when we are in the area.
The only downside to this one was there was not complete full hookups. There was electric at each site, shared water with other sites. There is a dump station as you pull out of the park.

Lovely campground with a bunch of trails for dog walks. Bathrooms were very clean as well as the showers. About a half hour from Chesapeake.

The water supply situation was a bit of a pain. Water spouts were shared, which was fine but not every site was close enough to s spout to fill a tank. So we had to sneak over to another site while the person was away, fill our camper and then drive back. It would have been better if there was a centralized spout that didn't make us feel like we were invading someone else's space.

We also visited Great Dismal Swamp while we were here which was.. well... dismal. Don't recommend that.

Nice Campground. Large Wooded Sites. Lots of hiking and Kayaking. Went for quick weekend trip since It’s close To home and definitely will come back. Only negative thing was the water connection. Most electric sites share a connection so bring splitter and extra hose or two. On Reserve America water was shown next to site 6 but that was not the case so check the campgrounds map or fill your tank like we did.