Picture Lake Campground

We stayed here for two weeks while we were waiting for our daughter who is in the Marines to finish her military occupational training at Fort Lee. The sites are unlevel, rough and close. There are mostly full time residents and their sites were very trashy and unkept. Apparently there aren’t any rules.
They let outsiders (non campers) “pay” to use their pool. Paying campers and non campers are all supposed to check in and get wristbands before going to the pool but we rarely saw anyone with wristbands.
This campground overall needs some work. Not worth the price.
The lake was nice to walk the dogs around. We could see the racetrack but weren’t bothered by any noise.

The sites and grounds are very rough . Lots of permanent and seasonal residents which is okay. However many don’t take great care of their lots. Lots of trash piling up. There does not appear to be any rules on what can be kept on the lots. Maybe the owners who are doing a large expansion on the campground have given up on the existing part and residence and are focusing on the expansion. Camp store not great selection. If you just need a place to stay for a night it might be passable, but that’s it IMO.

The good: the staff is very friendly. The pool area is nice. And the bathrooms are surprisingly nice. Good WiFi too.

I would not stay again

A lot of permanent residents (they will stare you down every time you pass). The rest are pipeline workers and military. Watched trash left behind by vacated campers sit for at least a week multiple times as staff drove by and just looked at it. Rig behind us piled their bags of trash around thier rig, in the fire pit, wherever. Got up to 7 bags at one point. Sites not level. Roads very potholed. Staff is pretty nice, only redeeming quality. Multiple rigs with leaking tanks. No privacy, our neighbor left his windows open with the ION channel blaring day and night. We could hear it through our closed rig. They are expanding but they need to fix what they have. It's really just a trailer park right now. And yes, the drag stip is extremely loud.

Mostly full time residents here with a lot of trashy lots positioned very close together. The grounds and buildings are not well maintained. The most significant thing I would mention is the water. If it rains a lot, ground water gets into their well and you will end up with murky, brown water. If you’re there at the right time you can experience the extreme noise from the race track across the lake! They are currently adding more sites and a vineyard however no repairs are being made on their current grounds.

Stayed here in a pinch when the nearby state park closed and cancelled our reservation to to weather . The site we were one was paved and flat enough to easily level our TT. Sites are tight. We had about 10 feet from our door to the back of our neighbors camper. No shade on the site we were on. Seems the shaded sites were for the long term sites. Long term sites were pretty trashy and the campground in general was dated and neglected. We had lots of rain. Every time it would rain we ended up with a large puddle right outside our door. Do to all the long term sites, it was pretty noisy when people were leaving for work early in the morning.

I would like to thank Ryan Kathy and all the staff for their hospitality. They are very respectful and nice people would love to live there and work. The bathrooms were clean the sites were clean, by the way loved loved our spot. The staff was very helpful and respectful to me and my husband . Ryan had told us that we didn't have to leave at 12 check out time on Sunday because the race was still going on and we wouldn't have had nowhere to park. That went for all the people that was there for the races. Now really what Campground would even care where you parked because you were there for a race. It wasn't his problem he could have had other people come in at 12 to camp. Now how awesome is that thanks so much Ryan and all your staff definitely will be back not just for the races.

Check-in was pretty easy and we were in the first spot which was great. The spot was concrete, full hookup and very long. It was uphill a little to get in and even though it was really long, we had to pull all the way to the front to get level. Seeing the other spots for nightly stays, they all seemed to be like that, but most sized rigs should be able to get in okay and hookup. The water connection was almost buried so I had to look a lot to find it, but once I did, all was good.

We liked that the nightly sites were close to playground for the kids, some other play areas, the beach of the lake, and near laundry. The laundry was pretty good and clean as well and good priced.

The only issue was a nearby drag racing arena that was just across the lake. Very loud for quite a few hours on Friday and Saturday night.

Everything else was great and we would come again!

I stayed here again in January on my way south and the experience was totally different than last time (though I did not use the sewage hook or water ups this time). I was given a map that showed a bathroom in the middle of the camp which I didn't check out. I stayed specifically for the electric so I could stay warm on a 23 degree night. My review from last spring is below.

The woman checking me in was in a bit of a hurry - it was the end of the day so I understand, but she didn't tell me anything about the space before she left and I had a hard time finding the water. The sewer was so far back I didn't end up using it (I'm in a smaller RV with sewage hook ups towards the middle).
The only bathroom I could find was locked all night and I did not see that there were showers. There did seem to be a lot of construction going on so perhaps they are in the works.
Also, there is a stadium for motorbike races across the water which was super loud. It didn't go late (especially for a Friday night) but it was NOT relaxing.
It seems a large number of the people staying here are full timers and get up early for work so there is a decent amount of movement before the sun rises.

I was on my way to Durham and decided to take it easy a little sooner. I called the office, learned they had some pull-throughs available and they were close enough to the Interstate for me to not feel bad but far enough to have no noise at all.

I went in with low expectations, to be honest, but was pleasantly surprised within the first few minutes. The place is kept up pretty nicely and the front desk staff actually walked me to my slot to show me the best way in/out.

This place is a keeper.