Douthat State Park Campgrounds (VA) Review
Solitude/privacy: 0
Environment & Nature: 5
Available Activities: 5
Staff & Park Officials: 4
Accessibility: 5
Ahhh…. This place is awesome.
Karen and I stopped here for a night during our trip back to New York from Virginia beach. The nature here is absolutely magnificent.
The park offers activities such as hiking (which is a must!), as well as inexpensive kayak/canoeing in the lake, and row boating. I highly recommend skipping on the row boat unless you have an electric motor with you. They are very heavy and hard to navigate…. Not to mention rowing! The park is awesome until you’ll settle in with your tent….
The camp sights are
all paved with gravel and separated with what looked like wooden beams. Not much privacy since the spots are put together like parking spaces rather than a nature retreat. Fortunately we got lucky with our neighbor who was a friendly Ohio native hiking through with his dog.
Although the campgrounds seem small and squished together, the park itself is really big. Once you enter the main office to register for your spot, don’t be surprised to still have a ten minute drive up the hill. During our visit, we got a chance to have a conversation with the host – an elderly, very hospitable couple. They were very happy to answers any questions that we had and info us in on why no fires were allowed until 5pm.
Right… The fire situation.
Due to the dry weather and low humidity during the summers at that part of west Virginia, there are no open fires allowed on campgrounds until humidity rises a bit… Which happens to be around 5pm.
Don’t say we didn’t warn you!
If you are road trip enthusiast, I highly recommend take a drive through RT220 going North towards Union, WV. It’s one of the most beautiful roads I’ve ever driven through. It’s narrow, curvy, slightly dangerous when wet, and full of blind spots.
Godspeed and good luck fellow traveller.