Assateague Island

Assateague State park, in Maryland. Water and electricity, pets allowed, even on some beach areas, but be careful, wild horses do come into the CG, and some dogs get antsy.
Check the NASA website for Wallops Island launch dates, and you may be able to catch one of those on the same trip.

You can also stay in Chincoteague and access the south end of Assateague Island through the National Park. No pets allowed in the National Park, though.

We stayed at Pine Grove campground on Chincoteague this past fall, full hookups, shady sites, a short drive from lots of cool stuff. About 45 min drive to get to the north end of the island from Chincoteague. There is a KOA and amusement park near the access to the north end of the island.
We left our pup in the camper one day, took him to the state park up north the next day, which is how we found out it was a 45 min drive to get to the north end, didn't do our homework on the National Park pet policy.

Tom's Cove campground on Chincoteague Island has waterfront sites, on the inlet, but reservation system is a little old school, have to mail in a check.

Tough to get an actual spot on Assateague Island, spots go very quickly when they come online.

The 50 or so electric sites Allow dogs however those sites book up pretty much as soon as they become available. There are around 100 sites that allow dogs but don’t have electricity. I also considered picking up an EU 2000 when I stayed there in August last year for a few days but we survived with our 300 W of solar. The steady breeze off the water made it quite Enjoyable.

Bring about a gallon of DEET per person, the skeeters are brutal! If you're on the beach, and the breeze is coming off the water, you're ok, but otherwise they make for quite the unenjoyable experience.

We stayed at the koa....it was a typical koa, but we had a great view of the lighthouse from the site. Only problem was, we really couldn't enjoy sitting outside too much. Did I mention the skeeters?

The SP has the hookups but is in very high demand & out in the wide open. The National seashore, dry camping, is far nicer. The beach side of the road is mostly open but the bay side has many sites private, well separated & in the trees.

We have not been in the area at the height of the season, don't think we'd like that, but even shoulder season the bugs rule.

I live not too far and camp at the shore a couple times a year. I've never camped at Assateague and just don't understand why its so popular. I've visited friends who were there and it looks miserable! The national park has no electric and you couldn't PAY me to bake on that beach with all the bugs and no AC. The state park is better, but I just don't understand the appeal.

Cape Henlopen State Park, on the other end of that beach strip in Rehoboth is MUCH nicer in my opinion. Full hookup state park, surrounded by pine trees so you have shade in the summer, easy access to a gorgeous beach area, easy access to Lewes (beautiful Victorian town with some shops and restaurants) and about 20 minutes to Rehoboth Beach which is a very nice beach town with stores, snacks, restaurants, breweries, outlets, etc.

Clearly I prefer the Delaware beaches to the Maryland side.

2012Oudoorsman wrote:
I'd like to plan a trip here next year but struggling to find something that works for us. We would be going with another camper. Neither of us are set up to dry camp and do not want to try to. We would need electric. Sewer would be nice but I have 2 black tanks and can go a minimum of a week without issues. I would also need a pet friendly destination.

If I didnt have a home generator I'd think about buying one of the cheaper inverter ones but that would be a waste for one trip.

Being a popular destination I figured a lot of people on here have visited and figured this area out already.

Anyone have any good locations close by that they can recommend? Thanks in advance.

Assateague State Park if you book NOW at https://parkreservations.maryland.gov they have 1 electric only loop. Might get lucky in find a couple of openings.

FYI I have 2 reserved sites for 2018 and was told they are planning on opening a 2nd electric loop for 2019

Good Luck
Mike

spoon059 wrote:
I live not too far and camp at the shore a couple times a year. I've never camped at Assateague and just don't understand why its so popular. I've visited friends who were there and it looks miserable! The national park has no electric and you couldn't PAY me to bake on that beach with all the bugs and no AC. The state park is better, but I just don't understand the appeal.

Cape Henlopen State Park, on the other end of that beach strip in Rehoboth is MUCH nicer in my opinion. Full hookup state park, surrounded by pine trees so you have shade in the summer, easy access to a gorgeous beach area, easy access to Lewes (beautiful Victorian town with some shops and restaurants) and about 20 minutes to Rehoboth Beach which is a very nice beach town with stores, snacks, restaurants, breweries, outlets, etc.

Clearly I prefer the Delaware beaches to the Maryland side.

Assateaque popularity is created by easy access to the beach and the wild ponies.
I have sort of gravitated to the DE beaches as well. I prefer DE Seashore park for full hook up beach camping.
Demand is the biggest issue with Assateaque. It is a great place and a great experience. However there just aren't enough sites with electric to meet demand. In the heat of the summer it's way to hot for me to be without electric unfortunately electric sites tend to all be booked up a year in advance.
Frontiertowne and Castaways are 2 very popular private CG's close by that you could use to take a day trip to Assateaque. The down side is staying close by is not the same as staying in the park.
Having a herd of wild ponies come right through your camp site is a very unique experience.

Thanks!

Have a couple more questions.

We will be coming from Maine and NY both with young kids. If we can shorten the trip by an hour that would be great but I don't want to be traveling an hour each day either to see things.

It looks like the State Park is to the North but the fully hookup campgrounds are more towards the South. Are the sights/wild animals more towards the south or does it not matter?

2012Oudoorsman wrote:
Thanks!

Have a couple more questions.

We will be coming from Maine and NY both with young kids. If we can shorten the trip by an hour that would be great but I don't want to be traveling an hour each day either to see things.

It looks like the State Park is to the North but the fully hookup campgrounds are more towards the South. Are the sights/wild animals more towards the south or does it not matter?

It might be doable in one (long) day from NY, but from Maine you'll need at least 2 days (3 would be better). From NY I'd do TZ Bridge to the Garden State Parkway to I-95 across the Delaware Mem. Bridge to US13/DE13 south. Take a left at Salisbury.

On Assateague itself, the national park is south of the state park and has no hookups. The reason to do the national park was serenity and being basically on the beach. We're on Cape Cod and have watched the amount of beach accessible to normal people shrink over the past 40 years. It was nice to have a beach with no development at all. It reminded us of old Cape and brought back the feeling we had when we vacationed here.

But alas as with almost everything nice under government control, Assateague National Park is changing. They ran out of funds to constantly dig out the ocean side sites after the sand covered them so they are abandoning the ocean sites and moving those loops across the access road. The result will be less ocean breeze, more bugs and a thoroughly miserable experience.

I've enjoyed the DE beaches as well and will probably not go back to Assateague. There's a new KOA on Chincoteague, if you don't mind KOAs.