Blue Ridge Pkwy Campgrounds

[lap527]

Thinking of a BRP trip in May. Do any of campgrounds along parkway have facilities? Do the bathhouses have hot water or do they charge for showers? Comments from the best, worse or your fav? We would probably start at Cherokee and head north til we got tired of it.

[RoyB]

Another caution comes to mind where alot of the exits off the BRP may not be ideal pulling a RV trailer. SOme have sharp loop backs and curves just before you get on the parkway. You really should plan the exits out if you want to jump off the parkway and spend the night at a close by camp ground. the major roads that cross the parkway should have good exits.

Another cauion is gasoline up on the parkway. There is usally a camp gorund about every 50 miles down the parkway but all do not have the way station setup that has gasoline. It would not be a good idea to run out of gasoline on the parkway as there is no where to call for help haha... The bears will eat you haha... I suspect there may be only three or four way stations along the whole 450mile trek from VA to NC. There are also several tunnels with some you will definitely have to go thru them in the center of the road. Something else to check out before getting stuck out in the middle of nowhere... There are also alot of deer running across the roads in the early evening. Thank goodness for the low speed only being allowed.

All of this info is available from the NPS site showing each mile marker along the whole trip.

I have done the whole parkway three times now over the years but the first two trips was tent camping which was REALLY GREAT and the last trip was pulling my OFF-ROAD POPUP.. Didn't see many travel trailers being towed along the way.

One must plan ahead to be successful
Roy Ken

[Hokiehall]

Jim Shoe wrote:
The Blue Ridge Parkway was a depression era WPA project, to put people back to work. It kept a lot of people from starving to death, but most of them weren't trained to do the jobs they were assigned to do.

And the parkway campgrounds were all built long before the massive trailers and motor homes of today were even dreamed of. There were very few, if any RV's of any type over 25' when those campgrounds were built.

[Jim_Shoe]

The Blue Ridge Parkway was a depression era WPA project, to put people back to work. It kept a lot of people from starving to death, but most of them weren't trained to do the jobs they were assigned to do.

[wbwood]

Jim Shoe wrote:
Here's a list of CGs and RV Parks with hookups at exits along the BRP. There are 9 CGs on the parkway that have restrooms, drinking water, picnic tables and grills, but no hookups.

Make sure you carry enough leveling blocks with you. We've stayed in one of the BRP campgrounds and driven though a couple others. The sites are old and need work. Most are unlevel. And if you have a large rv (over30'), then you will be limited on sites. Just our observation.

The one at Linville seemed to be the better one that we could tell.

[Jim_Shoe]

Here's a list of CGs and RV Parks with hookups at exits along the BRP. There are 9 CGs on the parkway that have restrooms, drinking water, picnic tables and grills, but no hookups.

[wbwood]

B's Bunch wrote:
Fancy Gap KOA in Virginia right off the exit maybe 1/4 mile or less. Nice KOA.Larry

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[Hokiehall]

Last season several of the campgrounds on the parkway were closed due to the government budget issues. Not sure if they plan to re-open them this year or not. Lights have been put in most restrooms in the parkway campgrounds but there are no showers or hot water.

Otter Creek, near MP 62 was closed last year but there is a nice private campground about a mile east on ST 130 called Wildwood that has full hookups so if your need a spot at that point on the BRP it is an option.

[1stgenfarmboy]

I see you have a TC, my wife and I went for 18 days on the BRPW Sep of 2011 in our TC, we done the entire length from north to south including Shenandoah N.P., We never ran the onboard 12v down and never used a geny, we showered every night and pulled over at several overlooks and had lunch with a view, It was wonderful, The CG's on the PW are so beautiful I would say stay at one of those at least every other night, then one with hook-ups if you need to, we stayed at every single CG on the parkway and each one had it's own beauty, it would be ashamed to miss out on that, and I mite add in our 27 years of camping and traveling it was our most relaxing trip of all, we hiked every chance we could and some days we only traveled a few miles to the next CG, those days were spent exploring the area, the only CG we stayed at where we had hook-ups was Sherando Lake CG, very well manicured and nice.

We are very much looking forward to doing the trip again, We started on the labor day weekend with reservations and went the rest of the trip without, some nights we were the only ones in the camp ground, that was bliss, as we are quiet freaks.

Dar

[Horsedoc]

Meadows of Dan in Virginia has a great CG with full hookups within a stone's throw of the parkway. Oddly enough the name is Meadows of Dan Campground.

[B_s_Bunch]

Fancy Gap KOA in Virginia right off the exit maybe 1/4 mile or less. Nice KOA.Larry

[RGar974417]

About 10 miles west of mile marker 18 is Sherando Lake National Forest Campground.It has some real nice sites with electric hookups.Water hydrants are located in each loop,nice bath houses and a dump station on the way out.

[Terryallan]

Actually several of the CG along the BRP have full hookups. None of them are the National park CGs though. They are all primitive, and have no showers. They did start putting lights in the restroom though.

The CGs along the BRP with hookups, are private CGs. Like Bear Den, just North of Little Switzerland, Raccoone Holler, at Glendale Springs, and Miller camp North of HWY 18. There may be more. But those are all I know about.

I do know there are some just off the parkway with hookups.

[loggenrock]

Hi - none of the BRP facilities that we've used have hookups. Some offer hot showers for a fee (places that have cabins associated with them, usually...). ST