VA - James River S.P.

[Jim K in PA]

My family is new to Pop-up camping, but not tent camping.  I just joined the forum and wanted to give something, and not just lurk and siphon knowledge.

This past July we attended Camp Jeep in VA.  We borrowed a friends pop-up to try it out for our stay.  We reserved a site at James River S.P. with no more info than was provided in their web site.  I am pleased to report that this park is a jewel.  The park has only been open for about 15 years, and most of the facilities are state of the art.  Here is a link:  http://www.dcr.virginia.gov/state_parks/jam.shtml

We arrived after 5PM on a Wednesday, so there was no park staff on duty.  We readily found our way to the area where our site was reserved.  Every site had a small post in front with a reservation tag clipped to it with the reservation number and name.  Could not have been easier to find our site (plus they gave us site #1, so it was the first one in).

The sites were spaced generously apart, with hard gravel pads and sandy areas around the picnic tables.  50/30/20A electric and water hookups were at each site.  Dump station was a short drive down the main road.  The site was heavily wooded with mostly oak.

Bathrooms and showers were top quiality, cleaned daily, and they also had a laundry center and an outside kitchen sink for washing large pots/pans.

We toured the park a little bit but did not take advantage of any activities or go to the river.  We were there for the CJ gathering, so just utilized the facility for lodging.  They do have music on some nights, as well as other stuff for the kids.

If/when Camp Jeep returns to Oak Ridge Estate, we will stay at James River S.P. again, unless it is full.  Then we'll try Shenandoah.

Hope this is useful to someone!

Jim K in PA

[tlhdoc]

Thanks for the information.  I am always looking for nice SPs or NPs ti camp at.