Johnny Molloy - Best Tent Camping: West Virginia: Your Car-Camping Guide to Scenic Beauty, the Sounds of Nature, and an Escape from Civilization

:: ALLEGHENY HIGHLANDS

:: EASTERN PANHANDLE

:: FEUDIN COUNTRY

:: HEART OF WEST VIRGINIA

:: NEW RIVER VALLEY

:: OHIO RIVER VALLEY

:: OTHER TITLES IN THIS SERIES

Alabama

Arizona

The Carolinas

Colorado

Florida

Georgia

Illinois

Kentucky

Maryland

Michigan

Minnesota

Missouri and the Ozarks

Montana

New England

New Jersey

New Mexico

New York

Northern California

Ohio

Oregon

Pennsylvania

Southern Appalachian and Smoky Mountains

Southern California

Tennessee

Texas

Utah

Virginia

Washington

Wisconsin

:: This book is for my longtime West Virginia friend, Steve Grayson.

Best Tent Camping: West Virginia, 3rd Edition

Copyright 2014 by Johnny Molloy

All rights reserved

Printed in the United States of America

Published by Menasha Ridge Press

Distributed by Publishers Group West

Third edition, first printing

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Molloy, Johnny, 1961

Best tent camping : West Virginia : your car camping guide to scenic beauty, the sounds of nature, and an escape from civilization / Johnny Molly. -- Third edition.

pages cm. -- (Best tent camping)

Distributed by the Publishers Group West.

ISBN 978-0-89732-495-3 (paperback) -- ISBN 0-89732-495-1 (paperback) -- ISBN 978-0-89732-497-7 (eBook)

1. Camping--West Virginia--Guidebooks. 2. Camp sites, facilities, etc.--West Virginia--Directories. 3. West Virginia--Guidebooks. I. Title.

GV191.42.W4M64 2014

796.5409754--dc23

2014013211

Cover design by Scott McGrew

Cover photo by Joseph Sohm

Text design by Annie Long

Cartography by Steve Jones and Johnny Molloy

Indexing by Rich Carlson

Menasha Ridge Press

An imprint of Keen Communications, LLC

P.O. Box 43673

Birmingham, Alabama 35243

menasharidge.com

:: APPENDIXES

:: BEST FOR BIRDING

:: BEST FOR CANOEING AND KAYAKING

:: BEST FOR CYCLING AND MOUNTAIN BIKING

:: BEST FOR FAMILIES

:: BEST FOR FISHING AND BOATING

:: BEST FOR HIKING

:: BEST FOR PRIVACY AND SOLITUDE

:: BEST FOR SECURITY

I would like to thank the following people for helping me in the research and writing of this book: Keri Anne Molloy, Robert and Bonnie Gross, Roxanna Carr, Roy Reynolds, Jat Hedrick, Anna Galenza at Bulltown, Karen Stokes, Cindy Thomas, Mike Foster, and Cindy Blair. Thanks to Frank Sellars for his information on the New River, and to Stephanie Bailey and Barbara Breshock for getting questioned during their lunch. Thanks to John Markwell at the Gendarme in Seneca Rocks for his advice about the area. Thanks to Dale A. Porter for his books and information. Thanks to Keith Stinnett, Deal Holcomb, Cisco Meyer, Nelle Molloy, Steele Molloy, and Pat Molloy.

Thanks to Kelty for providing me with excellent tents, backpacks, sleeping bags, and outerwear.

The biggest thanks of all goes to the people of West Virginia, who love their mountain lands.

W elcome to the third edition of Best Tent Camping West Virginia . Part of the fun of updating this book is the excuse it gives me to go tent camping in the Mountain State yet again. With a Jeep, a laptop computer, and an open mind, I set forth into the hills of West Virginia. The first trip started in the spring. In southwest West Virginia, historic coal country, I came upon my first surprise, Panther Wildlife Management Area. The place was covered in wildflowers! It started raining the next morning. Such are times that a tent camper has to face. Next I headed up the Ohio River Valley. Amid the development along the waterway, I found other gems, such as Tomlinson Run, where the trees of the hilltop campground hadnt begun to leaf out and where I spent a cold night as the sole occupant of the campground.

More trips extended into the summer. As the weather warmed in the lowlands around me, the Alleghenies and lake areas became the places to go. The weather was great and the scenery even better. Getaways like Bulltown, an Army Corps of Engineers preserve, offered a watery place to cool off, as well as glimpses into the vast human history of the Mountain State. Other times I headed high into the Monongahela National Forest, to places like Bear Heaven, where on July evenings I donned a jacket and scooted a little closer to the campfire.

The more campgrounds I visited, the more I appreciated the people who operated these preserves. They were hardworking, enthusiastic patrons of their lands. Sometimes a great park staff was saddled with a mediocre campground, and it was disappointing not to be able to include them.

The days began to shortenfall was on its way. There were still more campgrounds to inspect, and I headed down to the New River area. I had rafted that river, as well as the Gauley, in previous years and knew how scenic these gorges were. I enjoyed Glade Creek, part of the New River National Recreation Area, so much I went back for a second visit under the guise of making sure it should be in the book.

And with the joy of completing a book and the sadness of an adventure ended, I finished my research. But, not surprisingly, within a month of turning in the original manuscript, I returned with a friend to the Dolly Sods for a backpacking trip and to the upper New River for a canoe trip. And so I have returned to the Mountain State for years since the first edition and second edition, going on adventures, staying in the campgrounds again, and writing about them. May you have many return adventures of your own.

T he publishers of Menasha Ridge Press welcome you to Best Tent Camping West Virginia . Whether youre new to this activity or youve been sleeping in your portable outdoor shelter over decades of outdoor adventures, please review the following information. It explains how we have worked with the author to organize this book and how you can make the best use of it.

Some passages in this introduction are applicable to all of the books in the Best Tent Camping guidebook series. Where this isnt the case, such as in the descriptions of weather, wildlife, and plants, the author has provided information specific to your area.

Included in this book is a rating system for West Virginias 50 best tent campgrounds. Certain campground attributesbeauty, privacy, spaciousness, quiet, security, and cleanlinessare ranked using a star system. Five stars are ideal; one is acceptable. This system will help you find the campground that has the attributes you desire. Below and following, we describe the criteria for each of the attributes in our five-star rating system: