Another hidden gem.
Northwest River Park is close to the North Carolina border in Chesapeake, Virginia. It is another local park close to our home in Virginia Beach. Due to the windy narrow roads, it took a little longer than we expected to get there, but we checked in with the rangers before they closed, received our access code and drove to our campsite.
There are two loops of sites. Not many sites, but everything was neat and clean. There was water and power at the site, and a dumpstation close to the exit. Water is shared between two sites, so make sure you bring a ‘Y’ adapter! There were a few other campers already there, and others continued to arrive as we settled in. Over the weekend, about half the campground was full. There were a couple of louder campers – groups of teenagers in one site and a lot of younger kids in the other. But both didn’t cause us any trouble.
Hiking
Since John’s illness, we have been trying to build up the length of our hikes, to continue pushing him to wellness. Sidney is also benefiting after his ACL surgery. This weekend, we ended up hiking about 10 miles total, which is more than any of us has hiked in years! The trails are well marked and pretty flat. There are equestrian trails as well that are a little more overgrown. As there are a LOT of ticks around, we decided to stay on the cleared trails.
There is a pretty lake and river close to the ranger station, where you can rent the kayaks etc, and fish. We followed the river for a while and then deviated through the woods. We ended up at a big clearing at the Northwest River where you can fish and moor boats on the pier. Great place for a picnic lunch!
Final Thoughts
There are two quirky things about this park.
- You can’t book online or over the phone! We literally had to turn up at the campground the weekend before to pay and fill out our reservation form. Apparently this is a city issue – they don’t accept credit cards over the phone. I’m pretty sure this would be irritating to someone from out of town!
- There is a no alcohol order on the campground. This is probably a good thing – no crazy drunk people being loud and obnoxious. We still had a couple of beers, we just made sure it was within our RV and not visible outdoors.
Overall, this is a really pretty campground with enough things to do for everyone. Another gem in our local area!
