Introduction:
We chose this campground because it was relatively close to Harrisonburg, Virginia, where friends of ours were getting married. It's kindof a weird place, but it served our purposes well.
Click here to read about our criteria for campground reviews.
The Basics:
Overall Rating: 3.3/5
Price per night / Discounts: $37 / None
Campground website: Natural Chimneys Regional Park
Our Site #: A-11, FHU 50 amp
Privacy Rating (how spacious and private do the sites feel):
3.25/5: Most of the sites are in a big open field but the hookups are such that people end up parking their RVs in different directions, so whether you have privacy is very much dependent on how many people are staying at the campground and how they choose to park. It's really quite odd. But, it's still a government park which means it still offers more space than most commercial parks, and during the time we were there, we always felt we had plenty of space.
Location Rating (accessibility to points of interest or to major highways):
3.25/5: This park is located about 20 minutes south of Harrisonburg. There isn't much else nearby, but if you need to be in Harrisonburg for whatever reason, it's a decent location. The route to the campground from the highway did take us along some narrow back country roads, but it was nothing we couldn't handle. We just had to go slow.
Site Quality and Big Rig Accessibility Rating (utilities and accessibility of campground hook ups):
3.5/5: This place is just weird. It's fine for big rigs, but just realize you may wake up one morning and have some giant RV parked across the front of yours. The utilities are placed in such a way that there is no uniformity to the campground. For example, because we were sharing a pedestal, we were parked in one direction while our next door neighbor was parked in the opposite direction. Also, only a handful of sites offer full hook ups, so if that's something you need, it's worthwhile to call ahead and make a reservation.
Technology and Customer Service Rating (online resources, reservations, and staff):
2.5/5: Their website was reasonably helpful, but I had to call for reservations. When we arrived, there was no one at the front gatehouse and we never saw anyone manning it during the rest of our visit. Luckily, I had written down our site number when I booked it, so we just went to our site. They seem to have an honor system for people who just show up without reservations. There was a camp host, but we never really interacted with him. The park was well maintained, but we never interacted with any staff while we were there.
Internet Availability Rating (Verizon coverage or campground wifi):
4/5: There was no wifi as far as we know. Verizon worked fine.
Summary:
This place was cool, but very weird. When we arrived, it was basically empty, but it got much busier once the weekend rolled around (unfortunately, I didn't get many photos over the weekend because we were busy with the wedding). The utilities are placed in such a way that people park their RVs at random angles and there is seemingly no organization to the park. It was all fine, it just felt bizarre. Otherwise, the park was very pretty, offered some interesting geological formations (pictured at the top of this post), lots of green spaces, trees, a creek, and well maintained interior roads and paths. Finally, it was reasonably convenient to Harrisonburg, which was the whole reason we were there.
It’s unfortunate that people feel that they need to interfere with Nature. I remember when there was “just” the chimneys in all their
majesty and beauty but then they were “discovered” and nothing has been the same since. I loved going there but no more, it has
become a very TACKY site.