Craig Creek Recreation Area
- Right now
- Taking bookingsSites offered on 15 of the next 15 nights read 16:38 UTC
- Sites
- 1All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 13 notices
In the agency’s own words
Craig Creek Recreation Area provides old-fashioned, rustic group camping for those that require few amenities. The large open field is great for groups that wish to picnic and tent camp together. There is a day-use area adjacent to the campground that is not reservable. Overnight camping is prohibited in the day-use area. Keep reading
Recreation
Craig Creek has a small swimming hole and canoes may access the creek as well. The creek is stocked with trout and can provide good fishing opportunites for anglers. A two-mile loop trail is located within the recreation area.
Facilities
Craig Creek may be reserved for groups of 30 or less. There is an an entrance gate, group fire ring, picnic table and vault toilet. There is no potable water and no camping hookups. The field is for tent camping only.
Natural Features
The recreation area is located in a narrow valley, flanked by National Forest land. The open field used for tent camping and is edged with large, shade trees.
Nearby Attractions
Craig Creek is located 20 minutes from New Castle, VA.
What the agency tells you
Please check your confirmation email for gate code. If not listed, you must call the Eastern Divide Ranger District at (540) 552-4641 between the hours of 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday, prior to your arrival date to get the combination code to the gate(s). You will not be able to access Caldwell Fields without the code.
Visitors must bring their own drinking water.
The area must be trash free upon your departure. This includes the fire ring.
Everything else this campground posts · 10
There are no hookups and no electricity serving this camping area, and cell phones typically will not work here.
A valid Virginia license including a national forest stamp is required for fishing. Visit http://www.dgif.virginia.gov/fishing/regulations/licenses.asp for more information.
This campground is not staffed by Forest Service personnel or volunteers. Forest Service staff intermittently visit this campground to clean, mow, and check on conditions.
All state laws are to be abided, including those regarding alcohol drinking ages and driving while under the influence.
All fires must be contained inside the established fire ring and must be completely extinguished before departure.
Fireworks are not permitted.
Vehicles may not park along the road.
Amplified music is prohibited.
The gate to the field must be left locked when not attended and upon departure.
Pack animals are not allowed.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 1 · 1 group
- Hookups
- None
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…gate, group fire ring, picnic table and vault toilet. There is no potable water and no camping hookups.…”
- Drinking water
- None, bring your own
- “…ring, picnic table and vault toilet. There is no potable water and no camping hookups. The field is for tent…”
Around the campground
- On the water
- Creek
- Canoeing
- Fishing
- Hiking
1 of 1 site-nights open this Friday and Saturdayread 16:38 UTC
Every site here is reservable, and the record lists none held back for anyone who drives up.
OpenBooked
Watch for a cancellation
Full? Watch it.
One email when a night opens, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We read recreation.gov once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time a site in your window is free for the nights you asked for.
Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.
Tell me when the season opens
Watch for the season to open
One email when the season goes on sale, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We check once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time the agency has that season on sale.
Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.
We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.
Every line of the receipt · 12
What you actually pay
Who keeps the booking fee
The agency’s own policy text says the reservation fee and the cancellation processing fee are “retained by the reservation service contractor”, and that a campground concessionaire will decline to refund them because “they did not receive these fees”. Recreation.gov is run under contract by Booz Allen Hamilton. What share of your booking fee the contractor keeps isn’t published in any federal dataset we can read, so we print no number for it. Our reporting on the contract →
How we know this receipt · 5
recreation.gov availability, read 16:38 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
1 sites · the site map
All 1 sites
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 1 of the 1 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| CRAIG CREEK RECREATION AREA | 01 | group standard area nonelectric | 145 ft | $35 |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Steel Bridge CampgroundJefferson National Forest · 14 mi
Morris Hill CampgroundGeorge Washington National Forest · 21 miNorth CreekJefferson National Forest · 22 mi
Coles PointGeorge Washington National Forest · 23 miGreenwood Point CampgroundGeorge Washington National Forest · 23 miFrom New Castle: Follow US 615 east for 11 miles to SR 817 in Oriskany. Turn right on SR 817, go 1/2 mile then take right at sign for Craig Creek. Continue straight. Veer right for the camping area gate, while the left fork leads to the day use parking area.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Fincastle, VA
Typical weather
Typical October night 42°F, day 67°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 23°F, below freezing. Bring a bag rated colder than that, and expect ice in the water bottle.
Daily high and lowDays with 0.10 in or more
A normal is the 1991-2020 average for the month, not a forecast: about half of all Julys are colder than the July line. The seven-day forecast above answers the other question.
The land, and who answers for it
what threatens it · who answers for it
Roadless country, and what’s coming for it
You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.
Who answers for this land
Craig Creek Recreation Area is in Virginia’s 6th congressional district. Its representative, Ben Cline (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →