Deer Island
- Right now
- Taking bookingsSites offered on 30 of the next 30 nights read 15:22 UTC
- A night
- $26From, per site
- Sites
- 221 on recreation.gov
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 5 notices
In the agency’s own words
Deer Island is a boat-access only campground with 21 primitive sites available by reservation only. The sites are non-site specific. The closest launch ramp for Deer Island, from April 1st through October 31st, is located in the Salthouse Branch campground. During our non-peak season, from November 1st until March 31st, you may launch from Twin Ridge, Goose Point, or Ramp 1. Potable water and pit toilets are located on the island. Philpott Lake Virtual Tour: https://corpslakes.erdc.dren.mil/visitors/virtual/philpott/tour.html Recreation The lake provides visitors with great boating and swimming opportunities. Anglers enjoy fishing for large and smallmouth bass, walleye, bluegill, crappie and catfish. Many miles of hiking and biking trails surround Philpott Lake, allowing visitors to get out and explore this scenic area. Keep reading
Natural Features
Philpott Lake covers 2,900 acres and has 100 miles of shoreline. The lake's steep, rocky banks meet beautiful mixed forests of oak, maple, hickory, pine and cedar. Wildlife is abundant throughout the area: Deer, turkeys, squirrels, raccoons, and a variety of songbirds and waterfowl are commonly viewed.
Nearby Attractions
The lake is adjacent to Fairystone State Park and Fairystone Farms Wildlife Management Area, which includes 5,300 acres of public recreational lands.
What the agency tells you
Two vehicles are allowed per campsite.
A fee of $7/day will be charged for extra vehicles at the campground.
Alcohol is prohibited.
Everything else this campground posts · 2
Don't Move Firewood: Protect your forests from tree-killing pests by buying your firewood locally and burning it on-site. Visit Dontmovefirewood.org for further information.
STOP THE SPREAD OF INVASIVE SPECIES. Remove plants, seeds, animals, and mud from boots, gear, pets, and vehicles. Clean your gear before entering and leaving the recreation site. Stay on designated roads and trails, and follow local guidelines for firewood. CLEAN, DRAIN, DRY boats and any other recreational equipment that contacts water. Dispose of unwanted bait, worms, fish parts, or other organisms into the trash and not into the environment. For more information visit Invasivespeciesinfo.gov/rec.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 22 · 22 boat-in
- Hookups
- None
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Pit Toilets
- PIT TOILETS on 22 of 22 campsite records
- Drinking water
- Yes
- DRINKING WATER (HAND PUMP) on 22 of 22 campsite records
- Stay limit
- 14 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, Beach
- Boating
- Fishing
- Paddling
2 of 2 site-nights open this Friday and Saturdayread 15:22 UTC
recreation.gov lists 1 of the 22 campsites the agency files here. The rest aren’t on its booking system, so a reservation won’t get you one.
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.
We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.
Every line of the receipt · 13
What you actually pay
“A fee of $7/day will be charged for extra vehicles at the campground.” · the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’s own agency notice
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rate for this season, $26 a night, plus one $8 recreation.gov reservation fee for the booking. A weekend here means Friday and Saturday night, booked once. Optional charges (an extra vehicle, a second tent, a dump-station fee) are listed separately and aren’t in this total.
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 · 6
recreation.gov availability, read 15:22 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
22 sites · the site map
All 22 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. 22 of the 22 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| Deer Island | 1D - 21D | boat in | 55 ft | $26 |
| Deer Island | 1D - 21D 1 | boat in | $26 | |
| Deer Island | 1D - 21D 10 | boat in | $26 | |
| Deer Island | 1D - 21D 11 | boat in | $26 | |
| Deer Island | 1D - 21D 12 | boat in | $26 | |
| Deer Island | 1D - 21D 13 | boat in | $26 | |
| Deer Island | 1D - 21D 14 | boat in | $26 | |
| Deer Island | 1D - 21D 15 | boat in | $26 | |
| Deer Island | 1D - 21D 16 | boat in | $26 | |
| Deer Island | 1D - 21D 17 | boat in | $26 | |
| Deer Island | 1D - 21D 18 | boat in | $26 | |
| Deer Island | 1D - 21D 19 | boat in | $26 | |
| Deer Island | 1D - 21D 2 | boat in | $26 | |
| Deer Island | 1D - 21D 20 | boat in | $26 | |
| Deer Island | 1D - 21D 21 | boat in | $26 | |
| Deer Island | 1D - 21D 3 | boat in | $26 | |
| Deer Island | 1D - 21D 4 | boat in | $26 | |
| Deer Island | 1D - 21D 5 | boat in | $26 | |
| Deer Island | 1D - 21D 6 | boat in | $26 | |
| Deer Island | 1D - 21D 7 | boat in | $26 | |
| Deer Island | 1D - 21D 8 | boat in | $26 | |
| Deer Island | 1D - 21D 9 | boat in | $26 |
OpenStreetMap has no toilet mapped within 1 km of this campground, so no site here carries a toilet distance. That’s a gap in the map, not a finding about the campground.
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Salthouse Branch0.5 mi
Goose Point1.0 mi
Philpott Park2.1 mi
Horseshoe Point2.2 mi
Rock Castle Gorge Backcountry CampingBlue Ridge Parkway · 16 mi
Rocky Knob CampgroundBlue Ridge Parkway · 17 miThe closest launch ramp for Deer Island, from April 1st through October 31st, is located in the Salthouse Branch campground. During our non-peak season, from November 1st until March 31st, you may launch from Twin Ridge, Goose Point, or Ramp 1 near the Philpott Marina.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Bassett, VA
Typical weather
Typical October night 46°F, day 71°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 26°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
who answers for it
Who answers for this land
Deer Island is in Virginia’s 9th congressional district. Its representative, H. Morgan Griffith (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →