Gauley Tailwaters
This is how it should work.
- Right now
- OpenThe agency lists it open
- A night
- FreeNo camping fee
- Sites
- 1818 of them walk-up
- Season
- Year-roundOpen year-round
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there
In the agency’s own words
The National Park Service offers primitive camping at Gauley Tailwaters, located just below Summersville Dam. From Route 19 at Mt. Nebo, take Route 129 west across the dam, then turn left at the river access sign. Bear right through the parking lot to the campsites. There are 18 drive-in sites for tents and RVs. Camp only at designated sites. RV, camper, or car camping in non-designated sites, walk-in sites, or any parking area is strictly prohibited.
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets - year round
- Drinking water
- None, bring your own
Around the campground
- On the water
- River
- Night sky · 57th darkest of 69 in WV
- Bortle 4
Nothing to book, just show up
One of 1,623 federal campgrounds where the site still goes to whoever pulls in first, and it costs nothing at all. Get there before noon on a summer weekend.
recreation.gov publishes no availability for a campground you can’t reserve, so there’s no thirty-night reading to draw here. The season bar above is what the agency does publish.
Every line of the receipt · 4
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s own record says there’s no camping fee, and no booking fee, because this campground takes no reservations. A weekend here means Friday and Saturday night. Optional charges (an extra vehicle, a second tent, a dump-station fee) are listed separately and aren’t in this total.
How we know this receipt · 5
record Aug 24, 2026 · How we know all this
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the phone number
Where it is
Battle Run1.2 miLong Point Campground1.7 mi
Burnwood Group CampsiteNew River Gorge National Park and Preserve · 14 mi
Brooklyn CampgroundNew River Gorge National Park and Preserve · 18 miBig Rock CampgroundMonongahela National Forest · 21 miCranberry River SitesMonongahela National Forest · 21 miThe weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Summersville, WV
Typical weather
Typical October night 38°F, day 64°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 19°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
Gauley Tailwaters is in West Virginia’s 1st congressional district. Its representative, Carol Miller (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →