CAMPANAC.Powered by public lands intelligenceMore Than Just Parks

U.S. Forest Service · Mount Rogers National Recreation Area · VA

Grindstone

Not on the booking systemrecreation.gov lists none of the 83 campsites the agency files here, in any month asked. Whatever these sites are, a reservation isn’t how you get one.

Reservable everywhere but bookable nowhere.Ask the agency →

Get directions What it costs, and the rules

Right now: Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
A night: $24–$36Across the site types the agency prices
Sites: 83None on recreation.gov

Photos · USFS

110 ftLongest rig

3,740 ftElevation

603 ftWater · Big Laurel Creek

6.5 miSE of Adwolf, VA

85%Tree cover

The place

the agency’s own description · what’s there · 3 notices

In the agency’s own words

Grindstone Campground is tucked in the Fairwood Valley among pastures and wooded hillsides. The surrounding Mount Rogers National Recreation Area provides endless opportunities for fun and relaxation in the nature setting. The Campground will be closed until further notice due to facility repair needs. Opossum Loop will be open for tent campers. There will be no available water. No Dump Station available. Keep reading

Recreation

The area offers excellent hiking, mountain biking, horseback riding and hunting. Recommended hiking trails include the Mount Rogers Trail at 7.5 miles and the Whispering Waters Nature Trail at 0.6 miles. Several streams pass by just beyond the campground, with trout fishing available in abundance. The campground boasts a water play area in the creek, an amphitheater, a playground and volleyball courts to entertain families.

Facilities

All sites have a fire ring with a cooking grate, lantern post, picnic table, and tent pad. Domestic pets are allowed as long as they are attended and kept on a leash no longer than six feet. Standard electric sites have 30 amp service and a water hook-up. PLEASE NOTE ALL CAMPSITES IN COTTONTAIL AND GROUNDHOG DEN WILL BE CLOSED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE. NO AVAILABLE WATER IN OPOSSUM, COTTONTAIL, AND GROUNDHOG DEN LOOPS.

Natural Features

At 3,800 feet, Grindstone is surrounded by mixed hardwoods, hemlock and rhododendrons. The Mount Rogers National Recreation Area spans 200,000 acres of National Forest, with four wildlife-rich wilderness areas. Contact Info This location is unstaffed. To speak with our main office for general information, please call: (276) 783-5196.

Nearby Attractions

The Mount Rogers Scenic Byway, which traverses more than 50 miles with views of forestland and open rural countryside, is accessible nearby.

Source: Recreation.gov data (RIDB), full extract · Aug 23, 2026

What the agency tells you

Rule

Due to maintenance at Grindstone campground, the facility will be closed for the 2026 season. We apologize for any inconvenience. All Camping Loops are closed for the season. The overnight parking and day-use visitors area are closed. All bathhouses and the trailer waste disposal station are closed. There are no water, sewer, or electric sites available.

Rule

Click here for more information on George Washington and Jefferson National Forests

Rule

Don't Move Firewood: Help protect our forests! Prevent the spread of tree-killing pests by obtaining firewood at or near your destination and burning it on-site. Moving firewood is illegal in some states. Visit dontmovefirewood.org to learn more.

Source: recreation.gov facility notices, quoted verbatim · Sep 9, 2026

Tents and rigs

Sites: 83
Hookups: None
Longest rig: 110 ft
Paved pads: 8 of 83
Accessible sites: 10
Pets: Allowed
Campfires: Allowed, barring fire bans
Shade: Every site

Source: Recreation.gov campsite records · Aug 23, 2026

Facilities

Playground: Yes

Source: Stated in the agency description · Aug 23, 2026

Around the campground

On the water: Creek; Biking; Fishing; Hiking; Scenic drives
Night sky · 25th darkest of 88 in VA: Bortle 4

Source: Recreation.gov activity records · Aug 23, 2026

Night sky: VIIRS Day/Night Band annual cloud-free composite, VNL V2 2024 (Earth Observation Group, Colorado School of Mines), read at the published coordinate · Sep 8, 2026

Nothing on the booking system

recreation.gov lists none of the 83 campsites the agency files here. Whatever these sites are, a reservation isn’t how you get one.

No availability snapshot inside the last 36 hours, so this page draws nothing rather than ageing a reading into fiction.

Booking windowOut of seasonOut of season, no booking. The last reservable season the agency published ended November 26, 2022, and it hasn't published the next one.recreation.gov

Max stay14 nightsthe facility record

A night$24–$36plus $8 to reserve, once per bookingthe agency’s rate schedule

A weekend$56–$80DerivedFriday and Saturday, everything includedours, from the lines above

If plans change$10 to cancel$10 to change a reservationrecreation.gov’s schedule

Runs itU.S. Forest ServiceBooked through recreation.govthe agency’s record

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.

Free forever, no booking kickbacks.

Every line of the receipt · 15

What you actually pay

The sign priceU.S. Forest Service

A night, per site$24–$36

Standard Electric$24

Standard Nonelectric$24

Standard Electric-Double$36

Standard Nonelectric-Double$36

These are next season’s rates, Apr 2, 2027 to Nov 29, 2027. The campground is between seasons now.

The booking feerecreation.gov

Reservation fee, booked online$8

One fee per reservation, however many nights you book, and it’s non-refundable. $9 if you book by phone, $3 in person.

Pass discounts only apply to the recreation (or use) fee for the facility. Other charges such as electricity or water hookups, reservation or other fees are not eligible for a discount.

What a stay costs

One nightDerived$32–$44

A weekend, Friday and SaturdayDerived$56–$80

Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rates for this season, $24–$36 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.

If your plans changerecreation.gov

Change fee, moving to dates outside your booking$10

Cancellation fee$10

Cancelling the day before, or the day of$10 + your first night

No-show$20 + your first night

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

Sign price: recreation.gov facility rate schedule, quoted as the agency publishes it · Sep 10, 2026

Booking fee, change fee, cancellation fee, no-show: Rules and Reservation Policies, Recreation.gov, the published fee schedule, curated by hand into lib/reservation-fee-schedule.json (9 rows, each carrying its own verbatim sentence). The publisher states these policies were last updated September 2019. · Sep 9, 2026

The two totals: Derived by CAMPANAC by adding the agency’s own published nightly rate to recreation.gov’s own published reservation fee. Both components are cited above; the addition is ours and is shown only where every component is known. · Sep 9, 2026

Who keeps the booking fee: Recreation.gov facility policy text, Dead Swede Campground (facility 234221) · Not on the national policy page. This is agency policy text recreation.gov publishes on individual campground pages; this site holds it verbatim on 45 active campgrounds (campground_rules.cancellation_description, scripts/load-facility-rules.mjs). · Sep 9, 2026

The contract: Reservation Gods: Who Stole Our Campsites and Sold Them Back to Us, More Than Just Parks, April 2025 · Apr 1, 2025

Source: Recreation.gov data (RIDB), full extract · Aug 23, 2026

rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this

Seen something wrong here? Tell us.

The sites

136 records · the site map

All 136 records

68 of 136 records located

Type not stated68

023 025 026 027 028 029 030D 034 036D 037 038D 040D 043 044 045 046 047 048 051 052 053 054 055 056 057 058 059 063 064 065 066 067 068 069 070 071 072 073 074 075 076 077 079 080 081 082 083 084 085 086 087 089 001 002 003 004 005 006 007 008 009 010 012 013 014 015D 016 018

Aerial · Esri World Imagery

Sites: recreation.gov (RIDB), coordinates as published · Aug 23, 2026

Imagery: Esri World Imagery

SleepsTakes aUp to

The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 83 of the 136 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.


COTT	023	type not stated	60 ft	50 amp	yes	593 ftGrindstone Branch	$33.97
COTT	025	type not stated	65 ft	50 amp	yes	496 ftGrindstone Branch	$33.97
COTT	026	type not stated	70 ft	50 amp	yes	398 ftGrindstone Branch	$33.97
COTT	027	type not stated	100 ft	30 amp		436 ftGrindstone Branch	$33.97
COTT	028	type not stated	110 ft	30 amp		378 ftGrindstone Branch	$33.97
COTT	029	type not stated	75 ft	30 amp		255 ftGrindstone Branch	$33.97
COTT	030D	type not stated	65 ft	30 amp		187 ftGrindstone Branch	$33.97
COTT	034	type not stated		30 amp		366 ftGrindstone Branch	$33.97
COTT	036D	type not stated	80 ft	30 amp		240 ftGrindstone Branch	$33.97
COTT	037	type not stated	90 ft	50/30 amp		309 ftGrindstone Branch	$33.97
COTT	038D	type not stated	90 ft	30 amp		304 ftGrindstone Branch	$33.97
COTT	040D	type not stated	110 ft	30 amp		598 ftGrindstone Branch	$33.97
COTT	043	type not stated	70 ft	30 amp		703 ftGrindstone Branch	$33.97
COTT	044	type not stated	80 ft	30 amp		849 ftGrindstone Branch	$33.97
COTT	045	type not stated	66 ft	30 amp		762 ftGrindstone Branch	$33.97
COTT	046	type not stated	80 ft	30 amp		716 ftGrindstone Branch	$33.97
COTT	047	type not stated	70 ft	30 amp		646 ftGrindstone Branch	$33.97
COTT	048	type not stated	65 ft	30 amp		476 ftGrindstone Branch	$33.97
COTT	051	type not stated	75 ft	30 amp		637 ftGrindstone Branch	$33.97
COTT	052	type not stated	90 ft	30 amp		644 ftGrindstone Branch	$33.97
COTT	053	type not stated	100 ft	30 amp		728 ftGrindstone Branch	$33.97
COTT	054	type not stated	85 ft	30 amp		659 ft	$33.97
COTT	055	type not stated	80 ft	30 amp		618 ft	$33.97
COTT	056	type not stated	65 ft	30 amp		545 ft	$33.97
COTT	057	type not stated	66 ft	30 amp		475 ft	$33.97
COTT	058	type not stated	65 ft	30 amp		478 ft	$33.97
COTT	059	type not stated	70 ft	30 amp		562 ft	$33.97
GDEN	022	type not stated	65 ft	30 amp	yes		$33.97
GDEN	024	type not stated	65 ft	30 amp	yes		$33.97
GDEN	060	type not stated	65 ft	30 amp	yes		$33.97
GDEN	061	type not stated	65 ft	50 amp	yes		$33.97
GDEN	063	type not stated	75 ft	30 amp		268 ft	$33.97
GDEN	064	type not stated	66 ft	30 amp		224 ft	$33.97
GDEN	065	type not stated	70 ft	30 amp		184 ft	$33.97
GDEN	066	type not stated	60 ft	30 amp		335 ft	$33.97
GDEN	067	type not stated	76 ft	30 amp		185 ft	$33.97
GDEN	068	type not stated	76 ft	30 amp		344 ft	$33.97
GDEN	069	type not stated	72 ft	30 amp		198 ft	$33.97
GDEN	070	type not stated	70 ft	30 amp		233 ft	$33.97
GDEN	071	type not stated	70 ft	30 amp		364 ft	$33.97
GDEN	072	type not stated	79 ft	30 amp		310 ft	$33.97
GDEN	073	type not stated	75 ft	30 amp		306 ft	$33.97
GDEN	074	type not stated	75 ft	30 amp		413 ft	$33.97
GDEN	075	type not stated	70 ft	30 amp		356 ft	$33.97
GDEN	076	type not stated	75 ft			439 ft	$33.97
GDEN	077	type not stated	70 ft			442 ft	$33.97
GDEN	079	type not stated	70 ft			484 ftGrindstone Branch	$33.97
GDEN	080	type not stated	65 ft			436 ftGrindstone Branch	$33.97
GDEN	081	type not stated	80 ft			393 ftGrindstone Branch	$33.97
GDEN	082	type not stated	90 ft			264 ftGrindstone Branch	$33.97
GDEN	083	type not stated	75 ft			309 ftGrindstone Branch	$33.97
GDEN	084	type not stated	74 ft			89 ftGrindstone Branch	$33.97
GDEN	085	type not stated	85 ft			under 10 ftGrindstone Branch	$33.97
GDEN	086	type not stated	70 ft			72 ftGrindstone Branch	$33.97
GDEN	087	type not stated	75 ft			214 ftGrindstone Branch	$33.97
GDEN	088	type not stated	35 ft				$33.97
GDEN	089	type not stated	75 ft			283 ftGrindstone Branch	$33.97
GDEN	090	type not stated	35 ft				$33.97
GDEN	091	type not stated	35 ft				$33.97
GDEN	092	type not stated	35 ft				$33.97
GDEN	093	type not stated	35 ft				$33.97
GDEN	094	type not stated	35 ft		yes		$33.97
GDEN	095	type not stated	35 ft				$33.97
GDEN	096	type not stated	35 ft				$33.97
GDEN	097	type not stated	35 ft				$33.97
GDEN	098	type not stated	35 ft				$33.97
GRINDSTONE	XXX	unnamed record	35 ft				$33.97
GRINDSTONE	XXX1	unnamed record					$33.97
GRINDSTONE	XXX10	unnamed record					$33.97
GRINDSTONE	XXX11	unnamed record					$33.97
GRINDSTONE	XXX12	unnamed record					$33.97
GRINDSTONE	XXX13	unnamed record					$33.97
GRINDSTONE	XXX14	unnamed record					$33.97
GRINDSTONE	XXX15	unnamed record					$33.97
GRINDSTONE	XXX16	unnamed record					$33.97
GRINDSTONE	XXX17	unnamed record					$33.97
GRINDSTONE	XXX18	unnamed record					$33.97
GRINDSTONE	XXX19	unnamed record					$33.97
GRINDSTONE	XXX2	unnamed record					$33.97
GRINDSTONE	XXX20	unnamed record					$33.97
GRINDSTONE	XXX21	unnamed record					$33.97
GRINDSTONE	XXX22	unnamed record					$33.97
GRINDSTONE	XXX23	unnamed record					$33.97
GRINDSTONE	XXX24	unnamed record					$33.97
GRINDSTONE	XXX25	unnamed record					$33.97
GRINDSTONE	XXX26	unnamed record					$33.97
GRINDSTONE	XXX27	unnamed record					$33.97
GRINDSTONE	XXX28	unnamed record					$33.97
GRINDSTONE	XXX29	unnamed record					$33.97
GRINDSTONE	XXX3	unnamed record					$33.97
GRINDSTONE	XXX30	unnamed record					$33.97
GRINDSTONE	XXX31	unnamed record					$33.97
GRINDSTONE	XXX32	unnamed record					$33.97
GRINDSTONE	XXX33	unnamed record					$33.97
GRINDSTONE	XXX34	unnamed record					$33.97
GRINDSTONE	XXX35	unnamed record					$33.97
GRINDSTONE	XXX36	unnamed record					$33.97
GRINDSTONE	XXX37	unnamed record					$33.97
GRINDSTONE	XXX38	unnamed record					$33.97
GRINDSTONE	XXX39	unnamed record					$33.97
GRINDSTONE	XXX4	unnamed record					$33.97
GRINDSTONE	XXX40	unnamed record					$33.97
GRINDSTONE	XXX41	unnamed record					$33.97
GRINDSTONE	XXX42	unnamed record					$33.97
GRINDSTONE	XXX43	unnamed record					$33.97
GRINDSTONE	XXX44	unnamed record					$33.97
GRINDSTONE	XXX45	unnamed record					$33.97
GRINDSTONE	XXX46	unnamed record					$33.97
GRINDSTONE	XXX47	unnamed record					$33.97
GRINDSTONE	XXX48	unnamed record					$33.97
GRINDSTONE	XXX49	unnamed record					$33.97
GRINDSTONE	XXX5	unnamed record					$33.97
GRINDSTONE	XXX50	unnamed record					$33.97
GRINDSTONE	XXX51	unnamed record					$33.97
GRINDSTONE	XXX52	unnamed record					$33.97
GRINDSTONE	XXX6	unnamed record					$33.97
GRINDSTONE	XXX7	unnamed record					$33.97
GRINDSTONE	XXX8	unnamed record					$33.97
GRINDSTONE	XXX9	unnamed record					$33.97
OPOS	001	type not stated	35 ft			621 ft	$33.97
OPOS	002	type not stated	35 ft			709 ft	$33.97
OPOS	003	type not stated	35 ft			762 ft	$33.97
OPOS	004	type not stated	35 ft			665 ft	$33.97
OPOS	005	type not stated				688 ft	$33.97
OPOS	006	type not stated				571 ft	$33.97
OPOS	007	type not stated	78 ft			636 ft	$33.97
OPOS	008	type not stated	55 ft			565 ft	$33.97
OPOS	009	type not stated	35 ft			648 ft	$33.97
OPOS	010	type not stated	35 ft		yes	566 ft	$33.97
OPOS	012	type not stated				658 ft	$33.97
OPOS	013	type not stated	35 ft			593 ft	$33.97
OPOS	014	type not stated	80 ft			491 ft	$33.97
OPOS	015D	type not stated	100 ft			418 ft	$33.97
OPOS	016	type not stated	35 ft			467 ft	$33.97
OPOS	017	type not stated	35 ft		yes		$33.97
OPOS	018	type not stated	35 ft			461 ft	$33.97

The agency files 53 more records here that aren’t sites for the night. It types every one of them MANAGEMENT rather than a campsite. They’re in the table above, marked for what they are, and none of them is counted as a site.

The records with no site name: Derived by CAMPANAC from the agency’s own campsite records: recreation.gov files some overnight records with no site name, only a row of X characters. A block is read as the campground’s own sites, filed without names, only where the agency types those records as campsites rather than MANAGEMENT, gives each one a coordinate, and their numbering continues the campground’s own numbered sites with no gap. Everything else is left uncounted, and where the evidence doesn’t decide the record is counted as no kind of site rather than guessed at · Sep 12, 2026

Price: Derived by CAMPANAC: each site takes the per-night rate this campground publishes for the site’s own site type (recreation.gov rate schedule). recreation.gov publishes no per-campsite fee, and a site whose type carries no published rate is left blank rather than called free · Sep 11, 2026

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.

25 of 136 listed

Source: Recreation.gov data (RIDB), full extract · Aug 23, 2026

Getting there

the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions

Coordinate36.68694, -81.54111

The mapSee it on the map

The driveDirections ↗

The agency’s pageOfficial page ↗

Where it is

Also near here

Fox Creek Horse CampMount Rogers National Recreation Area · 2.2 mi

Old Virginia Group Horse CampMount Rogers National Recreation Area · 3.0 mi

Hurricane CampgroundMount Rogers National Recreation Area · 3.8 mi

BeartreeMount Rogers National Recreation Area · 5.9 mi

Raccoon Branch CampgroundMount Rogers National Recreation Area · 7.7 mi Beartree Recreation AreaMount Rogers National Recreation Area · 7.9 mi

Getting there

From Marion, Virginia, take exit 45 to Highway 16 south. Continue for 17 miles, then turn right onto Highway 603. After 6 miles turn left into the Grindstone Campground entrance.

Directions: Driving directions as the agency wrote them · Sep 9, 2026

Source: Recreation.gov data (RIDB), full extract · Aug 23, 2026

The weather

the next four days · the thirty-year normal

Next four days, and the thirty-year normal

Forecast

Today69°Areas Of Fog then Rain Showers Likely63% rain

Tonight37°Rain Showers78% rain

Saturday41°Chance Rain Showers then Mostly Cloudy51% rain

Saturday Night30°Areas Of Frost4% rain

NWS forecast for Troutdale, VA

Source: National Weather Service, RNK forecast office · Oct 16, 2026

Typical weather

Typical October night 39°F, day 66°F.

Coldest month of the year: typical January night 22°F, below freezing. Bring a bag rated colder than that, and expect ice in the water bottle.

90°32°10°

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.

Measured at: JEFFERSON 2 E, NC (USC00314496), 20 miles away and 981 ft lower

Source: NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, U.S. Climate Normals 1991-2020, monthly normals · Sep 8, 2026

The land, and who answers for it

what threatens it · who answers for it · a letter you can send

Roadless country, and what’s coming for it

Roadless

Lewis Fork Addition749 acres · 3 mi · inventoried roadless area

Roadless

Seng Mountain6,428 acres · 3 mi · inventoried roadless area

Roadless

Little Wilson Creek Addition B1,725 acres · 5 mi · inventoried roadless area

You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.

Source: USFS Inventoried Roadless Areas via MTJP Roadless Map · Jul 29, 2026

Who answers for this land

Grindstone 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 →

Seen something wrong here? Tell us.

Source: U.S. Census district boundaries and the MTJP Congressional Public Lands Score

Who can change it · 3

Reservable on paper, bookable nowhere

The agency’s own record marks Grindstone reservable, and recreation.gov lists none of its campsites. The draft asks why, and what it would take to fix it.

The member who votes the moneyH. Morgan GriffithU.S. Representative · Virginia’s 9th district
Open their contact form ↗Their record →
Your senator, on the same appropriationMark R. WarnerU.S. Senator · Virginia
Open their contact form ↗
Your senator, on the same appropriationTim KaineU.S. Senator · Virginia
Open their contact form ↗

Read the draft, or change the wording

To H. Morgan Griffith

Asks them to put the same question to the agency in writing.

Subject Grindstone is reservable and not bookable

Dear H. Morgan Griffith,

I’m a constituent in Virginia’s 9th district. Grindstone, Mount Rogers National Recreation Area, Virginia is a federal campground the U.S. Forest Service records as reservable, and recreation.gov lists none of its 83 campsites, in any month asked.

I’m asking you to put one question to the U.S. Forest Service in writing: why isn’t Grindstone on the booking system, and what would it take to put it there?

Road trips and camping on public land are part of how this country knows itself. It’s where a lot of people meet the place they live in for the first time, and it has never been something you had to be well off, or well organised six months in advance, to do.

Sent about Grindstone (Mount Rogers National Recreation Area, Virginia) via campanac.com

To Mark R. Warner

Asks them to put the same question to the agency in writing.

Subject Grindstone is reservable and not bookable

Dear Mark R. Warner,

I’m a constituent in Virginia. Grindstone, Mount Rogers National Recreation Area, Virginia is a federal campground the U.S. Forest Service records as reservable, and recreation.gov lists none of its 83 campsites, in any month asked.

I’m asking you to put one question to the U.S. Forest Service in writing: why isn’t Grindstone on the booking system, and what would it take to put it there?

Road trips and camping on public land are part of how this country knows itself. It’s where a lot of people meet the place they live in for the first time, and it has never been something you had to be well off, or well organised six months in advance, to do.

Sent about Grindstone (Mount Rogers National Recreation Area, Virginia) via campanac.com

To Tim Kaine

Asks them to put the same question to the agency in writing.

Subject Grindstone is reservable and not bookable

Dear Tim Kaine,

I’m a constituent in Virginia. Grindstone, Mount Rogers National Recreation Area, Virginia is a federal campground the U.S. Forest Service records as reservable, and recreation.gov lists none of its 83 campsites, in any month asked.

I’m asking you to put one question to the U.S. Forest Service in writing: why isn’t Grindstone on the booking system, and what would it take to put it there?

Road trips and camping on public land are part of how this country knows itself. It’s where a lot of people meet the place they live in for the first time, and it has never been something you had to be well off, or well organised six months in advance, to do.

Sent about Grindstone (Mount Rogers National Recreation Area, Virginia) via campanac.com

How we know this · 4

Contacts: Contact forms from @unitedstates/congress-legislators · Sep 9, 2026

The figures in these drafts: Navy Ford (CVN-78) Class Aircraft Carrier Program: Background and Issues for Congress (CRS Report RS20643) · Updated December 4, 2025 · “The ship’s final procurement cost was $13,316.5 million (i.e., about $13.3 billion) in then-year dollars.”

The figures in these drafts: Salary Table 2026-GS, Incorporating the 1% General Schedule Increase, Effective January 2026 (U.S. Office of Personnel Management) · Effective January 2026 · “Grade 5, Step 1: $34,799 (annual rate, before locality pay).”

The figures in these drafts: Update to Civilian Position Full Fringe Benefit Cost Factor, Federal Pay Raise Assumptions, and Inflation Factors used in OMB Circular No. A-76 (OMB Memorandum M-08-13) · March 11, 2008 · “the civilian position full fringe benefit cost factor needs to be adjusted downward, from 36.45 percent to 36.25 percent”

How we know

every fact on this page, and where it came from

Right now: U.S. Forest Service publishes no season and no closure for this campground, and it takes no bookings we can read. That’s a gap in the record and not a locked gate.

Sites on recreation.gov: recreation.gov’s own month availability payload for this facility, asked for October 2026 and November 2026. It names 0 of the 83 campsites the agency files here, and every one of them carries an answer either way. A campground nobody has read carries no answer at all, never a no. · Oct 11, 2026

Elevation: USGS 3DEP elevation point query at this campground’s coordinate · Sep 7, 2026

Tree cover: NLCD Tree Canopy Cover 2024 (USDA Forest Service / MRLC), one 30 m cell at this coordinate, taken as the median across the 68 campsites here that carry a reading · Sep 9, 2026

Water: USGS National Hydrography Dataset, nearest perennial lake, reservoir, river or stream to this campground’s coordinate · Sep 8, 2026

Night sky: VIIRS Day/Night Band annual cloud-free composite, VNL V2 2024 (Earth Observation Group, Colorado School of Mines), read at the published coordinate: 0.45 mcd/m² of artificial all-sky glow, ranked against the 88 rated federal campgrounds in Virginia · Sep 8, 2026

Sky-glow model: Duriscoe, Anderson, Luginbuhl and Baugh (2018), a simplified model of all-sky artificial sky glow derived from VIIRS Day/Night band data, the National Park Service sky-glow model

Cell signal: the Forest Service’s own campground description, read as text by CAMPANAC. None of this is a measurement. It’s what the land manager published about the place, and phones, carriers and weather all disagree with each other; treat it as a warning, not a promise.

Nearest place of any size: Troutdale, VA, 4.6 mi W. Straight line.

Nearest town: U.S. Census Bureau TIGER/Line 2024 places, measured by CAMPANAC to the town boundary; population is the ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimate · Sep 9, 2026