Hopper Creek Group Camp
We don’t think it should be. Every campground should hold some sites for whoever drives up.Tell your representative →
- Right now
- Taking bookingsSites offered on 30 of the next 30 nights; a database flag says not open read 16:14 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
Hopper Creek Group Camp offers a rustic atmosphere under the trees for group camping. Nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains, the area welcomes visitors to enjoy the natural beauty and relaxing atmosphere. Keep reading
Recreation
A mowed, grassy area is available for games and organized activities. Hiking trails surround the area, offering everything from short walks in and around Cave Mountain Lake Recreation Area to a full day hike along the nearby ridges. Backpacking opportunities are also available on the nearby Appalachian National Scenic Trail, in the James River Face Wilderness or in the Thunder Ridge Wilderness.
Facilities
The group camp can accommodate up to 50 people. It is designated for tent camping only, and tent pads are provided. The site is equipped with 12 picnic tables, a pedestal double grill, a large campfire circle and a vault toilet. Drinking water is not provided; campers must bring their own supply. Showers are available at nearby Cave Mountain Lake Recreation Area - at the beach bathhouse. A day use fee would apply to Hopper Creek campers entering Cave Mountain Lake.
Natural Features
A small stream gurgles past the camping area flowing downstream into Hopper Creek on its way to the James River. The campground sits at an approximate elevation of 1,100 feet at the base of Thunder Ridge.
Nearby Attractions
Hopper Creek is 3 miles from Cave Mountain Lake Recreation Area, which offers a day use area with sandy beach, designated swimming area and covered picnic shelter. Natural Bridge State Park is within an 8 mile drive and offers visitors views of the 215 foot tall Natural Bridge and limestone gorge, 6 miles of hiking trails, a Monacan Indian village and the 30 foot cascades of Lace Falls. Natural Bridge State Park is also a great place for unobstructed sky views and star gazing on mowed paths. Canoeing, kayaking and fishing are available in the nearby James River.
What the agency tells you
Entrance gate on State Route 759 is closed but unlocked during camping season; entry by campers only.
Tent camping only; RVs are not permitted.
Bear cans provided for trash. All trash that does not fit in provided containers MUST be removed and dropped off at County disposal site at corner of Arnold's Valley Rd and Wert Faulkner Hwy.
Everything else this campground posts · 10
Bears and other wildlife frequent the area: keep all food locked inside your vehicle.
Drinking water is unavailable; campers must bring their own supply.
Cell phone coverage is unreliable.
No water or electric hookups available.
No horses allowed.
Campground will be inspected prior to arrival and after departure for trash and resource damage.
Use of Cave Mountain Lake Recreation Area facilities requires a day use fee.
For more information, call (540) 291-2188, Mon-Fri 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Click here for more information on George Washington and Jefferson National Forests
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.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 1 · 1 tent-only, 1 group
- Hookups
- None
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…grill, a large campfire circle and a vault toilet. Drinking water is not provided; campers must bring…”
- Drinking water
- None, bring your own
- “…campfire circle and a vault toilet. Drinking water is not provided; campers must bring their own supply. Showers are…”
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, River, Creek, Beach
- Backpacking
- Canoeing
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Hunting
- Kayaking
- Fall color · reported 10 days ago, 28 km away
- No change
Full this Saturdayread 16:14 UTC
How full the weekend is nationally.
3 campgrounds have sites open within 30 miles, read 16:38 UTC. See them
OpenBooked
The one site on offer is taken this Saturday. 1 is free on Mon, Oct 19. read 16:14 UTC Why the weekend fills and the week doesn’t
Watch for a cancellation
Watch this campground
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 · 10
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 · 4
Open within 30 miles this weekend · 3
Sites the agency is offering this Friday and Saturday that nobody has taken, nearest first. read 16:38 UTC
- Otter Creek CampgroundBlue Ridge Parkway · 9.4 mi · 22 of 128 site-nights open
- Peaks of Otter CampgroundBlue Ridge Parkway · 9.6 mi · 8 of 106 site-nights open
- Craig Creek Recreation AreaGeorge Washington & Jefferson National Forest · 26 mi · 1 of 1 site-night open
recreation.gov availability, read 16:14 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
| HOPPER CREEK GROUP CAMP | G1 | group tent only area nonelectric | 1,296 ft |
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
Cave Mountain Lake Family CampJefferson National Forest · 1.8 mi
Cave Mountain Lake Group CampJefferson National Forest · 1.8 miNorth CreekJefferson National Forest · 4.4 mi
Otter Creek CampgroundBlue Ridge Parkway · 9.4 mi
Peaks of Otter CampgroundBlue Ridge Parkway · 9.6 mi
Craig Creek Recreation Area26 miFrom I-81 North, take Exit 175 just south of Natural Bridge. Go north on U.S. Highway 11 toward Natural Bridge (left turn facing the Exxon station). From Natural Bridge, follow Route 130 East at the intersection with U.S. Highway 11 (right turn at the Natural Bridge parking lot). Continue east on Route 130 for approximately 4 miles to Natural Bridge Station. Turn right onto State Route 759 and continue for approximately 3 miles to the intersection with Route 781 and Petites Gap Road. Continue 1.6 miles ahead on Route 759 / Hopper Creek Road. Turn left into the recreation area entrance.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Glasgow, VA
Typical weather
Typical October night 47°F, day 68°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 27°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 · a letter you can send
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
Hopper Creek Group Camp 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 →
Who can change it · 3
Two offices, two different asks. The draft to the agency asks it to set aside a published share of the sites here for whoever drives up. The draft to Congress asks why that share is zero and presses for a published minimum at the campgrounds it funds.
- The member who votes the moneyBen ClineU.S. Representative · Virginia’s 6th district
- Your senator, on the same appropriationMark R. WarnerU.S. Senator · Virginia
- Your senator, on the same appropriationTim KaineU.S. Senator · Virginia
Read the draft, or change the wording
For the camper who turned up, or tried to book, and couldn’t get in. Every draft is written from this campground’s own record (its agency, its unit, its site count and its own weekend) and the buttons above copy whichever wording is selected here.
Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.
Subject Walk-up camping at Hopper Creek Group Camp, Jefferson National Forest, Virginia
Dear Ben Cline, I’m a constituent in Virginia’s 6th district. I tried to camp at Hopper Creek Group Camp, Jefferson National Forest, Virginia, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at Hopper Creek Group Camp are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, the one site recreation.gov was offering there was already booked. 1,623 of the 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Hopper Creek Group Camp keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Hopper Creek Group Camp. I’m asking you to put it to the U.S. Forest Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund. The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them. Sent about Hopper Creek Group Camp (Jefferson National Forest, Virginia) via campanac.com
Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.
Subject Walk-up camping at Hopper Creek Group Camp, Jefferson National Forest, Virginia
Dear Mark R. Warner, I’m a constituent in Virginia. I tried to camp at Hopper Creek Group Camp, Jefferson National Forest, Virginia, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at Hopper Creek Group Camp are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, the one site recreation.gov was offering there was already booked. 1,623 of the 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Hopper Creek Group Camp keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Hopper Creek Group Camp. I’m asking you to put it to the U.S. Forest Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund. The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them. Sent about Hopper Creek Group Camp (Jefferson National Forest, Virginia) via campanac.com
Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.
Subject Walk-up camping at Hopper Creek Group Camp, Jefferson National Forest, Virginia
Dear Tim Kaine, I’m a constituent in Virginia. I tried to camp at Hopper Creek Group Camp, Jefferson National Forest, Virginia, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at Hopper Creek Group Camp are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, the one site recreation.gov was offering there was already booked. 1,623 of the 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Hopper Creek Group Camp keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Hopper Creek Group Camp. I’m asking you to put it to the U.S. Forest Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund. The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them. Sent about Hopper Creek Group Camp (Jefferson National Forest, Virginia) via campanac.com