Lewis Mountain Campground
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- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
- A night
- $30From, per site
- Sites
- 3130 of them walk-up
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 13 notices
In the agency’s own words
This location is available on a first-come, first-served basis only. Visitors are required to physically arrive at the campground to purchase and claim a site. Once on-site, you can pay for your campsite(s) by scanning a QR code using the Recreation.gov mobile app . Download the free Recreation.gov mobile app on Android or iOS prior to your arrival as some remote areas have limited or no cellular service. Keep reading
Recreation
Shenandoah National Park has over 500 miles of trails, including 101 miles of the Appalachian Trail. Some trails lead to a waterfall or viewpoint while others wind deep into the forest and wilderness. Lewis Mountain is near many of the major facilities and popular hiking trails in the park and is 7 miles away from the Byrd Visitors Center and Big Meadow, with its abundant plant growth and wildlife, is an ideal nearby attraction. Wildlife viewing is also a popular pastime, with black bears, wild turkey, deer, birds and countless other animals thriving in the park. The campground is also located right off the famous Skyline Drive, which runs 105 miles north and south along the crest of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Stunning views are visible from any of the 75 scenic overlooks.
Facilities
This small, seculded campground offers 30 campsites. A picnic areas is provided, as well as conveniences like flush toilets, showers and a camp store which creates a comfortable camping experience. There is limited WIFI and cell phone reception.
Natural Features
Shenandoah National Park spans 300 square miles of the Blue Ridge Mountains in the southern Appalachians. The park rises above the Virginia Piedmont to its east and the Shenandoah Valley to its west. The scenery at Lewis Mountain Campground never disappoints, with a stunning array of colors in the fall and a blanket of bright wildflowers in the spring. This green and shady campground is a wilderness paradise for outdoor enthusiasts.
Nearby Attractions
Two visitor centers with bookstores and exhibits are located in the park (milepost 5 and milepost 51). Byrd Visitor Center is 7 miles north where there are concession managed restaurants, gift shops, ranger programs and lodging facilities. Big Meadows Lodge and Restaurant is located near the Byrd Visitor Center.
What the agency tells you
Download the free Recreation.gov mobile app on Android or iOS prior to your arrival as some remote areas have limited or no cellular service.
Black bears, deer, skunks, raccoons and other wildlife share this space with you; please plan to store all food, hygiene items and trash in appropriate containers or your vehicle.
You are responsible for following all park and campground regulations.
Everything else this campground posts · 10
There are no RV hook-ups but there is a dump station with potable water available 7 miles north on Skyline Drive at Big Meadows.
Bring a wash basin for washing your dishes, utility sinks are not provided for all sites; dirty water may be dumped in toilets.
Generator hours are 8 a.m. - 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. - 7 p.m. with a 60 decibel limit.
There is a $30 fee per vehicle to enter the park. The pass issued is valid for one week.
Unleaded fuel is available 24/7 at Big Meadows Wayside (milepost 51.2) Electric Vehicle charging stations are only available at Skyland Lodge (milepost 41.7)
Firewood may not be available for purchase after 5 p.m at the camp store. If you plan to arrive late, you may want to consider purchasing firewood in route. Due to the spread of invasive insects, only kiln dried USDA approved firewood is permitted. Help protect our forest, Click here for more information.
Cell phone reception is very limited throughout the park.
No propane or propane fill up is available in the park.
Check out time is noon.
Campground map https://www.nps.gov/shen/planyourvisit/upload/LewisMountain_CampgroundMap.pdf
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 31
- Hookups
- None
- Accessible sites
- None listed
Facilities
- Toilets
- Flush Toilets - seasonal
- Drinking water
- Yes
- Store
- Nearby
- Camp host
- On site
- recreation.gov lists “Host”
Around the campground
- On the water
- Waterfall, Meadow
- Backpacking
- Hiking
- Historic site
- Picnicking
- Scenic drives
- Wildlife viewing
- Night sky · 31st darkest of 88 in VA
- Bortle 4
- Cell signal · Cell signal · Park Service says
- Spotty
Nothing on the booking system for the next 30 nightsread 16:50 UTC
recreation.gov lists 30 of the 31 campsites the agency files here. The rest aren’t on its booking system, so a reservation won’t get you one.
Every one of the next thirty nights is in recreation.gov’s record and not one site is being offered on any of them. That’s a campground closed or not yet released for booking, not a sold-out one.
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 · 15
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rate for this season, $30 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 · 5
recreation.gov availability, read 16:50 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
32 records
All 32 records
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 30 of the 32 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| A | 10 | standard nonelectric | $30 |
| A | 11 | standard nonelectric | $30 |
| A | 12 | standard nonelectric | $30 |
| A | 13 | standard nonelectric | $30 |
| A | 14 | standard nonelectric | $30 |
| A | 15 | standard nonelectric | $30 |
| A | 16 | standard nonelectric | $30 |
| A | 17 | standard nonelectric | $30 |
| A | 18 | standard nonelectric | $30 |
| A | 19 | standard nonelectric | $30 |
| A | 2 | standard nonelectric | $30 |
| A | 20 | standard nonelectric | $30 |
| A | 21 | standard nonelectric | $30 |
| A | 22 | standard nonelectric | $30 |
| A | 23 | standard nonelectric | $30 |
| A | 24 | standard nonelectric | $30 |
| A | 25 | standard nonelectric | $30 |
| A | 26 | standard nonelectric | $30 |
| A | 27 | standard nonelectric | $30 |
| A | 28 | standard nonelectric | $30 |
| A | 29 | standard nonelectric | $30 |
| A | 3 | standard nonelectric | $30 |
| A | 30 | standard nonelectric | $30 |
| A | 31 | standard nonelectric | $30 |
| A | 4 | standard nonelectric | $30 |
| A | 5 | standard nonelectric | $30 |
| A | 6 | standard nonelectric | $30 |
| A | 7 | standard nonelectric | $30 |
| A | 8 | standard nonelectric | $30 |
| A | 9 | standard nonelectric | $30 |
| A | Host | host pad | |
| A | Scan and Pay Lewis Mountain Campground | type not stated |
The agency files 1 more record here that isn’t a site for the night. It names it a host pad. It’s in the table above, marked for what it is, and it isn’t counted as a site.
25 of 32 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the phone number
Where it is
Big Meadows Campground - Shenandoah (VA)Shenandoah National Park · 6.8 mi
Loft Mountain CampgroundShenandoah National Park · 17 mi
Camp RooseveltGeorge Washington National Forest · 21 mi
Mathews Arm CampgroundShenandoah National Park · 24 mi
Little FortGeorge Washington National Forest · 30 miElizabeth FurnaceGeorge Washington National Forest · 35 miThe weather
the next four days
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Elkton, VA
The land, and who answers for it
what threatens it · who answers for it
What threatens this place
You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.
Who answers for this land
Lewis Mountain Campground 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 →
How we know
every fact on this page, and where it came from
“…creates a comfortable camping experience. There is limited WIFI and cell phone reception. Natural Features Shenandoah National Park spans 300 square…”