Otter Creek Campground
- Right now
- Taking bookingsSites offered on 10 of the next 10 nights read 16:54 UTC
- A night
- $30From, per site
- Sites
- 6939 of them walk-up
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 10 notices
In the agency’s own words
Otter Creek Campground is located at the Blue Ridge Parkway's lowest elevation, only 649 feet above sea level. Picturesque Otter Creek winds through this quiet, rustic campground. Night skies are spectacular here, and there are several nearby trails to hike including the Otter Creek Trail, which is accessible from the campground. Just imagine enjoying the crackle of an evening campfire with the murmur of the creek in the background! Relax.... Keep reading
Recreation
The James River/Otter Creek recreation area has fishing in Otter Lake and a number of hiking trails including Trail of Trees, Otter Creek, Otter Lake Loop, and James River Canal. Hike the Otter Creek Trail to James River Visitor Center . There visitors can view a restored canal lock from the Kanawha Canal, part of the historic James River transporation artery which was once the primary commercial route in the state of Virginia.
Facilities
Both RV and tent sites are available at this well-kept campground. Sites are equipped with grills, picnic tables and lantern posts. Amenities such as flush toilets, drinking water and a dump station are also at hand. All sites are available for advance reservation, and may be booked on the day of arrival.
Natural Features
This area's abundant water and warmer temperatures support plant and animal communities that are unlike those found at other areas on the Parkway. A short walk along the Trail of Trees or a hike along the clear, cool waters of Otter Creek will give ample proof that there is more to the Blue Ridge Parkway than mountain-top vistas.
Nearby Attractions
Otter Creek Trail (3.5 miles/5.6 km) parallels the Parkway road as it meanders from Otter Creek campground to the James River Visitor Center. Most sections of this trail are easy to hike and can be reached from many points along the motor road. Otter Lake Loop Trail (0.9 miles/1.4 km) provides scenic views of Otter Lake. This is also a good trail for watching wildlife. Look for beaver lodges and dams along tributary streams. Early morning and late evening are prime times for wildlife observations. Trail of Trees (0.4 miles/.6 km) begins near the James River Visitor Center and wanders through a shaded stream drainage. Trail signs identify many of the trees and shrubs of the river valley. This trail also affords a handsome view of the James River water gap, a rare geological feature. Canal Lock Trail (0.4 miles/.6 km) begins at the visitor center and crosses the James River on a walkway beneath the bridge. The restored Battery Creek Lock, located a short distance from the bridge, is typical of those constructed in the 1800s as part of the James River and Kanawha Canal. This canal, with nearly 100 locks, helped make the river a major transportation corridor before the Civil War. Exhibits at the Battery Creek site explain how locks were used to raise and lower boats to adjust for the changing elevation of the river.
What the agency tells you
Firewood Regulation: Only heat-treated firewood bundled in its original packing and bearing a certification seal from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) or a state department of agriculture may be brought onto the Parkway. Campers may still collect dead and down wood in the immediate vicinity of campgrounds and picnic areas. This rule is strictly enforced!
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.
Campsites at this facility are available on a Reservation Only basis through www.recreation.gov, up to and including the day of arrival. If Reservable sites are still not formally reserved upon arrival, they may be reserved at that time on www.recreation.gov or for a one night stay through the on duty attendant.
Everything else this campground posts · 7
There are no showers. No electric, water, or sewer hook-ups are available.
All tents must be placed on prepared pads where provided.
Only one tent is allowed per site unless there is adequate space on the provided tent pad. Sites are for use by parties not to exceed six people unless specifically designated as Group Camping.
Hammock camping is permitted, but campers must abide by posted regulations.
Vehicles are to be parked on the pavement of an assigned site or in designated parking areas. A maximum of two vehicles may be parked in each site (i.e. trailer and car, two cars, two motorcycles). Most sites are limited to only one vehicle.
Generator use is prohibited from 9:00 pm to 8:00 am.
CAUTION: Bears frequent the area. Be aware. Keep a clean camp and store all food or scented items in your car or provided food lockers. DO NOT HANG TRASH FROM THE LANTERN POST.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 69 · 45 tent-only
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 66 ft
- Paved pads
- All
- Accessible sites
- 4
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Flush Toilets - seasonal
- Drinking water
- Yes
- Dump station
- Yes
- recreation.gov lists “Dump Station”
- Camp host
- On site
- recreation.gov lists “Host”
- Stay limit
- 30 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, River, Creek
- Birding
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Historic site
- Visitor center
- Wildlife viewing
- Tree cover
- 82%
- Night sky · 43rd darkest of 88 in VA
- Bortle 4
- Fall color · reported 9 days ago, 26 km away
- No change
27 of 128 site-nights open this Friday and Saturdayread 16:54 UTC
recreation.gov lists 68 of the 69 campsites the agency files here. The rest aren’t on its booking system, so a reservation won’t get you one.
OpenBooked
These counts cover the 69 reservable sites only. This campground also has first-come sites, and recreation.gov publishes no availability for a site you can’t reserve.
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
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 16:54 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
69 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 68 mapped sitesAll 69 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. 68 of the 69 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| A | 046 | type not stated | 35 ft | 217 ft | |||
| A | 047 | rv nonelectric | 18 ft | 35 ft | 186 ft | $30 | |
| A | 048 | rv nonelectric | 45 ft | yes | 45 ft | 244 ft | $30 |
| A | 049 | rv nonelectric | 16 ft | 35 ft | 191 ft | $30 | |
| A | 050 | rv nonelectric | 28 ft | yes | 45 ft | 251 ft | $30 |
| A | 051 | rv nonelectric | 23 ft | 30 ft | 187 ft | $30 | |
| A | 052 | rv nonelectric | 23 ft | 30 ft | 180 ft | $30 | |
| A | 053 | rv nonelectric | 28 ft | 61 ft | 206 ft | $30 | |
| A | 054 | rv nonelectric | 66 ft | 56 ft | 113 ft | $30 | |
| A | 055 | rv nonelectric | 20 ft | 23 ft | 150 ft | $30 | |
| A | 056 | rv nonelectric | 30 ft | 23 ft | 140 ft | $30 | |
| A | 057 | rv nonelectric | 31 ft | 50 ft | 96 ft | $30 | |
| A | 058 | rv nonelectric | 20 ft | 29 ft | 135 ft | $30 | |
| A | 059 | rv nonelectric | 26 ft | 46 ft | 89 ft | $30 | |
| A | 060 | rv nonelectric | 26 ft | 37 ft | 140 ft | $30 | |
| A | 061 | rv nonelectric | 26 ft | 20 ft | 137 ft | $30 | |
| A | 062 | rv nonelectric | 16 ft | 40 ft | 89 ft | $30 | |
| A | 063 | rv nonelectric | 35 ft | 29 ft | 89 ft | $30 | |
| A | 064 | rv nonelectric | 54 ft | 29 ft | 92 ft | $30 | |
| A | 065 | rv nonelectric | 26 ft | 20 ft | 138 ft | $30 | |
| A | 066 | rv nonelectric | 30 ft | 36 ft | 145 ft | $30 | |
| A | 067 | rv nonelectric | 34 ft | 27 ft | 107 ft | $30 | |
| A | 068 | rv nonelectric | 16 ft | 25 ft | 108 ft | $30 | |
| A | 069 | rv nonelectric | 23 ft | 25 ft | 115 ft | $30 | |
| B | 001 | tent only nonelectric | 39 ft | 55 ft | $30 | ||
| B | 002 | tent only nonelectric | 49 ft | 129 ft | $30 | ||
| B | 003 | tent only nonelectric | 39 ft | 68 ft | $30 | ||
| B | 004 | tent only nonelectric | 62 ft | 150 ft | $30 | ||
| B | 005 | tent only nonelectric | 54 ft | 90 ft | $30 | ||
| B | 006 | tent only nonelectric | 81 ft | 184 ft | $30 | ||
| B | 007 | tent only nonelectric | 55 ft | 103 ft | $30 | ||
| B | 008 | tent only nonelectric | 68 ft | 110 ft | $30 | ||
| B | 009 | tent only nonelectric | 68 ft | 90 ft | $30 | ||
| B | 010 | tent only nonelectric | 20 ft | 160 ft | $30 | ||
| B | 011 | tent only nonelectric | 20 ft | 162 ft | $30 | ||
| B | 012 | tent only nonelectric | 95 ft | 68 ft | $30 | ||
| B | 013 | tent only nonelectric | 52 ft | 52 ft | $30 | ||
| B | 014 | tent only nonelectric | 52 ft | 47 ft | $30 | ||
| B | 015 | tent only nonelectric | 23 ft | 150 ft | $30 | ||
| B | 016 | tent only nonelectric | 23 ft | 152 ft | $30 | ||
| B | 017 | tent only nonelectric | 117 ft | 136 ft | $30 | ||
| B | 018 | tent only nonelectric | 125 ft | 273 ft | $30 | ||
| B | 019 | tent only nonelectric | 94 ft | 245 ft | $30 | ||
| B | 020 | tent only nonelectric | 109 ft | 408 ft | $30 | ||
| B | 021 | tent only nonelectric | 28 ft | 363 ft | $30 | ||
| B | 022 | tent only nonelectric | 28 ft | 370 ft | $30 | ||
| B | 023 | tent only nonelectric | 24 ft | 469 ft | $30 | ||
| B | 024 | tent only nonelectric | 24 ft | 484 ft | $30 | ||
| B | 025 | tent only nonelectric | 26 ft | 419 ft | $30 | ||
| B | 026 | tent only nonelectric | 26 ft | 421 ft | $30 | ||
| B | 027 | tent only nonelectric | 47 ft | 515 ft | $30 | ||
| B | 028 | tent only nonelectric | 47 ft | 511 ft | $30 | ||
| B | 029 | tent only nonelectric | 26 ft | 426 ft | $30 | ||
| B | 030 | tent only nonelectric | 26 ft | 419 ft | $30 | ||
| B | 031 | tent only nonelectric | 65 ft | 527 ft | $30 | ||
| B | 032 | tent only nonelectric | 103 ft | 445 ft | $30 | ||
| B | 033 | tent only nonelectric | 24 ft | 277 ft | $30 | ||
| B | 034 | tent only nonelectric | 24 ft | 271 ft | $30 | ||
| B | 035 | tent only nonelectric | 93 ft | 339 ft | $30 | ||
| B | 036 | tent only nonelectric | 50 ft | 221 ft | $30 | ||
| B | 037 | tent only nonelectric | 68 ft | 254 ft | $30 | ||
| B | 038 | tent only nonelectric | 51 ft | 189 ft | $30 | ||
| B | 039 | tent only nonelectric | 49 ft | 139 ft | $30 | ||
| B | 040 | tent only nonelectric | 51 ft | 138 ft | $30 | ||
| B | 041 | tent only nonelectric | 74 ft | 197 ft | $30 | ||
| B | 042 | tent only nonelectric | yes | 75 ft | 269 ft | $30 | |
| B | 043 | tent only nonelectric | 57 ft | 368 ft | $30 | ||
| B | 044 | tent only nonelectric | yes | 78 ft | 299 ft | $30 | |
| B | 045 | tent only nonelectric | 53 ft | 379 ft | $30 |
25 of 69 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Hopper Creek Group CampJefferson National Forest · 9.4 mi
Cave Mountain Lake Family CampJefferson National Forest · 11 mi
Cave Mountain Lake Group CampJefferson National Forest · 11 miNorth CreekJefferson National Forest · 14 mi
Peaks of Otter CampgroundBlue Ridge Parkway · 17 mi
Sherando Lake Recreation Area Family CampingGeorge Washington National Forest · 30 miTraveling from the Lynchburg area on Rte 29, turn onto Rte 130 West. Travel approximately 25 miles to the Blue Ridge Parkway entrance. From the ramp, turn right (north) onto the Parkway. Travel one mile to the Otter Creek Campground.
Traveling from the Lexington/Buena Vista direction on Rte 81, take the Blue Ridge Parkway exit to Rte 60 E towards Amherst. Drive approximately 16 miles, turning at the Blue Ridge Parkway entrance sign. At the Stop sign, turn left (south) onto the Parkway. Travel approximately 16 miles to the entrance of Otter Creek Campground.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Big Island, VA
Typical weather
Typical October night 44°F, day 69°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 25°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
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
Otter Creek Campground is in Virginia’s 5th congressional district. Its representative, John McGuire (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →