Simple and sweet describes this tidy little campground on the banks of the Shenandoah River. There are no playground or entertainment facilities at the park, but all the attractions of the Blue Ridge Mountains are nearby. Fishing the river can produce a great dinner without leaving your campsite!

The park is located on the North end of Front Royal with easy access to I-66 and I-81. Don’t stop at the office, just pick an empty site and get comortable; some one will be around to make sure you’re comfortable, give you lots of local information, and of course, take some money.

Make it a rest stop or home base for touring the area, either way you’ll be pleased with the peaceful, quiet nature of the campground.

OK, while walking around with the dogs, a guy from Texas, in a nice Class A (maybe a Monaco) with a reasonably sized tow vehicle gave me a couple of complaints about this KOA campground: The road in (off 11) is a little winding and tight for big rigs (there was little to no traffic when we came in and we think Class As can get in pretty easily, but watch your speed and corners), the sites are not level (he was pretty high in the rear and low in the front to get level), and the place charges a premium for big rigs yet does not provide big rig needs (level and road in, he meant).

OK, so those are the problems. It is a LONG 3 miles in; it’s more like 4 to the A-frame/main office, but it’s a huge campground and that counts for something, and some of the back-ins (which we were offered first but declined) are definitely not contractor-level. (Since the plastic levelors are way in the back of our spare-tire trunk and are a pain to get out, we avoid sites that require them, and look for pull-throughs all the time). That’s it for “issues”:

THIS IS A GREAT CAMPGROUND! There’s a solid mile (there’s another half-mile in trails) of wide open riverfront/water-accessible (for rafting and fishing) river here. The sites are wide, the cable is good, plus the WiFi is normally strong. There’s a really nice pool, with separate wading pool, plus very clean bathhouses and banks of empty trashcans throughout.

They have food and the regular stuff in the store, plus a little cafe. There’s a three-tiered waterfall at the end of the campground riverfront, and there was a copperhead there by the water when we went walking. If your dogs are crazy like ours are, they will get all uncontrollable when they see all the fat, semi-wild “escapee,” (i.e., formerly domesticated) rabbits running around. 40 bucks gets you a good pull-through with 30 amp. It’s a nice place to stay for a night or a week or more.

While we were here, a roofer (his signage on his business deduction pick-up told us this) with a basic-housing-siding-clad trailer was using a LOUD remote-controlled four-wheel drive (who would have guessed) Remote-controlled toy vehicle for his and his son’s pleasure, and, thankfully, management came right over and got him to act like a camper again in no time. Nice touch.

Wytheville KOA is your regular old KOA… clean, predictable clientele, and a friendly staff. Some poison ivy, so watch when you’re walking dogs or if the kids get into the underbrush.

The pull-throughs are a bit short (and not exactly contractor-level) but can easily accomodate 30 and above feet. Also, there are two clean, fenced-in pens: a small dog one and a large dog one, both of which are extremely large and make a nice touch for a couple of “no kids yuppies” like us. (Parents, these might be of some use for kids with attitudes after long drives.) For a workout, follow the marked hiking trail, which is wide, lengthy, well-marked, full of fauna, and hilly.

There’s a couple of gas stations at the exit, but they can be tricky for big rigs. Gas up before or after at another exit.