“Serene, yet rugged 4,127 acres”
Babcock State Park offers its guests 4,127 acres of serene, yet rugged beauty, a fast flowing trout stream in a boulder-strewn canyon and mountainous vistas to be viewed from several scenic overlooks. All of this variety is located adjacent to the New River Gorge National 'River and the heart of the whitewater rafting industry of West Virginia.
The Glade Creek Grist Mill is a new mill that was completed in 1976 at Babcock. Fully operable, this mill was built as a re-creation of one which once ground grain on Glade Creek long before Babcock became a state park. Known as Cooper's Mill, it stood on the present location of the park's administration building parking lot.Of special interest, the mill was created by combining parts and pieces from three mills which once dotted the state. The basic structure of the mill came from the Stoney Creek Grist Mill which dates back to 1890.
It was dismantled and moved piece by piece to Babcock from a spot near Campbelltown in Pocahontas County. After an accidental fire destroyed the Spring Run Grist Mill near Petersburg, Grant County, only the overshot water wheel could be salvaged. Other parts for the mill came from the Onego Grist Mill near Seneca Rocks in Pendleton County.A living monument to the over 500 mills which thrived in West Virginia at the turn of the century, the Glade Creek Grist Mill provides freshly ground cornmeal which park guests may purchase depending on availability and stream conditions. Visitors to the mill may journey back to the time when grinding grain by a rushing stream was a way of life, and the groaning mill wheel was music to the miller's ear.
Basic Wi-Fi service is available at both the Campground and the parking area around the Administration Building.
Most cellphone carriers have decent coverage. AT&T has better than average signal in the campground and the majority of the park property.
Vacationers at Babcock may select from among 13 standard log cabins located by Glade Creek (trout stream) - (may require access by as many as 65 steps), five standard cabins of frame construction, eight Economy Cabins and two Vacation accessible cabins. Each standard cabin features a wood burning fireplace, fully equipped kitchen and bath with shower.
All cabins feature electric lighting, modern appliances, and are completely equipped for housekeeping including cooking utensils, dishes, flatware, bed linens, and towels.
Economy Cabins are 'tiny houses' with a combination of living/dining/bedroom with built-in double bunks or single size bunks, small bath with shower, and a screened in porch.
Deluxe accessible cabins are very modern and have heating/air conditioning as well as gas fireplace and HDTV. All of our cabin's open in Mid-April and close the last week of October, weather permitting.
Reviews of Babcock State Park Campground
18 people have reviewed this location
Ratings Summary
Cell Coverage
Verizon 4G/5G
Confirmed by 4 users | Last reported on May 18, 2023AT&T 4G/5G
Confirmed by 7 users | Last reported on September 23, 2023T-Mobile 5G
Confirmed by 2 users | Last reported on September 15, 2021This park was absolutely amazing. We are so happy we "accidentally" spent a week here. You see, we were planning on doing dispersed car camping at the local National Park campgrounds, but spent the first two nights at Babcock.
Then we decided to extend our stay to 5 nights. Then we cancelled our other reservations and stayed the whole week at Babcock. I could have stayed another week, there was so many amazing things to do within the park. The campground is very clean, sufficiently private, quite, and pristine. The bathroom facilities are kept very clean, as well.
The park has many beautiful hiking trails to keep you occupied. We explored a few trails, but rainy weather and a somewhat unenthusiastic husband kept me from exploring them all! There were plenty of scenic drives throughout the park, as well.
Be sure to check out the swing bridge, the grist mill, and the skyline trail (which you can drive along for scenic stops). We also hiked the Mann's Creek Trail, which was moderately difficult with some hill climbs. The trail offers a cliff view as well as access to the creek and small falls. Very beautiful. We also hiked a small section of the Island in the Sky trail, which looks REALLY COOL to hike in full, but the rain made for some slippery rock surfaces, so we didn't stray far from the trail head.
What a great place to camp. Stayed in the middle of the week and could stream the news. The facilities are older but clean and the personnel were very kind and helpful. Loved the trails and enjoyed the views. Liked our site in the corner under the trees. The road to get to the park is a bit curvy so maybe not huge rigs but we were a pickup camper so not hard.
Nightly Rate: $30.00
Days Stayed: 2
Site Number: 24
Cell Coverage Rating
AT&T 4G
Beautiful campground, our site was nice and private with trees. Bathrooms were fair. Almost empty after the weekend. The roads to the park were steep and windy. We enjoyed Beckley Coal Mine and the New River Gorge Bridge...even walked the catwalk under the bridge.
Nightly Rate: -
Days Stayed: 3
Site Number: 30
Babcock State Park is clean, but many sites are small, and the wash/shower rooms are dated but relatively clean. The RV hookup sites are larger, but we relied on our solar so stayed in the non-electric area, which is basically designed for tents, but smaller rigs can fit in some of the sites. We just got our 23 foot camper into sight 19. We stayed 2 nights during the middle of the week and it was quiet. I got the feeling that weekends are much busier.
Nightly Rate: $25.00
Days Stayed: 2
Site Number: 19
Cell Coverage Rating
Verizon
I was really excited to stay here because the pictures are beautiful...but the campground is several miles down the road from the main entrance to the state park. Most of the sites are level and the electric boxes are in bad shape. The website specifically says they have wifi throughout the campground (which I never trust), but it also states they have cell phone service. I even called to confirm there was cell coverage as I work out of the trailer. Perhaps if you stand on the hill, on top of the picnic table you will get a signal...but we have AT&T, Verizon and TMobile devices and NONE of them worked. You could get a call/text out, but not connect devices to hotspots. I was also not able to get any signal from the campground wifi. And there was a road that split the campground with very fast cars that were loud from out site. Our 4 day trip turned into 1 night because I had meetings I needed to be on. Beautiful area...but not impressed with campground portion.
Nightly Rate: $20.00
Days Stayed: 1
Site Number: 51
Cell Coverage Rating
T-Mobile
Unlike the last reviewer, we had terrific AT&T access for data and consistent but not strong cell service for the phone. I even got a 5G signal in several places within the park! Neither Verizon nor T-Mobile worked at all. Only downside was the site location in the middle of a field. I knew that when I made the reservation but it was all I could get. Lots of great trails to hike and bike in this park with a huge variety of mushrooms and lichens to discover. Our purpose in coming here was access to the New River Gorge National Park and we explored it for two days but today we checked out the trails in Babcock and will do so again tomorrow. Very rewarding. The featured grist mill is photogenic and charming.
We did get one ABC affiliate broadcast TV station from Beckley and the wi-fi was very good at our campsite, so we were able to watch all our channels on YouTube TV and Netflix. We aren't into campfires. The sites in this section are pretty well spaced out which was appreciated. There is NO WATER at the campsites so you need to fill your tank before setting up. The electric post looks a little dodgy but works fine. We did not use the restroom facility as we prefer our own camper facility. No noise to report except from the maintenance folks.
Nightly Rate: $30.00
Days Stayed: 5
Site Number: 31
Cell Coverage Rating
Verizon
AT&T 4G
T-Mobile
This campsite is a little strange due to its location. It’s on the opposite side of the state park.
Most of the sites don’t have power but a few do. Site 42 was mostly shaded and probably the most private even though it does have a buddy site with 41, the actual 42 site faces the woods.
The dump station was well maintained and the trash area was very clean. There is also a fresh water spigot in the tent area listed for rv fills.
The bath house was very clean, but it’s almost a 10 minute walk from the rv sites.
Again, just strange locations. Overall it was a nice spot to be close to the grist mill and to the new river gorge NP.
We were able to a couple bars of service with our weboost.
Nightly Rate: $35.00
Days Stayed: 2
Site Number: 42
Cell Coverage Rating
Verizon 4G
AT&T 4G
Babcock is the crown jewel of WV State Parks. Great hiking and scenery. The campground is in a completely separate area of the park, however, and to get to the other features of the park you need to drive or take a longish hike.
The campground is well-situated and tent sites and non-electric sites are spaced nicely. RV sites seem a little cramped. We pulled our van into a fairly level tent site and had plenty of elbow room and privacy.
A dishwashing station was a nice perk, but the bathhouse is showing its age and could use some updating. Clean though.
Nightly Rate: $42.00
Days Stayed: 1
Site Number: 9
Cell Coverage Rating
AT&T 4G
Although the area around the bathhouse is the most scenic, with nice tall trees, the best area for larger RVs is the loop with sites 41-51. There is no foliage between sites, but there is good separation between sites and with only 11 sites on the loop it was quiet. Sites in this loop all have electric service and on average are much more level than the electric sites in the other part of the campground. Sites are gravel pads with grass, so can get a bit muddy when it rains. It's about a 5 minute walk to the bathhouse, but we were happy with our choice to stay here. The electric post was unreliable when we arrived, cutting out randomly, but park staff fixed the problem the same day we notified them. The showers are nicely modern and were kept clean during our visit.
We found the park wifi to have good coverage (full strength at our site and most locations we walked to) and it was plenty strong for streaming (20 mpbs down) during the morning and daytime. It got a bit clogged in the evenings when presumably everyone was trying to stream at the same time. We also had decent service on AT&T (also 20 mbps down).
It is a drive of a few miles to the main part of the park where the mill and most trailheads are located, but we enjoyed having amenities like trails within relatively short reach. The Skyline/Rocky/Narrow Gauge loop is great, but beware the extremely steep grade on the Rocky Trail. Roads in WV can be a challenge for RVs and the best access to this park from I77/I64 is via US 19 to US 60 to WV 41.
Nightly Rate: $38.00
Days Stayed: 5
Site Number: 50
Cell Coverage Rating
AT&T 5G
The road to the campground is only one lane with a very small space to pull off allowing an oncoming car to go by. This goes on for about 5 miles and from experience the oncoming vehicles think they have the right of way.
The campground is very beautiful and very spacious so you have plenty of space. Also our 30 amp electrical box wasn’t working.
Nightly Rate: -
Days Stayed: 6
Site Number: 47
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Babcock State Park Campground
Hours
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Parking
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Pets Allowed
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Restrooms
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Wifi
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Wheelchair Accessible
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Credit Cards Accepted
- Affiliation
- State park or forest
- Back In RV Sites Count
- 20
- Last Nightly Rate
- 30.0
- Longest Vehicle Length Reported
- 28.0
- Lowest Nightly Rate
- 20.0
- Max Stay
- 14
- Season End
- fall
- Season Start
- spring
- Sites Count
- 52
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Swimming Pool
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Paved Sites
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Fifty Amp
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Full Hookup
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Rec Facilities
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Pull Through
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Tent Sites
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Dump Station
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Big Rigs
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Open Seasonally
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Age Restricted
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Back In RV Sites
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Boondock
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Cabin Sites
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Dispersed Sites
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Firewood
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Fulltime Residents
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Group Tent Sites
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Laundry
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Mobile Homes
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Permit Required
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Potable Water
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Propane
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Public Water
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Pull Through RV Sites
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Reservations
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Sewer Hookup
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Showers
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Sites
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Slide Outs
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Standard Tent Sites
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Vehicle Wash Permitted
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Water Hookup
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Outdoor Seating
Campground, Parking, Dining, Restrooms