Seneca Shadows Campground

This is a well-run National Forest campground in a beautiful section of West Virginia. The campground hosts are friendly, the sites are well laid out, and we really enjoyed our stay. There are nice walking trails that connect sections of the campground and that lead to the local general store and Seneca Rocks Discovery Center. There is absolutely no cell service in this area, but you can find WiFi at the general store and at the Discovery Center. Electric and primitive RV campsites are available, and you can fill your water tank from spigots near the restrooms. There is a $7.00 fee to use the campground’s dump station.

We had heard that this campground fills on weekends, but it was very quiet during our mid-week stay just after Labor Day. We arrived in the middle of a heat wave, and picked a shady site with electric hookup in the “C” loop. Our loop was only about 1/4 full, and very quiet. The A and B loops offer primitive camping and were even less full. If you rely on solar, be aware that most of the sites in these loops are quite shady.

The area offers great scenery, some nice local hiking trails, and nearby Seneca Caverns. It’s also a climbing mecca, and just down the road is NRocks, where you can find Via Ferrata, climbing, and zip-lining adventures.

We stayed in this extended campground twice on our trip: once on our "outbound" leg, for two nights, and one night as we passed back through on our "return" leg.

The campground is physically large but doesn't have a huge number of sites. That's because the sites are large, and well-wooded, which is a good thing. The A and B loops are standard tent loops with no hookups, nice tent pads and decent bathrooms. The bathrooms had only one sink (not so great when there is only one bathroom per loop: two people show up to wash their faces or brush their teeth and its... awkward. But there was hot water and single shower stalls. The showers are the type where you push the button to get a short period of water and the women's on loop B must have been broken because every push gave you all of 3-5 seconds of water (my husband said the men's was more like other showers of this type). Still, any shower while camping that's included in the price of admission is welcome.

The A and B loops are heavily wooded and on a slight hill, so while you can see into your neighbor's site below you, we hardly noticed the one above us, except for the barking dog. We were here mid-October during the week and it was peaceful and quiet, but it looked like all sites were reserved for the following weekend. I didn't go into the C loop (RV hookups), but it looked similar.

On our way back through at the end of our trip, we dove in here late on a Friday, somewhat stuck because there are so few campgrounds in this part of West Virginia... we were extremely lucky to get one of the pads in the tent area for one night (we got the last one, and it was only available for a single night). The tent area was... very different. It's a large grassy area with the pads very close to each other (maybe 30 feet?), with nothing in between - absolutely nothing. Now, many of the sites were being used by groups of young folks for whom that closeness probably felt like a big slumber party, but for us (used to camping in NPS campgrounds) it was a little uncomfortable. We had a hard time having a fireside conversation after dinner because it was impossible to not basically just follow along the somewhat loud conversation of the two motorcycle dudes right next to us. I know that makes me sound like a fuddy-duddy, but it just isn't the experience I was used to when camping. Also, one of the tent groups further down was flying a drone around, too, checking out everyone, which was very distracting. The tent area was very open and exposed and I would think would be danged hot in the summer - but I'm sure this is mecca for the rock climbers who come to Seneca Rocks, which was beautiful and in plain sight of the tent area. That's really what this area felt like, a climber's camp.

We had a helluva time finding the path to the village, but we did (it's on the right, toward the Rocks) and it passes a rather cool old graveyard that's worth a look.

The hosts were friendly but a bit harried. Firewood available for a fee. There were no envelopes to add the extra night we wanted to, so I just wrote a check and clipped it to the post. That worked.

So, all that said, I would indeed return to this campground, but I'd probably work pretty hard to make sure I got a reserved site in the A or B loops (as a tent) or the C loop if I was an RV that needed hookups. There is NO cell coverage.

Nice campground with electric hookups. There is almost nothing to do in the area. We found a Cavern Tour about 10 miles away but that was it. Decent shower houses.

Stayed 2 nights to do some hiking and was very pleased with Seneca Shadows Campground, stayed in C33 with our Airstream Sport. Its worth the drive to Thomas WV to hit the Purple Fiddle!

We had a large double unit site with electric and there was plenty of room. This is a great spot but needed some minor up keep. You didn't have a view of Seneca Rocks from the electric rv sites but some great views can be had by the group camping area.

This campground is right at the base of Seneca Rocks and only about 20 minutes from Spruce Knob. The sites are decently spaced out and wooded. The C loop has electric hookups. All other sites are basic.

We stayed in site C38, which is a double pull through site. The fire ring and tent pad area was a little bit behind the camper area, but the site was easy to access and worked well. 30 and 50 amp service.

The bathroom closest to the site was just a vault toilet, but the bathroom at the top of the loop had water and showers. There are water spigots at the bathroom with potable water. The dump station is in a parking lot near the camp host and is $7 extra, even for registered campers.

If you stay in the tent area, you get a fantastic view of Seneca Rock! It is pretty amazing in the evening when the sun is hitting the rock face.

Be aware, there is ZERO cell service out there. None, zip, nada, zilch. Download any maps and info you might need before hand as the closest cell signal was 30+ minutes away. There is WiFi at the country store at the intersection, but it is not fast and everyone in the area hiking is trying to get on it. There are 2 country stores near the campground with a few necessities, but if you need a grocery store it is 25 minutes away in either direction.

This site was peaceful and clean. The field camping spots have a beautiful view of the Rocks.

Not Crowded at all. Great location at the foot of Seneca Rocks. Smoke Hole Caverns and Spruce Knob are easy drives. Campground is very clean, sites are spacious. Loop C has electric hookups. There is a dump station near the camp host check in spot. We have Verizon and we had no service.

A very quiet campground in a great location. We were in an electric only site in Loop C. Water is filled at the faucet by the bath house and easy enough to do with a long hose. The bathrooms were fairly clean, but we were forgiving knowing the camp hosts were in short supply and working very hard. We did get a little warm water in the shower. The dump station was disgusting though, even though they charge $7 for it (on the honor system even for campers). It wouldn’t take much to hose that down (but the campers also shouldn’t be so careless and gross). There is zero cell or internet anywhere we could find and had to go a few miles away to the visitors center to check messages. The location of the campground was great for all kinds of hiking nearby. Overall we had a nice 5 days and would stay again.

This campground is part of the National Forest system but has contracted out the management of the campground. There were many "Reserved" signs posted that were days or weeks old. Our initial site was 31 and someone else's name was on the sign, but was outdated. I didn't understand when I made the reservation that "double" meant the site accomodated 2 RV's. We were able to move across the road to site 30 (C loop), which was an awesome single site, woods and privacy on one side, close to the bath house, electricity. There was no one to help adjust the price of the reservation so we had to drive down the road to the visitor center where I could get some internet to get on recreation.gov. There was a vault toilet nearby but it was closed due to an overabundance of insects, according to the camp host. The bath house has showers and flush toilets. The women's has 2 stalls, one of which was out of order. The shower was nothing to brag about (lacking in temperature and pressure), but was free and close to our site. If you plan to fill your RV water tank, bring an extra hose. The water supplies are a ways back from the road. The host offered to let us use one but we never saw the host again after our initial meeting. That said, the area and the campground is beautiful! Just don't expect too many accommodations.