Exhibition Coalmine/Stephens Lake Campgrounds

where did you park for the night in bleckly wv?

[JRTJH]

Going to NC we stayed out at Stephens Lake. That's about 8 miles West of I 64. Nice campground, but a ways off the beaten track. On the way back through yesterday, we stayed at Exhibition Coalmine Campground. It's about 2 miles East of I 64, much more convenient for a quick overnight, and only $22 for full hookups on a paved pad. The sites are small, but pretty easy to back into. I'd recommend Exhibition Coalmine over Stephens Lake only because of proximity to the Interstate. If we were staying for more than a few days, then I'd probably want to be on the lake.

was the campground on fairly flat land or did you have to drive up a mountain or at least a hilly steep grade to get to it????

[hankaye]

larrygranny1, Howdy;

Originally Posted by larrygranny1

was the campground on fairly flat land or did you have to drive up a mountain or at least a hilly steep grade to get to it????

You're askin' about ... flat spots in ... wait a minute ..... West Virginia ?????

Teays' Valley, where the Kanawa River flows (North), to the Ohio River. is one of the few flat areas in that State that I'm aware of.

hankaye

(jokin with ya ...)

[JRTJH]

Joking???? Hmmmmm I didn't find a "flat spot" in the whole state. As for the campground, there's a couple of "hilly streets" to negotiate, then a right turn and uphill into the office to register and get the key to the chain at your campsite, then back down that hill, left turn, another left turn up another hill, steep left turn at the campground entrance, then the same leaving the next morning. But it's really not that bad, there were 2 Airstream Excella 31 footers, a 34' Montana, a 40' Prevost, and several "mid size" trailers and fifth wheels. They all made it up the hills and back down so I'm sure you can also..... After all, if you can get to Beckley, you've already proven you can pull uphill and back down <wink>

Thanks for the come back on the hills. Your description matches the one on RV Park Reviews. Will be in that area in mid September and was looking for a place to put it down overnight.

[JRTJH]

I would highly recommend the Coalmine Campground. I didn't have any problelms at all negotiating the roads (really streets) into the office area. The museum there is really interesting and they sell some pretty good fudge. The campground is in another area, behind the museum and it's accessed by going back down one of those streets about a block, then turning left and uphill into the campground. There are some tight turns, but truly not that bad. And, for the price of $22 for full hookups, it's a great place to flush tanks, refill water, clean up and get ready for the next leg. The entire setup is owned by the city, so it's kept up better than most private campgrounds, IMHO.

For an overnight, I would NOT recommend Stephens Lake Campground. It's near the lake and there were lots and LOTS of kids on bikes, skates, etc, and the accompanying noise (not that bad, but at 7AM???? Come on now... LOL
And Stephens Lake is about 8 or so miles down a narrow curving blacktop road with too many 20MPH curves to even begin to count. It took us about 45 minutes in and about 40 minutes back to the interstate the next morning. That makes the Coalmine Campground a hands down choice for us.

Our son lives in NC and we plan to stay there next trip to see him, so if that's any indication of an "endorsement" then you know where we'll be staying.

September should be pretty nice there.

thanks JR. We'll take your advice and stay there.

[JRTJH]

You're very welcome. Keep us posted on your stay and whether you find it as convenient as we did. Happy and safe travels. We got back home today, dirty clothes washing, trailer to be cleaned tomorrow, oil change on the truck and then reload on Thursday for another week, this time about 50 miles south of home with DW's family on the annual weeklong camping extravangza LOL