Smoke Hole Canyon - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Facility Details - BIG BEND (WV), WV - Recreation.gov
You will drive nine miles off of Rt 220 near Upper Tract WV through Smoke Hole Canyon to get to Big Band NFS Campground. Not too bad a pull just a very crooked narrow road that that follows the southern branch of the Potomac river. About three miles of the road are unpaved so expect a dirty trailer when you get there. You will be impressed by the views.
The campground host have been there 11 years, are great people and take pride in the campground. The CG is a NFS CG but it is run by a private company. They do honor the geezer Pass so the site is $10 per night with the pass. Fire wood is $7 per bundle or three bundles for $20. They do charge a dump fee of $7.
There are three loops, the bottom loop near the river is for Tent camping. The middle loop is a non-reserve loop. (4 campers there) The upper loop has reserved sites. (full).
The sites are mostly for tents and campers less than 20 ft. Each site had a fire ring, table and lantern pole no water or electric. The sites are paved where your car is parked and gravel over the rest of the site. The sites are fairly private.
The middle loop has a brand new bath facility. 4 private bath rooms with commode and sink. The other side of the building had four private showers. The building had
lights and hot water showers.
The campground is surrounded by the river and tall canyon walls. The leaf colors will be great this week and this weekend. The big thing to do when there is a full moon is to walk to the upper loop and watch the moon rise. Then walk to the middle loop and watch the moon rise again, then walk to the bottom loop and watch the moon rise for the third time. Plenty of trout to catch and very easy to access the river
A very nice drive from the DC area. It's about 90 miles from I-66 and I -81 junction. No major mountains and you get to travel on a major interstate grade road for about 20 miles in the middle of no where in WV.
Take in what you need because there is nothing within 20 miles of the CG. You can also make a nice day trip to Senaca rocks , Spruce Knob and there are also several caverns in the area.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spruce_Knob
We really enjoyed our trip.
Eddie