anyone been camping around Washington DC?

[Brumeiser]

Do you have a favorite Campground that you use when you go there? Thanks

 

[LarryJ]

Do you have a favorite Campground that you use when you go there? Thanks

For the tourist I'm not sure you can do much better than Cherry Hill in Md. for it convenience to public transportation and location.

For us we just drive the 10 mi to the Vienna Metro and take the metro in or walk two blocks to the bus stop and take that to metro and into the city.

Larry

 

[disney4dan]

We plan on taking the kids down for April Vacation week, and read some of the threads on RV.net.

Based on what I read there, we think we'll try Greenbelt National Park in order to save some money and drive time. This park is close to Cherry Hill which gets great ratings, but is a little out of our price range as we plan on doing a lot more camping this summer.

Greenbelt has no hook-ups, but does have a dumping station.

[URL="http://www.nps.gov/gree/index.htm"[/URL]

Normally I have no problem posting links, but it doesn't seem to be working correctly this morning. Anyway, Cherry Hill and Greenbelt are on the northern side of the city. There are more to the west and south.

Good luck!

 

[DaveInTN]

We spent a week at Cherry Hill Park in May. It was a good base camp for exploring the area, and was a short drive to the Greenbelt Metro Station which has a huge park and ride lot. Metro buses come right into Cherry Hill if you prefer not to drive at all.

Cherry Hill was ok IMO. You certainly would never mistake it for the Fort. It had pools, a recreation hall, mini golf and a store. The sites were adequate for our purposes as a base camp, but I wasn't inclined to spend much time sitting outside. There was a fair amount of road noise from the DC beltway, as the park actually sits adjacent to where the beltway and I-95N join up on the north side of DC. Request a site further from the highway and the noise isn't bad. Our site was comprised of hard packed gravel surrounded by scraggy grass. No landscaping to speak of.

I have some writeups on our experiences in DC in my travel blog linked below. Click on May and scroll down. It is a great place to go with kids. So much to do, and much of it is FREE.

 

[KristinU]

Yes! We stayed at Pohick Bay Regional Park in Lorton VA last May (www.nvrpa.org). We had a blast. I was about 10 mins from the Franconia Metro stop, so really convenient for going into DC. And the park was great with a small water park, bay access, and nice hiking trails. Oh and a disc golf course and an older mini gold gourse that we still enjoyed despite the age. It is right down the street from Mason Neck State Park (I think it is a SP - could be a National Wildlife Refuge...) which is a premier location for bald eagle spotting (we didn't see any but I did hear a barred owl) There were great bike/walking/running paths between and throughout. I have a post on it in our blog if you feel like looking: www.alineradventures.blogspot.com

Great family vacation - we're dying to go back!

 

[mnsprk]

DITTO to KristinU's comments. Loved that park.

 

[gillenkl]

DITTO to KristinU's comments. Loved that park.

did they change the camping at Pohick Bay - I just tried to check it our online and it said that camping is only for groups?

 

[ftwildernessrick]

Cherry Hill gets my vote for convenience to the Metro.

 

[mkrober]

We stayed at Cherry Hill a few years back. Its not really the "great outdoors", considering you're camping on the belt-line. However, it's not a bad base camp for going into the city. You can catch a bus to the local metro station right at the entrance to the campground. There are activities to do (pool, outdoor movies. putt-putt, fire rings) when you're not in the city. The highway is convenient for day trips to Annapolis and Baltimore. I don't recall the highway noise being an issue from our site. I'd stay there again if we were to camp at the Capital.

We camped through the Shenandoah Nat'l Park on the same trip. I would recommend this as well. The northern terminus of the Skyline Drive is Front Royal which is about an hour and a half from D.C.

 

[Born 2 Fish]

I'd be too afraid to camp at Washington DC for fear that I might wake up just to find Obama, Pelosi, and Reed taking all our stuff to give to somebody else

 

[DaveInTN]

I'd be too afraid to camp at Washington DC for fear that I might wake up just to find Obama, Pelosi, and Reed taking all our stuff to give to somebody else

 

[RvUsa]

I'd be too afraid to camp at Washington DC for fear that I might wake up just to find Obama, Pelosi, and Reed taking all our stuff to give to somebody else

 

[john59]

I LUV DC----We are going this Friday for a couple days----Never RV'd there.

It looks like Cherry Hill or KOA.

john

 

[MandMLUVMMandDVC]

Stayed at Fredericksburg MD KOA a few months ago & it was really nice! I'd definitely stay there again. It didn't take too long to get to DC.

 

[KristinU]

did they change the camping at Pohick Bay - I just tried to check it our online and it said that camping is only for groups?

I just hopped on and I see 'Family Camping' as a selection. We can't wait to go back!

 

[Luv2Camp]

We camped at Cherry Hill a couple of years ago and loved it!

 

[disney4dan]

Just wanted to post photos so folks could see what the place is like. It was only $16 per night, but no hook-ups and a sign at the entrance warning you about ticks and chiggers on the loose. The park is very nice and scenic, with lots of walking and horse trails, has a trail that you can take from campground to the College Park Metro station. However, the trail is about a mile and we had a little girl in a wheelchair with a broken heel at the time so we drove every day. Also - you probably can't see it in this photo, but all the trees behind our site were covered in poison ivy.

Another shot showing the generator needed to get us through the week:

Waiting for the metro in College Park:

The bath houses were somewhat dated, and it was a little chilly in April when we were there. There were no amenities to speak of, but the location, price and size of the sites were a draw for us.