Loft Mountain Campground, Shenandoah NP, Crozet, Virginia

We continue to be amazed by our National Park system. Loft Mountain Campground is one of several campgrounds you can stay at within Shenandoah National Park. For our purposes, this southernmost campground best fit into our itinerary. Shenandoah is most known for its Skyline Drive across the ridge of this mountain range. The 101 mile road that runs the length of the park from North to south is a beautiful drive with abundant turn outs for viewing the expansive landscape. These rolling hills are lush and covered with vegetation and wildlife. Loft Mountain Campground is at about mile marker 80 on this drive, about 20 miles north of the southern entrance, Rockfish Gap. It is also about 15 miles south from the east/west entrance at Swift Run Gap. Either entrance is easily navigated. Once in the campground,
you will find an abundance of sites, over 100. Although this campground is large, it has a private, quiet feeling at each site. Set along the Appalachian Trail, you will often find hikers occupying tent sites to rest their feet. The campground is easily navigable by larger rigs (35 feet). The tree strewn campground has paved roads, and campsites are have paved pads, private, well mowed sites with picnic tables, fire rings, and lots of space! Wildlife here is abundant. We were well warned about a high amount of bear activity during our visit, and we did have a bear encounter while on the Appalachian Trail just steps from camp. Deer are also often seen within camp. The best thing about this campground is that every site is spacious, beautiful, peaceful, and a great place to spend a few days. Some sites are slightly unlevel, but thankfully recreation.gov has done a nice job noting this on their website. You will also find an abundance of group sites, overflow parking, a lovely camp store, showers, an amphitheater, and hiking trails. There is no NP Visitor's Center at this campground; you will need to travel North to Byrd Visitor Center at milepost 51.

Location
Best Sites: All
Poor Sites: None
Hookups: None
Potable Water: Yes
Dump Within Facility: Yes