Harpers Ferry, WV

I have gotten bored with this blog, so I am renovating. An idea struck me a little while ago, I love camping and hiking, I also am quite fond of complaining, why not review campgrounds? So I will. Here is my most recent venture:

KOA, Harpers Ferry, West VA
Been here once. KOA sadly stands for Kampgrounds Of America. I’ve been to two KOAs in my life, and each was outfitted with an arcade, a pool, and a moderately large grocery store/accessory salon/gift shop called a “campstore” that has anything camping or non-camping related that you ever could fool yourself into thinking that you needed. Yes, here in America we can even make CAMPING excessive: Feel like getting away from it all without really getting away from it all? KOA is perfect for you! Complete with movie theatre and free WiFi (no joke). In fact, the actual tent-sites at this KOA seemed like they were added in as more of an afterthought, as if after building the cabins, pool, arcade, indoor basketball court, oversized chess board, and inflated bouncy balloon they suddenly thought, “Oh wait, what if people want to actually camp here?” You can’t choose your site when making reservations like most campgrounds, not that it would have mattered much because most of the tent-sites were basically a hill with a tiny, flat, gravel area where you were forced to set up your tent. The Harpers Ferry area itself is fantastic. West VA, VA, and MD converge at the intersection of the Potomac and Shenandoah river. There is tubing, canoeing, kayaking, and white water rafting along the rivers and both the C&O Canal biking path and Appalachian Trail meander through the region. There are some fantastic hiking trails with great views and a lot of historical sites to visit. So my advice? Check out the other campsites (which do NOT appear on a googlemaps, fyi) in the area. They will most likely be less expensive and more camp-like.

So for a quick sum-up...
Major pros: If you hate camping, you’ll love it here.
Major cons: If you love camping, you’ll regret not choosing a different campground.Tip: Don't use google maps to find good campgrounds

Score: ∆ (1 tent)