Hungry Mother State Park — Attraction in Marion

We were putting together a last-minute July camping trip and we remembered Hungry Mother from our time in Marion during our hike of the Appalachian Trail. I did more research and it seemed like a really nice place to spend some time, so we went online to try to find a campsite. Weirdly, the entire Creekside campground was open for the time we wanted to come. I ended up calling the park and they told me it was my lucky day, that a family reunion had booked the whole campground and just cancelled, and I wanted Site 19! We booked it and were so glad we did. The hosts were so great, and the facilities were clean and worked well. Laundry onsite for like $1.50 for washer and same for dryer Creekside Campground is awesome, but it's not for big rigs. They have another campground called Burson that will handle those, though, and some of the sites there have sewer if that's important to you. But Creekside is super cool, shaded, right on the creek, and you can walk to the beach, the trails, etc. Dump station is at the Visitor's Center on your way out.

We would go hike in the morning, then sit and watch the three ducks that came every afternoon to the creek (and slip on the rocks, which was hilarious). There were deer in the morning in the meadow across the creek.

If you're tenting, Royal Oaks looked really great. No water or electric, so you'd have to plan for that, but there are bathrooms/showers.

We hiked Molly's Knob once during the day with our dog and then at sunset without her. We hiked the Lake Loop, but didn't get to the CCC and I think at least one more hike, so we left some on the table to come back! We rented kayaks one day and that was really fun and a way to cool off in the heat. Sunset at Molly's Knob was amazing (don't do it if you don't have headlamps and some experience night hiking). You're minutes from Marion, and we went downtown and hit all the spots from our AT hike. It's close to Mount Rogers and lots of other great hiking spots too. HIGHLY...

We visited and cabin camped in early November 2024. This was our 24th Virginia State Park for the VA State Park Trail Quest.

We stayed in Chestnut Lodge for 2 nights (minimum booking time). We used this location as a staging area for our next couple days of exploring this part of Virginia.

We checked in at the Discovery Center. This was a very cool area for the kids. There were animals (including a hellbender salamander) and things for the kids to touch and play with. There is also a junior ranger activity booklet where the kids can earn a patch.

The Chestnut Lodge itself was also very nice. Cleaner than expected for a state park. One of the bathrooms was also newly remodeling and was very nice. Looks like there was a cord of wood provided but we didn't get a chance to use it. Same with a gas grill. There was plenty of hot water too. The road leading up to the lodges wasn't in great shape though. Lots of potholes and you had to drive slowly.

We unfortunately didn't get to do as much as we wanted in the park because we used it as a staging ground for hiking The Channels and Grayson Highlands. We did do a portion of the trail around the lake.

We 100% have to stay again and plan on spending more time in this park. There were so many things we wanted to do that we didn't get an opportunity to. Speaking on the lodging aspect, we would definitely...

The recreational stuff is great. The beach is awesome. They have concessions and every kind of swimming accessory you could want available. The boat rental guys are super helpful and efficient. The canoes, kayaks, paddleboards and paddle boats are all high quality and easy to use. The whole park is beautiful and a cool place to hang out but the lifeguards are absolutely awful. Be forewarned. They are unprofessional and rude to the patrons who pay good money to come use the facilities that their own tax dollars already paid to build. The whole crew has no interest in being there. I was sitting by the snack bar eating lunch and had to get up and move because I couldn't stand listening to the lifeguards sit and complain loudly about nothing more than the regular duties of a lifeguard. They went on and on about how much they hated the park guests and were sick of their kids. They were upset they had to clean the bathrooms and surrounding area. I saw at least 4 instances of a lifeguard yelling with an incredible amount of malice at small children. Not adolescents, but 3 to 5 year olds just behaving like normal kids. It wasn't just one guard doing it either. It was the whole crew. They have quite a bit of disdain for the park guests. I don't know their day to day jobs but the behavior I saw was very unprofessional and not becoming of employees of a...