James River State Park — Hotel in Amherst

This was our first time at James River State Park, and this was also our first time staying in a cabin at the Virginia State Parks. I must say, both, were a highly enjoyable experience. We have tent camped many times while day/section hiking the Appalachian Trail. And, though, I highly enjoyed hiking the AT, there were times I would have liked to had more time to explore the trails at the campgrounds we camped at. As usual, when planning a camping trip, weather can be hard to precisely pin down. Being in a cabin took the worry out of the weather being a major concern for shelter. Of course, weather was a concern for exploring the trails outside at the park. The weather kept flip flopping; cloudy and overcast, one day high chance of rain, flip flops of rain chance days, both days rain and overcast high chance. I gave up hoping for sunshine and packed rain jackets, rain pants, and our George Foreman electric grill. I downloaded an ebook while traveling to the park. When we arrived at the park it was cloudy and overcast; but, not a gloomy overcast. It was pleasant. The cabin was terrific. The covered porch was very nice. We quickly unloaded and took advantage of the weather being overcast and cloudy, but, not raining. We hiked from the cabin to the River Trail and took various trails to complete our loop back to the cabin. Day one, a victory; we got in and were able to hike some too! Day two. I, so, wanted to hike to Tye River Overlook and have some sunshine. To my surprise, the sun began to peak out. Unbelievable. According to the weather forecast, this should not be happening. We rode down to Dixon Landing, after unknowingly, passing the Tye River Overlook trailhead near the Visitor Center. We walked around at Dixon Landing a bit, before deciding to go back to park at the Tye River Overlook trailhead. But, we stopped at Shelter #6 to check out the trail sign and found out we could hike to the Tye River Overlook from here. So, we hiked to the Tye River Overlook. On the Cabell Trail the sun was out, and I was somewhat wanting the overcast skies! We made it to the overlook and the view was awesome. The one thing that is vivid in my stay at James River State Park is the sound of song birds. The birds were melodious at the overlook also. Having had weather that was not a washout nor a gloomy grey thus far, and having had been able to hike and make it to the overlook, I felt if we had to stay the remaining time inside the cabin, it would not matter. We hiked the Cabell Trail loop back down and missed taking the Dixon Trail to get us back to our vehicle and ended up at Red Oak Campground; which was nice. I wanted to check out the campground. Red Oak Campground is very nice. I look forward to tent camping there one day. With storms predicted to come in the late afternoon, we walked the park road back to our vehicle. Kudos to park maintenance, the grass was mowed several feet off the road giving a safe place to walk with less worry of oncoming vehicles and ticks. We made it back to our vehicle and we then drove to Walnut Grove Campground and Canoe Landing Campground. We then drove to Branch Pond Campground and hiked one side of Branch Pond Loop Trail. The loop could not be hiked due to the dam portion being off limits to hiking. I enjoyed the half portion we did. We decided to head back to the cabin, due to storm predictions. We made it back, and my sons said they actually hoped it would storm so they could enjoy seeing the storm from the covered porch. Being hungry with the threat of an approaching storm, we decided to grill our burgers on the George Foreman electric grill. It would take less than ten minutes to be eating our burgers if we used the George Foreman opposed to getting a charcoal/fire started, waiting 30 minutes or so, only to have a storm roll in. We ate our burgers, and at about 8:30pm the storm rolled in. I witnessed lightening in the distance from the covered porch with thunder rumbling about. I decided to go inside after a bit. We left the next morning, to what else, but, sunshine. We had...

We stayed 2 days at a cabin in the park and we were delighted at every turn. We chose this park primarily for it's "dark sky" status. The weather did not cooperate for star gazing. There were no other disappointments. We imagined the cabin would be a shack but instead it was a simple house. Very nice. There was a fully supplied kitchen, dishes, pots and pans, full size fridge and stove, microwave and kitchen table and chairs. There was dish soap and paper towels. In addition to bringing your own bed and bath linens, you should bring a dish rag and dish towels if you want them. There is no dishwasher. And you will need to bring every ingredient you want to cook with. There is a small convenience store about 7 miles from the park, where you turn off of Route 60. However we were hoping for butter for sweetcorn we picked up from a farm on the way and had to go about 40 minutes to a Food Lion to get butter and major supplies. The house does not have a tv or radio. We spent our evenings drinking wine on the wraparound porch. The provided rocking chairs were put to good use. Part of the porch is covered and part uncovered. The covered part was great for watching a rain shower move in across the valley and the uncovered part was great for watching the skies and sunset. We are not really hikers but there are miles of trails and areas where you can access the river with a boat or canoe. There was inconsistent internet at our cabin and no WiFi. It was a bit inconvenient at times but truly helped us enjoy the natural beauty. But you won't always be able to google the address of where you want to go. We wished we had all the addresses written down so that they could be easily entered into the car's GPS. Our cabin, #13, had a view of the valley and misty mountains in the distance. The grounds were beautifully maintained. Lots of wildflowers, deer and a cacophony of crickets. We also think we heard a loon one night. The park rangers were friendly and helpful. We highly recommend coming here to stay if you want to get away from it all. When trying to drive around the areas winding roads we wished we had a paper map but we were unable to find one to buy once we were there. Consider bringing one. We also enjoyed a long drive through the nearby George Washington National Forest. It was all beautiful. We loved it. ...

Stayed here over the weekend (April 29-May 2). One of my friends that lives locally stopped by on a Friday night to visit with my family which includes my 70 year old parents, one of which is a pastor. We sat around the fire and were telling a few stories when a Park Ranger showed up shining his flashlight around and looking in peoples' vehicles. It was 10 mins past the quiet time of 10pm so he was waiting at the top of the loop for any peep that he heard from a camp so he could roll in show people who's boss. There were only 4 of us around the fire when he showed up. Meanwhile a full on party was taking place 5 or 6 sites away. He told us we couldn't drink beer at our camp and had to be in our trailers per the law in state parks. Then proceeded to question my buddy on what he was doing at our camp and where was he camping and that he better not drive. Well while this was going on my mom was inside their trailer getting ready for bed and she shut a drawer or something kinda loud. The Ranger then began asking us about the noise and claimed he was worried we had someone inside tied up and kidnapped. I really think he was trying to draw us into a confrontation with the way he was acting. We played cool and he finally left but took his flashlight and searched through vehciles again as he left our camp. He then went and quieted down the real party. He told us no one called and that he was just enforcing the 10pm quiet time rule. We're ok with that but he was out of line with some of the things he said. He then went and waited around the corner in his patrol vehicle. My friend called his wife to come get him to avoid any more issues. The Ranger stopped his wife and then escorted her to our camp and told my buddy that he made a smart choice. Other than an unprofessional Ranger we had great time at a beautiful state park! Can't wait to kayak the river on...