Bolar Mountain Recreation Area — Hotel in Covington

Poor Management causes headaches for campers

We had a horrible experience at this site and as things unfolded it became clear the site is poorly managed and there are signs of consumer and labor abuse.

We got to this campground after being told There were plenty of still sites open, there was was actually only one free that wasn't the best but we took it anyways (many reserved sites that no one had showed up to for days but that's another story of poor Management) We started setting up and cooking food and about 30 minutes goes by when this other camper stops short and looks at our open site tag and then moves on. The posted rules as you pull in state to look for the camp host and or put your stuff down to claim an open site, look for them or wait until they drive by to pay the fee. The host was no where to be found (apparently he was stretched so thin he had to cover the beach and our campground but I'll get to that later) so we waited. After this camper moved on, about another 20 minutes go by and he returns with another car and two other campers saying they paid for the site and proceeded to kick us out. We told them we had already been here quite awhile and put our stuff down but he just kept condescendingly showing me his receipt like that gave him ownership of the site. We realized what happened is he went to an on site marina to purchase the site, but the staff there told them to go by and make sure it's free still, which it wasn't, so they lied to her. I told them I wasn't leaving until the camp host came and explained how this could happen and how it was allowed. When he finally came down, I realized it was an elderly gentlemen, probably sick with heat stroke, had an open ulcer on his face, and is charged with manning both our campground and the beach. To me that's incredibly risky labor practices for such a large site. So I asked him how it was allowed and that aren't you supposed to put your stuff down to claim the site and he basically brushed it off saying "this happens all the time". I basically said that thats a poor system and is easily fixable and would save a lot of grief. We could have made a big stink and been obstinant to three people who were not only planning to move to another site the next day, but clearly were lying and could care less how inconvenient it was. Management did nothing to mitigate this issue so we just bit the bullet and moved to another site down the road. Interestingly, we met our neighbors over there who said they had booked a double at the campgrounds we just came from, they arrived and it was not a double, instead of refunding them, management let them stay in a completely different and cheaper campsite for free (because management still made extra money by keeping the more expensive fees they already paid) That's consumer exploitation every day of the week and twice on sundays and it's not even a question. Don't bother with this site, make the extra distance and go to a park near virginias coast or the great smokey mountains recreation area. All youll find here is lies, rude people, and...

If I could give them zero stars I would. The park itself is beautiful but the staff in the marina ruined our experience. I walked up to the front door and saw it was closed but they had a sign with the time they would re open saying 8:00. The lady inside then ran up to the door and very rudely yelled we are closed can’t you see that. She then opened the door for a delivery and I calmly asked her when they re opened. She scoffed and me and again rudely yelled 3 now leave so I left. I then called around and tried to find the manager and got through the manager that sounded like the same lady. When I told her I had a complaint she interrupted and said yea probably because we asked you to where a mask she and their were already 5 people correct? I told her no that’s not my complaint. She then said then what’s your problem. I explained I walked up to the door and saw that it said it opened at 8 and again she interrupted me and said now you’re wrong the door says we open at three what is your problem. I asked her if I could please explain to her without her interrupting me because I’m trying to explain my complaint and she said well I’m trying to help you if you would just hurry up and spit it out and stop wasting my time. They do not know how to give people customer service at all in this location. I ended up leaving and not even having my day fishing like I had planned to. I’m so glad that this company is going out of business soon because they have no business working with the public to be treating them like that. Especially tourists. Absolutely disgusting...

This place is kind of ragged out. The weeds are high. The roads are washed out. There's no potable water and no showers as is listed on the reservation site. They all have Vdh stickers on them that says you'll get diarrhea forever if you use them. If you have 35 Virginia Tech noisy neighbors that cramp into one site and camp in the woods up to your camping pad, partying and eating acid until 4:00 a.m. there's no one there to deal with it. These guys were parading around the campsite and cutting through people's campsites at early hours to go swimming or just have conversations. They'll offer beer, weed, and LSD though when you go to them and complain, which is probably exciting for a younger crowd.

The lake is beautiful. We paddled out to an island and made a beach day because the Virginia Tech students kind of took over everything and made it unbearably rowdy and not kid friendly. We ultimately left a day early because we wanted sleep and my 5 year old started to pick up on the fact that the neighbors weren't behaving normally. Be aware that there is nowhere to buy anything within an hour of the lake.

You can bring your dog literally anywhere without a leash and no one will do anything. Apparently they were very strict about it many years ago. We had dogs of unknown origin in our campsite...