Lewis Mountain Campground — Hotel in Elkton

Camp host made me feel unwelcome. 8/11/23 9:30 am I was making bacon in the cast iron skillet on the Coleman stove when Mary the camp host (30 yo white female, former military) got my attention by calling "Good morning!" and then she asked when I was leaving. I responded "Isn't check out time 12 noon?" and Mary said yes but then said she just wanted to know when we were leaving. "Do you want us to leave?" I asked. Oh no, Mary said, she was "just asking". Yet she stood there waiting for an answer, not taking the hint that her question was not welcome. I responded 12 noon, which is check out time.

But Mary-the-camp-host's message was clear and my last memory of this beautiful 5 day trip to Lewis Mountain Campground is the camp host asking me how soon I would be gone. My kids and I started packing up since it was clear we were no longer welcome. Lewis Mountain Campground at Shenandoah National Park 5/5 stars. Mary the camp host 3/5 stars.

In the next hour, 4 separate cars stopped, rolled down their windows, and asked me if I was leaving my camping spot. The last man was so aggressive he parked at the end of the camp site and when I asked him to leave me alone, he mocked me and said "Don't cry! It's normal to ask when people are checking out." Except I don't agree this behavior is normal. It's unwanted attention bordering on harassment. Check out is 12 noon and I was paid up until then.

When I was finally packed up, I found a nice family driving by in a white pick up truck with their windows up (because they were not pressuring anyone to leave their camp site early) and gave my camp site to them. The aggressive guy who told me "not to cry" was parked on the neighbor's camp site, watching me like a hawk, determined to take my camp site the moment I left but he did not get it. The non-aggressive family did.

Lewis Mountain Campground is a lovely place but when the vultures start getting aggressive for camp sites it creates a stressful situation and...

Small campground with 30 sites so don't dawdle getting here during peak season for a $30 first come first served sites.

You can access the AT across from site 3 and also the AT from site 16 and from that site short trail to a summit view!

When I arrived I parked and walked around looking for a good site. The camp host was driving around in his golf cart and said hello to me. He seemed nice. That was the end of our interactions. I was camped two sites away from him and he was offering, periodically, everybody in the sites around me wood, power to charge their power banks, coffee in the morning, brochures. By the end I was chuckling. It was getting comical as I was completely left out of the good tidings and his offerings never ceased afternoon or morning. 😂 He seems really nice, friendly and talkative so I don't get it.

I also had to pick garbage up from my site. Beer cans and foil in fire ring and various bits of garbage here and there in my tiny site.

The small camp store has camping items, snacks, drinks, wine, beer, tshirts, the usual. Very friendly cashier.

Like all campgrounds some sites are better than others. Some have no privacy but others more. The sites on the outer edges looked the best.

Decent location and place to lay your head for a...

This is a nice, standard NPS campground. It's about 8 miles from the nearest park entrance off Skyline Drive. As you enter, there is a picnic ground and amphitheater (where ranger talks are held), then rentable cabins (did not look inside) and the camp store. The campground itself has about 30 sites. These are all non-reservable. Since it's such a small campground, this means that it can fill up quickly on popular weekends. I arrived one June Friday just after noon (checkout time) and had my pick of sites.

Like most NPS campgrounds, the sites are pretty close together. There are a few on one loop that would be good for a group to get next to each other. Another loop has slight elevation changes between the sites, which helps add a sense of privacy.

The Appalachian Trail runs right behind and along the campground, which means thru hikers will walk into the campground and ask for directions to the camp store. There's also a 0.4 mile spur trail to an overlook of Lewis Mountain, though I can't speak to the view as it was foggy when I hiked it!

The camp store has food, camping supplies, ice and firewood. There is also a nice shower (4 quarters for 5 minutes) that is open even when the store is closed. I believe there are also...