Little Beaver State Park

We stayed at Little Beaver State Park in Beaver, West Virginia. (Campground Reviews listing.)

A nice state park near New River Gorge National Park.

Dates:

  • Check in: 2024-06-23
  • Check out: 2024-06-30
  • 7 nights

Weather:

  • Partly cloudy, some rain
  • High temps 77-88°F, lows 55-64°F
  • Little wind wind, gusts to 21 MPH, sheltered by trees

Noise:

  • No road noise
  • No train horn noise
  • Negligible neighbor noise

Site:

  • #19, pull-through, gravel
  • Didn’t need to disconnect toad, parked behind and in front of coach
  • Somewhat unlevel site, high in front and driver side; used hydraulic leveling
  • Gravel driveway about 100 feet long by 10 feet wide
  • 20 feet to neighbor on front/passenger side; 30 feet to road on driver side
  • Picnic table
  • Fire pit
  • Tall trees
  • Clean site

Utilities:

  • 50 amp power, very conveniently located
  • 80 PSI water, conveniently located
  • No sewer

Internet (in usage priority order):

  • T-Mobile: 6 Mbps down, 12 Mbps up, 60 ms ping
  • AT&T: 1 Mbps down, 0.1 Mbps up, 90 ms ping
  • Verizon: 15 Mbps down, 4-6 Mbps up, 38 ms ping
  • Starlink: not used
  • Campground Wi-Fi: none

Amenities:

  • Garbage dumpsters
  • Dump station

Our review on Campground Reviews:

Good base for New River Gorge

This is a nice state park conveniently located near New River Gorge National Park and not far from the freeway. A word of caution, however: the road to get to the park and the roads in the park are not for the faint of heart, whether you have a small or big rig. The way in from the north is slightly less heart-stopping but still not ideal. Site 19 was a pull-through with a steep driveway and a relatively flat area about halfway, which was just perfect for our 40′ motorhome and tons of room to park our tow vehicle either in front or behind. We camped at Little Beaver State Park in a Motorhome.

Park campground and trail map:

Map

An interactive map:

Our site:

Our site

Our site

Our site

Our site

Our site

Our site

Our site

Our site

Our site

Our site

Completed another row of National Park stickers:

National Park stickers

A lightning storm during our stay:

Lightning map

This site didn’t have any sewer connection. After a week, our gray tank was at 71%, and black tank at 63%:

71% gray and 63% black tanks

Squirrel:

Squirrel

Squirrel

White-Marked Tussock Moth caterpillar:

Catapiller

Catapiller

Other sites:

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

Office:

Office

Registered campers only:

Registered campers only

Playground:

Playground

Cabin:

Cabin

Bathrooms:

Bathrooms

We’d be happy to stay here again.

Travel from College Park, Maryland to Beaver, West Virginia

We drove our coach 314 miles, about five hours of driving, from College Park, Maryland to Beaver, West Virginia. The beginning of our westward migration, heading towards our home base in Washington state.

Here’s a map showing our route, heading west:

Route

An interactive map:

Toading up:

Toading up

I-495:

I-495

Church

I-495

Welcome to Virginia:

Welcome to Virginia

Paladin in his high place:

Paladin in his high place

I-64:

I-64

I-66:

I-66

Fuel stop:

Fuel stop

Fuel stop

Tiffin Phaeton motorhome:

Tiffin Phaeton motorhome

Apples on water tower:

Apples on water tower

We were going to park and have lunch at the fuel stop, but there wasn’t any parking that would work for us, so we continued on. There wasn’t any room at the next rest area either:

Rest area

So I made lunch on the road:

Lunch

A later rest area:

Rest area

Rest area

I-64:

I-64

I-64

I-64

Welcome to West Virginia:

Welcome to West Virginia

Of course, we had to play John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads” while entering the state:

Take Me Home, Country Roads

Rest area:

Rest area

Rest area

I-64 hill:

I-64 hill

I-64

7% grade:

7% grade

Sandstone Mountain elevation 2,765 feet:

Sandstone Mountain elevation 2765 feet

Little Beaver State Park:

Little Beaver State Park

Narrow sloping curve:

Narrow sloping curve

Little Beaver State Park

Narrow entrance:

Narrow entrance

Lake:

Lake overflow

Lake

Very narrow road to campground:

Narrow road to campground

Narrow curvy road

Campground office:

Check-in office

Guided to our site:

Guided to our site

Custom desk

Our motorhome came with a couple of couches opposite each other, which we removed before even moving into the coach.

We replaced the passenger-side couch with a cheap desk in 2021, then in 2022 we replaced the desk with IKEA drawers and cupboards. and Jenn used a height-adjustable platform on the end of the dining table.

While in Red Bay earlier in 2024, we had Cody Poores of Cody’s Custom Cabinets build a custom desk for us, based on my design. We wanted a built-in desk that matched the existing cabinetry, didn’t take up too much space on travel days, but expanded when in use. Plus included a space for Paladin’s litter box. Here’s my design:

Desk design sketch

A timelapse video of drawing the design using Linea Sketch on my iPad Pro with Pencil:

The empty space after removing the IKEA cabinet; the main TV is on a televator, inside that cabinet below the window:

Empty space

A nice thing about Cody’s service is that he comes to you at your campsite in Red Bay. Here’s the new desk arriving at the end of the week:

Desk arriving

Being brought inside:

Being brought inside

Desk

My design included a TV lift for the computer monitor. We supplied the lift mechanism. Here it’s being mounted:

Mounting monitor lift

Back of the new cabinet, with the monitor lift area and cupboards on the left, drawers in the middle, and the cat litter area on the right:

Backside

Backside

The desk in place, without desktops (and with the main TV raised):

Desk in place

Desk in place

A closer look at the cupboard and monitor lift area without the desktops:

Cupboard without desktop

The right-hand pull-out desktop installed:

Desktop in place

The left desktop also in place:

Left desktop in place

Desk

The new computer monitor (Apple Studio Display) raised, still wrapped:

Monitor raised

The completed desk with the coach slide-outs in for travel:

Desk with slides in

We store the desk chair by the dining table for travel, and stack the dining chairs:

Desk with slides in

Looking down the back at the monitor lift and cables:

Monitor lift

A couple of grommets for wires:

Grommets for wires

Wires behind the drawers between the two grommets:

Wires behind drawers

A side view of the monitor lift:

Monitor lift

Cupboards:

Cupboards

Cat litter bin and litter box on a drawer slide, so it can be easily pulled out for cleaning:

Cat litter bin and box on slide

Jenn’s typical work setup:

Work setup

Work setup

Work setup

When work is done, the monitor can be lowered and desktop closed, and the main TV raised:

TV

There are a couple of Velcro patches inside the desk, and corresponding patches on Jenn’s work and personal laptops, so they can be stored on travel days without sliding around:

Monitor down

Laptops stored

Travel mode:

Travel mode

A huge improvement.

(Update: we got Cody to tweak the desk a bit on our next visit to Red Bay; look out for a blog post about that in 2025.)

Baseball: Washington Nationals vs Miami Marlins

The second baseball game we attended while in the DC area was the Miami Marlins playing at the Washington Nationals stadium, Nationals Park.

Jenn’s game summary:

Bomb-sniffing dogs in the parking garage: unusual. Beautiful day for a ballgame. Had a “Walking Taco” from Ben’s Chili Bowl—a DC fave. Good stuff. Racing presidents is a fun event between innings. Teddy won. Homers by Thomas and Meneses. Herz struck out 13, which made for a very quick game. It was a City Connect uniform day, so the Nationals were wearing cherry blossoms, and the whole stadium was themed accordingly—kind of pretty. A nice ballpark, but it would’ve been better if they hadn’t blocked the view of the Capitol with condos.

Nationals Park

We got there shortly before the gates opened:

Entrance

Baseball art:

Baseball art

Team store:

Team store

More art:

Mural

An art

Display

Cutwater Spirits:

Cutwater Spirits

We got some tasty beverages in interesting containers:

Cutwater Spirits

Fritos tacos:

Fritos tacos

Mascots:

Mascot

Mascot

Mascot

View of the ballpark from our seats:

Ballpark

Ballpark

Ballpark

Mascot:

Mascot

WSH:

WSH

WSH

Cheerleaders:

Cheerleaders

Selfie:

Selfie

Baseball

Baseball

Baseball

Baseball

See You Tater:

See You Tater

Tater tots with mac & cheese and pulled pork:

Tater tots with mac & cheese and pulled pork

Baseball

Baseball

Baseball

Baseball

Baseball

Baseball

Baseball

Baseball

Mascots:

Mascots

Cart:

Cart

Dippin’ Dots for dessert:

Dippin' Dots for dessert

Baseball

Baseball

Nats win:

Nats win

Baseball

Baseball

DC monuments by night tour

We did an evening guided tour of Washington DC from the Cherry Hill Park campground.

Selfie in the bus:

Selfie in bus

US Capitol:

US Capitol

US Capitol

US Capitol

Washington Monument:

Washington Monument

Back to our bus; there were lots of food trucks like this lining the roads in DC:

Bus and food truck

Treasury building:

Treasury building

Treasury building

The White House:

The White House

The White House

The White House

Guide talking about the White House:

Guide talking about the White House

Washington Monument:

Washington Monument:

Thomas Jefferson Memorial:

Thomas Jefferson Monument

Thomas Jefferson Monument

Thomas Jefferson Monument

Thomas Jefferson Monument

Thomas Jefferson Monument

Thomas Jefferson Monument

Sunset:

Sunset

Lots of tour buses:

Lots of tour buses

Martin Luther King, Jr Memorial:

Martin Luther King, Jr Memorial

Martin Luther King, Jr Memorial

Martin Luther King, Jr Memorial

Korean War Veterans Memorial:

Korean War Veterans Memorial

Korean War Veterans Memorial

Korean War Veterans Memorial

Korean War Veterans Memorial

Washington Monument and the Capitol beyond the reflecting pond:

Washington Monument:

Washington Monument:

Lincoln Memorial:

Lincoln Memorial

Lincoln Memorial

Lincoln Memorial

Lincoln Memorial

Lincoln Memorial

Lincoln Memorial

Vietnam Veterans Memorial:

Vietnam Veterans Memorial

Vietnam Veterans Memorial

Vietnam Veterans Memorial

World War II Memorial:

World War II Memorial

World War II Memorial:

World War II Memorial