One of my jobs as Visitor Services Director is to review our Your Comments Count surveys. I have staff that help read them but all the complaints get flagged for my attention. Sometimes I just want to cry when I read that someone had a bad time just because they didn't have the information they needed to better enjoy their stay. This article features tips to better enjoy your camping trip and I plan to share tips in other areas soon.

The waterfront sites at Occoneechee State Park are very popular.

• Find a Park that offers what you want.

Start by finding a park that offers the location or recreational opportunities you are seeking. We actually have a tool for that on our Virginia State Parks website called Search By Amenities. Do keep in mind that some amenities are only available seasonally so once you find the park, read the section dealing with the features you seek. 

• Know our terms.

PRIMITIVE camping for us means no flush toilets and showers. I know that some people use "primitive" to describe sites without hookups (water, electric, sewer) but we call those sites STANDARD. In all but two of our parks with camping, hookups are only electric and water and we offer a dump station. At Kiptopeke and Hungry Mother state parks we also have some sites with sewer hookups. We do not develop campgrounds with sewer hookups but those two parks have campgrounds that were formerly private campgrounds. You can reserve your campsite up to 11 months in advance or as late as the same day up to 2 p.m.

This tree at First Landing State Park begs to be climbed.
Many parks offer group camping opportunities.

Our current developed campground design standards call for universally sized sites that will accommodate everything from tents up to 50 foot RVs. However, we have campgrounds that have been around as long as 78 years and it is not always possible to renovate a campground to these standards without either losing the character of the campground or significantly reducing the number of sites. So, many parks offer a variety of site types based on equipment or equipment size. We ask that customers reserve the smallest available site that will fit their equipment. 

Check the camping section of the park's website and you will see what campgrounds and types of sites the park offers. If you call our Customer Service Center to book your reservation, staff can help you with the site selection. But if you book on line, you need to check the website first so you make sure you reserve what you really want. 

Our current policy is to assign sites to best meet the needs of the camping public. In nearly all cases you get to choose a site of the type you reserved when you arrive based on what is available when you get there. Official check in time is 4 p.m. but we encourage customers to come earlier. Most of the time a site will be available earlier. If not, you can enjoy the park while you are waiting. Some parks have designated group sites. If you are camping with other people on separate sites, book them all under one name and the first person that arrives can check in for you and select the sites so you can be together (they will need to have all the reservation numbers and type of sites booked may cause some challenge). Beginning in 2015 some campgrounds will be offering some sites where you can reserve a specific site (called site specific reservations). Read about our pilot program here.

Hmmm. I wonder what these campers plan to do.

• Read the policies.

I started working for State Parks as the Reservation Center (now Customer Service Center) Manager. Most folks who make reservations do not plan to have to change the dates or cancel their reservation so often they do not pay attention to the options that the reservation counselor shares with them. If booking on line, customers have to click that they have read and understand our policies. Yeah, I don't read those terms of service legal mumbo jumbo things that pop up usually either but I highly encourage that you pay attention to our policies especially as to what to do in case you have to move or cancel your reservation. Failure to read these policies can cost you a lot of money and it is sad because our policies are very generous as long as you do your part.

Our Frequently Asked Questions give you most of this important information and our Rules and Regulations help with some of the legal issues. It is important to remember that if it is not lawful to do something outside of a park, it is also unlawful to do that in a park. If you will be bringing a pet, we ask that you also read this information.

• Let us know if there are problems during your stay.

Did you know that we have park management staff, most of them law enforcement, that actually live on park property? We do and someone is on call 24/7 to solve problems. Staff do patrol the park regularly but one person on duty can't be everywhere to deal with problems. When I read the complaints based on misbehaving campers, I wish the customer had called our emergency number. It could be that folks don't know when something is an emergency. If it is 2 a.m. and there are campers making a lot of noise, call the emergency number. If you run out of firewood we ask that you wait until the morning. For a medical emergency, call 911 since that will get medical response personnel to you the fastest.

Many parks provide campers with information at check in with the emergency or "on call" number. If you can't find it, the contact station, park office and information boards around the park will have the information posted. I suggest you locate the number when you arrive so you don't have to hunt for it in time of need. During the day, let us know if you notice a bathhouse or rest room that needs attention (dirty or not functioning). We will get the problem fixed as soon as possible. We really want to know when it is happening instead of later when you send in your survey because we want to make it right.

This is a "buddy" site at Natural Tunnel State Park.
 

• Give us your feedback.

After you come back from your trip, take a few minutes to tell us how we did and how we can do better. If we have your email address you will receive a thank you for your visit from me the following Monday (well, usually). This email has a link to our online survey. The parks have fliers with the survey link and even a QR code for folks with a smart phone. You can even take the survey on your mobile device. If you just don't do computers, you can ask the park office for a printed survey.

I can tell you that more than one person reads every word on your survey. I respond to many of the complaints we receive but not all of them. If your complaint is that the bathhouse wasn't clean enough or you wish the firewood was better, I probably won't send you an email response. But the park staff will also read your comments and I know that we all work hard to improve what we do based on the comments and suggestions. Often we fail in your eyes because our facilities are old or the park is at capacity and staff gets overwhelmed. We are embarrassed when that happens because our staff are dedicated to helping you enjoy your stay and they take pride in what they do. But we do need to know where we need to improve so please give us that feedback. We track the surveys and the ratings you give so it is helpful to get the feedback there but always feel free to email me directly.

Hungry Mother State Park offers these unique platform tent sites.
They are standard sites - you know what we mean by that now after reading this article.

Reserve a campsite online here
- OR -
Call our Customer Service Center at 800-933-7275
9 a.m. - 5 p.m. Monday-Friday
(closed state holidays)