Unpopular opinion regarding this DC area campground (and what we chose instead)

Our travels have taken us to and from the Northeast a few times now, and that means hitting the metropolitan areas that are so close together and therefore unavoidable: DC, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York. Whether we came from the west or the south, we found ourselves venturing among these cities. Not an easy feat when towing, but as we've said before, I-95 is home to us, and so we prefer to drive it instead of the other interstates that could lead us to New England.

We have now officially stayed in/near all of the above cities and have varying opinions about the RV parks where we've chosen to stay. For instance, who would have thought that the KOA in east Philadelphia would be so much better than the West Phili KOA? Perhaps that warrants an RV post of its own, but right now I'm sitting in our 3rd DC area campground, thinking about how much we've learned over the past year about how we prefer to RV. While resorts have their place, more often than not we'd give up all the amenities for some peace and quiet in nature. Believe it or not, even in a busy metropolitan area, there is still peaceful nature to be found.

You may recall that last year when we made our way through DC, we stopped at Cherry Hill Park for a couple of weeks. We were underwhelmed. We've concluded that there's just no way this park can win with us. We stayed in late February/early March, which means we were battling construction and closed amenities. The amenities that were open were all fine (some better than others), but what we hear about this place in summertime was not our experience. We like going to campgrounds in the off-season because we can enjoy the quiet, but even though we were one camper of only a handful there, we still dealt with noise from the construction and from trucks barreling down the nearby highway. We initially thought, if we came in peak season things would be different. The amenities would all be open, the construction would be complete, and the vibe would be livelier. Only, do we want a lively vibe? We go back and forth on that one, as we are very much introverts, but once in a while we appreciate the happy energy that comes with vacationing families. That said, put two options in front of us: Happy family vibe or peaceful nature vibe. You know which one we're choosing 99.9% of the time. See? Cherry Hill can't win with us. It's not its fault. Lots of RVers not only say this is their #1 park in DC, but it's their #1 RV park ever. It works for them. For us, we initially needed an accessible park with easy to get into spots. We were new full-timers. But a few months makes a big difference, and the next time we passed through, we went a bit more rustic.

In July as we headed back to New England for our mid-year respite (that turned out to be anything but), I researched campgrounds that might be a little more our speed. We had done the DC thing. When we stayed at Cherry Hill, we took Tanner into the city and showed him all the important historical landmarks. This time, we had even bigger plans. It was our 10-year anniversary of our togetherness, and we couldn't wait to celebrate by...

...going to Mom's.

That's one positive outcome of our Cherry Hill experience. We were introduced to this gem of a grocery store. We like to joke that we "came for the pinball, stayed for the groceries" because the College Park location (nearest Cherry Hill) has a hidden pinball room, but in reality, we eat a mostly organic/unprocessed/unrefined diet, and so this place is our mothership. So in July, we figured if we could find a park that was near a Mom's but felt like it was in the forest, that would be a huge win.

I recall my initial research in the DC area yielding limited results when I booked Cherry Hill, but maybe back then I was ruling out places due to my lack of confidence or knowledge about what we could handle. Come July, we were much more capable of figuring out where we could tow, where we could fit, and how to maneuver ourselves. So when I came across Patapsco State Park just outside Baltimore, I wasn't scared off by the reviews saying it was "tough to navigate" or had "tight squeezes" for spots. I just did my due diligence, double-checking each site size and crosschecking with reviews, to make sure our site would be big enough. While the hill leading up to the campground loops was no joke (and not expected for Baltimore), and we needed to be extra careful which entrance we used to the park because one had a low clearance bridge, once in we were delighted by our little wooded site in this quiet campground. We could drive to civilization during the day and retreat to nature at night. Best of all, it was only $28/night! No sewer hookups, but they had a wonderfully convenient dump station on the way out, which was more than sufficient. For comparison, Cherry Hill cost us $75/night after our Good Sam discount. The amenities of an RV park just aren't worth that price for us, especially when many were closed for winter anyway.

Though we had no reason to go to the heart of DC this time, I did take a drive there to go visit my friend Roberto, and it took about 40 minutes. Not too shabby for a campground that felt like it was worlds away.

Then came 2023, and we were heading to the Mid-Atlantic once again. I would have booked Patapsco again, but it's not open in the wintertime. Just as well...that hill would be something else in slippery conditions. So I went back to the drawing board. This time we could land further south of the city because we'd only be coming from Delaware. I came across Pohick Bay, a Northern Virginia Regional Park. Campground open year-round, some sites full hookups while others are water and electric only, and a slew of reviewers advising to check pictures of the sites closely, as some are more level than others. Perfect for us! We had no issues booking a level looking full hookup site. It is wintertime, after all. Not only did the park have the nature feel we wanted, but it also checked our two most important DC boxes: It was near a Mom's and wasn't a far drive from Roberto's.

Our site backed up to the recreational field, which has a playground, cornhole, and a communal firepit. I imagine in the warm weather this area might get loud during the day, but this time of year it wasn't bad at all. It also gave us a perfect northern sky view to set up our Starlink.

The price of the campground ($58/night) might turn a few heads due to this being just a regional park, but don't be fooled. This park rivals any of the resorts in the area. Not only was the recreational field great, but the facilities are some of the best we've seen anywhere, especially for a government-funded park.

The best kept secret of Northern Virginia Regional Parks is that 5 of them have waterparks. Yes, full-blown waterparks. Pohick Bay happens to be one of them. Can you just imagine coming with the family in the summertime, bringing the RV or renting a cabin, and be just a short trail away from this baby? (OK, but you have to picture it in summertime!)

The waterpark prices are also extremely reasonable even just for day use, but for registered campers it's only $4/day. That means a family of four could camp at Pohick and spend every day at the waterpark, and it still would be less than staying at Cherry Hill with a Good Sam discount.

Because the campground is just a small part of the bigger regional park, there were tons of hiking trails, including one that led directly to the bay from the campground. At the shore is the marina, closed for the season of course, but typically offering boat rentals and ice cream. Across from the marina is another playground, and a little further down is a boat launch and more hiking trails. The birdwatching on these trails is outstanding. Pohick Bay Regional Park is up the street from an eagle preserve, and while we saw no eagles at the preserve itself, we saw them twice just walking the trails at our park. We also saw a heron, hawks, and tons of seagulls and crows. In the spring you can expect to see ospreys, blackbirds, and many more species.

Who would have thought that we could find such gems so close to civilization? This is exactly what we look for in our camping experience, that balance of nature and convenience. Give us some hiking trails and a campsite in the trees, and we're happy campers - literally. Pohick Bay made our gloomy, gray January that much brighter.

We may not flock to Cherry Hill with the other RVers, but this is the beauty of RVing. One of our mottos is "Camp your own camp." We are finding places that offer us exactly what we need, even so close to the east coast cities. Now when we travel back and forth to New England, we'll have these little pieces of nature to look forward to.

Campground:
Pohick Bay Regional Park Campground, Lorton, VA
Site 75, 50amp FHU, back-in, firepit, picnic table
Campground recommended? Yes
Site recommended? Yes