Reviews written by Doug Simpson

This small campground is located in a heavily wooded area which blocks satellite TV signals. The sites have a concrete pad and are level with full hookups. A laundry (1 washer, 1 dryer) and bathhouse are nearby. It is quiet until the kids get home from school. There are several active duty families that are homesteading here and the kids don't have many options. The interior one-way road is dirt and gravel and was muddy and filled with potholes while we were here. We called ahead to ask about availability (no reservations are taken), we were told that the place was full. We came anyway and found an empty site. For $15 a nite, I shouldn't complain.

This small campground would be the place to be during the summer beach season (if you can get a reservation). A short 300 yard walk to the beach with easy access provided by two walkways across the dunes. Showers are located at the edge of the base to rinse off the sand and salt before returning to your RV. The campground appears to be a mobile home park that has been converted to a campground which also has several modular homes that serve as beach cottages. The sites are not close together and each has a concrete pad and driveway. The water and electric utilities are on the wrong side but this can be overcome by running your hose and power cord under your RV. In some sites the sewer connection is also on the wrong side. If you have a motorhome, you could drive in (not back in) and eliminate these problems. There is a bathhouse and laundry. The showers are located in individual rooms with sink and toilet, providing maximum privacy. The $25 daily rate would be appropriate for the summer season but, in my opinion, is too high for other parts of the year. Fort Fisher is located near the end of the highway and, except for the typical beach shops and restaurants, there isn’t much down here. The aquarium and Fort Fisher are nearby. The nearest Wal-Mart is 12 miles back toward Wilmington. Visit Jack Mackerel’s restaurant for some great seafood. During our visit, they were offering 40% off on Wednesdays, a real bargain.

This small campground doesn’t have much to recommend it. The $15 daily rate is a good value and all sites are level with full hookups. It is within walking distance of the commissary and exchange which is not always a good thing – at 6:00 AM this morning, large trucks were idling a few feet from my site while waiting to enter the commissary loading docks. There are no amenities at the campground – no bathhouse, no laundry, no Wi-Fi, no office or lounge area. A camp host is on site but check-in and payment must be done at the MWR office which is about a quarter mile away. I had to use the dumpster behind the commissary. No signs to direct you to the campground. The sites are close together similar to most private campgrounds. At some sites, a double length of sewer hose or an extension for the power cord is necessary to reach the utilities. Good place to stay while visiting New Bern, a lovely, historic town.

A new section was completed several years ago with paved roads, level concrete pads, and 50 amp service. The old section was closed and upgraded to the same standards and is scheduled to reopen by October, 2012. Both sections will have a new, modern bathhouse and laundry with a new office and lounge area in the new section. When the upgrades are complete, I believe that Sea Mist will be in the running for the Campers Choice Awards for the Eastern USA. I have been to 2 of the top 5 winners and Sea Mist compares favorably to both of them and if a prime oceanfront location (200 yard walk over the dunes to the water) is important to you, it could be number one. This is not a snowbird destination because it can get pretty cold during the winter but it is a prime location during the summer with a lot of things going on in Virginia Beach. The jet noise is not nearly as bad here as it is at Ocean Pines. No Wi-Fi or CATV but the Verizon air card signal is strong. The new section has no trees to block satellite TV signals. The monthly rate was recently raised to $510.

There isn’t much to recommend this campground. There are no amenities at the campground or on the base – no bathhouse, restrooms, or laundry, no commissary or exchange. There is no office or camp host at the campground. No sewer hookups at the sites and I had to call the MWR office to get the location of the dump station. It is located about 100 yards north of the campground near a small building between the two RV storage lots. $20 a day is too high for this campground, in my opinion, unless you consider Richmond a prime destination. I guess I shouldn’t complain because there are not too many good camping options in or near Richmond. I am paying $400 for two weeks at the nearby Pocahontas State Park. But I recently left Camp Carlson at Fort Knox and Scott AFB near St. Louis where I paid $15 a day. Both of these campgrounds are much nicer than this one. The campground is small and located 0.75 miles from the back gate on the left side, just after you pass the second RV storage area. The exact location is 37.42548, -77.447043 on Google Maps. When I arrived the grass had been freshly mowed and the campground presented an attractive appearance. There is a row of large oak trees at each end of the campground. The surrounding area is an industrial area, probably large warehouses – the entire base may be an industrial area for all I know. I did not unhook and explore. The campground has four easy back-in and two long pull-thru sites and each one is fairly level. Lot of space between sites. Roads and sites are gravel except for the entrance road at one end which is asphalt. I made a reservation by calling the number listed in the U.S. Military Campgrounds and RV Parks website and spoke to Charles. He took my credit card info and cheerfully answered my questions. He is located in a warehouse somewhere but I didn’t bother to ask directions. You can also pay using a drop box at the campground. I guess the word hasn’t gotten out on this campground because it was empty when I arrived. It has only been open since April.

This is a nice campground. When I arrived, the grass was a thick carpet of green and had been freshly mowed. Large attractive hardwood trees. The office and bathhouse look new, clean, and well-maintained. Spacious laundry with 8 washers and 8 dryers for $1.00 each and all were working. Paved roads and some sites had a concrete pad. Free Wi-Fi at each site provided by satellite so usage is limited to 160 Mb a day which could be a problem for moderate to heavy users. Camping fees are very reasonable with a $2 per day discount for 55+ campers. A separate section contains about a dozen cabins near the lake. Thirty miles from downtown Louisville. The only negative about this campground is the condition of the homesteader sites. Many sites show signs of long-term residence – wooden steps, unsightly items stored under the RV, toys and bicycles scattered about the yard, large 100 lb propane bottles at the front of the RV. One site had 5 propane bottles of various sizes in front of their RV. Several sites are growing vegetable gardens in pots on their picnic table.

I stayed here for 39 days in May-June 2012. The previous posts did a good job of describing this FamCamp. Having been to the military campgrounds in Tuscon, AZ and Kings Bay, GA, I doubt this campground will ever be a 5 rating. This campground charges $22 a day – at the top end for military campgrounds and I don’t consider it to be among the best of those campgrounds. The biggest problem is the grass which is a type of prairie grass planted in rows about 6 inches apart and allowed to grow to seed with the expectation that the seed will fill in the area between the rows. There is currently a race between this and the erosive effects each time it rains. Right now, the grass is losing. In addition to the bare areas between the rows, there are other areas next to the roads that are bare, probably the result of campers running off the pavement during wet, muddy times. After each heavy rain, large amounts of silt cover the roads and site pads and it looks terrible. At one corner, they have laid down a special patching material to stop erosion and grow new grass. Because of the sloping terrain, they must do that in many more areas in order to stop the erosion and give the grass a chance to stabilize the soil. There is no camp host. I asked for a Job Description for the position and was told that there is none. The camp host is charged full price for his site and is then paid a salary/wage. This is going to raise issues of residency for future camp hosts that are full-time RVers. I asked how many hours of work was required each week and was told that there is no set amount of hours – it depends on the time of year and the number of campers in the campground. How could one consider this camp host position without knowing the job description and the weekly hours required? Outdoor Recreation manages this new campground and you have to see their reservation system to understand how far they must go to climb the learning curve. It is a manual system where the 38 sites are listed on a separate sheet for each day and then each camper’s name is shown next to their site number for each day that they are in residence. I am not sure how many days into the future this runs (reservations can be made 60 days in advance), but when someone calls to make a reservation or a camper wants to extend his stay, the guy at Outdoor Rec must go through each page, starting with the first day of the reservation, and find an empty site for the duration of the reservation. Since sites are assigned with each reservation, he may go through several pages before he discovers that the site he started with is reserved for someone else and he must start over with another site. During a busy period, this process could get very frustrating as it did when I extend my reservation. Those are some of the negatives and others have pointed out the positives. The sites are far apart and when the jets aren't taking off, the place is very quiet.

This campground is within Camp Navajo, 12 miles west of downtown Flagstaff with easy access off Interstate 40. It is located at the edge of a ponderosa pine forest about a mile from the main gate. This would ordinarily be a quiet setting but the nearby train tracks have a heavy volume of traffic. Even with a fan on for white noise, you can hear and feel the rumble of the locomotive engines. No train whistles. The sites and interior roads are gravel. The sites are spaced far apart, providing a degree of privacy. The bath house appears brand new. Each site has water, and 50, 30, and 20 amp electric connections. No sewer hookup. The dump station is located at the campground exit but the outbound lane is blocked by parked army vehicles. There is no commissary on this base and the nearest thing to an exchange is a trailer equipped with a small selection of items. This is a National Guard training base is often empty except for a small admin staff and security personnel. You need a permit from the fire department for a campfire. This permit requires you to “clear the ground down to mineral soil for a distance of 15 feet around the campfire.” You are also required to have a shovel but they waived that for me since I promised to use garden hose to extinguish my campfire. If you are satisfied with a remote location with little or no amenities and no sewer hookups, this campground is adequate. In my opinion, it is nicer than the campground at Fort Tuthill which we visited while we were here.

Pros: Large, level concrete pads for RV parking. New (4 years old) building that houses the office, small lounge, showers, and laundry. Ice machine provides free ice. Very fast Wi-Fi (almost 4 Mbps.) Campground is wooded which provides some shade. Each site has its own garbage container. Full hookup site for only $16 while many FamCamps are charging $20 or more. Cons: Many long-term residents with trashy sites. Gravel roads. Only 2 washers for 42 sites which is not sufficient because of the large number of long-term residents. A large number of sites share their utility area with another site, bringing those pair of sites close to each other. The FamCamp is 4 miles from Industrial gate, 7 miles from the BX/Commissary. Power drops from 120 volts to 107 volts on hot days when many A/C units are in use. Weak to medium cell phone and air card signal. Trees could block satellite TV reception at some sites. Noise from B-52 flight operations.

Most of the snowbirds had left so there were many vacant sites. Most of the sites are located in wooded areas and satellite reception may be difficult. The sites are large and spaced far apart and each one has a concrete pad to park the RV on. For those that use mail forwarding, the FamCamp office accepts camper’s mail from the Post Office. The FamCamp is outside the base gate and about 2.5 miles from the commissary and exchange. There is beach access on base near the commissary/exchange but requires a 0.5 mile walk down a wooden boardwalk and there are no facilities at this beach – not even a porta-potty. So there are few people on this beach. There is another Air Force beach area about 3 miles northwest of Mexico Beach about a mile down a well-maintained dirt road that leads to a parking area about 100 yards from the beach. The FamCamp and the base are fairly isolated, away from the downtown business areas. Wal-Mart is 5 miles away. Jet noise is loud (fighters) and starts before 8:00 am but they seem go home by 5:00 pm and on the weekends. But old guys like me need their afternoon nap and the jet noise make that almost impossible. This place caters to snowbirds with a large clubhouse and a cabanna with a firepit. Coffee and cookies are available in the clubhouse each morning. Lots of activities during the snowbird season.

We were on our way from Boston, MA to West Point, NY and made a slight detour to stay here long enough to get our Frequent Camper logbook stamped. Since we were only here overnight, I can't make a thorough evaluation but this is not a place I will return to and I do not understand all the 4 and 5 scores this place was given in previous reviews. I have stayed at about 60 military campgrounds and this place would be in the bottom 10.

Since this is one of the most expensive military campgrounds, I expected more. I think $25 a day is way too much for a site with no sewer. This was not a problem for me because we stayed for only 3 days. Water lines ran along the surface of the ground. This campground is rustic. If that is what you like, you will love this place. It is also within 60 miles of Manhattan and near West Point Military Academy if those are places you want to visit. Firing ranges are nearby and we heard gunfire every day we were here - like hundreds of firecrackers going off at one time. But is was quiet at night. A lot of seasonal campers here. In fact, we were assigned one of the seasonal sites while the regular tenant was away. They seem to have the prime sites. The staff was friendly and helpful. Canoes and paddle boats are available for rent. Fishing is allowed at Round Pond and another lake. Verizon cell phone service was not good - kept losing the connection. Verizon air card service was better only because I had an external antenna. Commissary and exchange about 4 miles away. Shuttle bus service available on base which is good since convenient parking is hard to find during a regular work day.

There are two camping areas on this base. One is a 12 site campground at Remington Park. Google Maps shows this off Remington Pond Road at location N44.053113, W75.769551. Each site is pull-thru, level, and 30 amp, water, and sewer. Roads and sites are gravel. No trees, out in the open, and away from everything else. The other camping area, where I stayed, is 4 sites located on Officers Loop Drive right up against the side of a building that looks like an old barracks but is now being used as temporary lodging for active duty personnel assigned to the base for temporary duty. These 4 sites could be more accurately described as a very small mobile home park since 3 of the 4 sites were occupied long-term by active duty personnel. The one next to me had a woman, two small children, and a dog which was chained outside most of the time and barked at everything that caught his attention. She finally brought the dog in about 10:30 each night. This camping area had a trashy appearance and needed a new application of gravel to cover the dirt areas that had turned to mud from recent rains. There are no signs on base to guide you to either of the camping areas or to the registration office, Building 2229, which is across the street from the barracks next to the 4-site camping area. The entrance to the registration office is on the other side of the building and cannot be seen from the street or the camping area. Previous reviews mentioned a laundry in the temporary lodging building, an exercise room in a nearby building, and the continental breakfast at the registration office. I asked the pleasant young lady at the registration office about these amenities and she said that they were intended for the use of the active duty personnel staying in the temporary lodging but, when pressed, she reluctantly said that the campers could use these, too. The commissary and exchange are full-size, well-stocked, and appear new. I agree that $22 is in the upper range for military campgrounds but, by New York standards, it seems like a bargain. Private and state campgrounds in New York are much more expensive than their counterparts outside the Northeast area. We originally signed up for 5 days, but after 2 days listening to a barking dog and screaming kids, we asked for and received a refund for the remaining days and are now camped at an idyllic setting along the banks of the St. Regis River.

This FamCamp is outside the base security gate so anyone can come into the area. Upon arrival, we were given a written warning about bicycles being stolen. I have not seen base security since I arrived 5 days ago. In addition to the FamCamp, the area is also a picnic and recreation area and can get pretty crowded and noisy even during the week. Right now, on a Tuesday afternoon, a group of about 40 are hosting a function that includes a very loud band. On the positive side, the sites are concrete pads and are level. About half are long pull-thru sites with plenty of room for tow vehicles. Full hookups with 50 amp electricity. The breaker on my site was bad and the camphost, Bud, promptly found someone to replace it. Shade trees at many sites. Laundry with 2 washers and 2 dryers. Bathhouse is two individual, lockable rooms that contain a shower, sink, and toilet - very private. Since the FamCamp is off-base and is on the opposite side of the base from the gates, the commissary and BX are 6 miles away. Although your mail can be forwarded to the base Postal Service Center, I would recommend using General Delivery at the Bellevue post office off base. The roads are not paved and I would suspect it would be quite muddy when it rains. Excellent free WiFi - it stayed connected and was faster than my air card. Good strong Verizon air card signal.

Very nice FamCamp. Paved roads and full concrete pull-thru sites. 50 & 30 amp electric. Lots of pretty green grass and shade trees. The trees may cause a problem with satellite reception. Full size commissary and exchange nearby. Nearest town is 15 miles away. Nothing in between. My RV is 37' and the sites are not quite long enough to park tow vehicle on site. Nice clean laundry and bathhouse. Commercial gate is open 24/7.