Smith Mountain Campground

On Liberty Road in Penhook, Virginia—in the rolling Blue Ridge foothills of Franklin County less than five miles from the nearest public boat launch on Smith Mountain Lake—Smith Mountain Campground operates as a family-owned RV facility with full hookup sites, a stocked fishing pond, private hiking trail, and the quiet country character that the lake region's residential neighborhoods have preserved across the decades since Appalachian Power dammed the Roanoke River to create what has become Virginia's second-largest lake and the surrounding community's defining natural asset. The campground's private pond, four-unit bathhouse with individual tiled rooms, and boat parking give guests who came to fish and be near the water the specific combination of amenities that lake-country camping specifically demands. Full hookup sites with 30 and 50-amp electric, water, and sewer connections, picnic tables, and fire rings serve both back-in and pull-through configurations across the property's site inventory, and complimentary high-speed WiFi keeps connected guests online through the site footprint. A four-unit private bathhouse with individually tiled rooms—each containing a shower, sink, toilet, and electrical outlet—provides a level of bathroom privacy that the typical campground shower-house arrangement doesn't supply. A dedicated laundry facility handles the practical needs of extended stays. Dedicated boat parking accommodates the trailered watercraft that lake-bound guests consistently arrive with, and a pavilion available for private reservation serves the group gathering needs of family reunions and organized camping events. A playground and outdoor recreation area serve families with younger campers and children in tow. The private hiking trail and stocked fishing pond are the property's most distinctive natural amenities—giving guests who want to fish without launching a boat an on-property option that the lake's five-mile distance doesn't otherwise provide. Smith Mountain Lake's character—a 20,600-acre reservoir on the Roanoke and Blackwater Rivers at the base of the Blue Ridge, with 500 miles of wooded shoreline and an elevation of 795 feet—provides the fishing and boating programming that organizes the Franklin County camping calendar from spring through fall. Striped bass, largemouth bass, crappie, and bluegill populate the lake in numbers and quality that have established Smith Mountain Lake among Virginia's premier fishing destinations, and the shoreline's development as a residential and resort community has produced a marina and restaurant infrastructure that gives boating guests on-water dining access that few Virginia lakes match. Smith Mountain Lake State Park, on the Halesford Arm of the lake's western reach, provides the hiking, swimming beach, boat rental, and educational programming that bring non-boating visitors specifically to the state park when a day on the water doesn't require owning a vessel. The park's mountain bike trails and the lake's kayaking and paddleboarding resources extend the recreational programming beyond powerboating into the quieter water-access categories. Roanoke—Virginia's largest city in the western part of the state, with the Taubman Museum of Art, the Virginia Museum of Transportation, and the Blue Ridge Parkway access via the Roanoke Valley—is accessible for the urban cultural programming that a lakeside camping base supplements naturally. Smith Mountain Campground is open seasonally through the Virginia camping calendar, with the prime season running from April through October when Smith Mountain Lake's fishing, boating, and outdoor recreation are at their most active. Fall foliage on the Blue Ridge foothills surrounding the lake creates one of the most visually rewarding shoulder-season camping opportunities in western Virginia. Reserve your site with boat parking early for the spring bass season and let the Franklin County lake country earn the reputation that Virginia's recreational community has assigned to it for decades.