Agency-listedNational Park Service - Gauley River National Recreation AreaFree
Gauley Tailwaters Campground
Drive-up · National Park Service · WV · 38.21439, -80.88885
Inside a national park unit
Gauley Tailwaters Campground sits inside Gauley River National Recreation Area — a national recreation area run by the National Park Service.
Park rules apply, and they are stricter than dispersed camping: inside a National Park Service unit you camp in a designated campground or on a backcountry permit, not wherever you find a flat spot. Check the park before you go: nps.gov/gari ↗
Placed by point-in-polygon against the National Park Service’s own boundary layer (NPS Land Resources Division, 442 units, fetched 18 Sep 2026; this unit’s polygon edited 2022-12-31). Nothing about the price or the legal status on this page was changed by it.
Ask an AI about this campsiteOpens Grok already loaded with this site. It reads the same records this page is built from, and links whatever it tells you.
Ask about this camp →National Park Service lists this site. Someone from the agency inventoried it, so it is a real camp — not a spot we guessed at. What changes is conditions — roads, gates, closures, fire rules. Check those with the unit before you commit to the drive.
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at Gauley Tailwaters Campground
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 1,456 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Gauley Tailwaters CampgroundNIFC · AirNow
Checking active fires & air quality…
Active wildfires from NIFC (within ~50 mi); air quality from AirNow. Always confirm current fire restrictions with the managing office before you go.
Everything you need — measured from Gauley Tailwaters Campground · National Park Service · WV
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- FFuel2 mi
- GGrocery2 mi
- @Mail2 mi
- MMechanic5 mi
- +Urgent care6 mi
- EVEV fast charger7 mi
- HHardware7 mi
- RxPharmacy7 mi
- ShShower13 mi
- LLaundry19 mi
- OOutfitter21 mi
- WWater28 mi
- DDump28 mi
- AAir-up35 mi
- PPropane38 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is a real 28-mi drive, fuel & food sit about 2 mi out.
One dot per need — the nearest of each kind, straight-line from camp. Places from OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors); the EV fast charger from the US DOE station locator. Open in Google Maps ↗
The site — Gauley Tailwaters Campground
Access
Drive-up
Land
National Park Service
Elevation
1,456 ft
Ground slope
3.3% · gentle
Nearest rail line
~4.0 mi · main line
State
WV
Coordinates
38.21439, -80.88885
Cost
Free
Nearby & resupply — around Gauley Tailwaters Campground · National Park Service · WV (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureGauley River · ~0.1 mi · USGS: perennial river
- Nearest townSummersville · ~5.6 mi
- Nearest rail line~4.0 mi · main line
- Nearest highwayno interstate or US route within 10 mi
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelFuel · ~2.0 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump station~28.0 mi
- GroceriesGrocery · ~2.0 mi
- PharmacyWalgreens · ~7.3 mi
- Hospital / clinicHospital · ~6.3 mi
- HardwareHarbor Freight Tools · ~6.9 mi
EV charging — from Gauley Tailwaters Campground · National Park Service · WV — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger6.8 mi straight-line NE — SUMMERSVILLE WV SUMMERSVILLE · ChargePoint Network · CHAdeMO, CCS · 1 fast port listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach2 within 25 mi · 19 within 50 · 85 within 100 · 238 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)30.4 mi — Mt. Hope, WV - Tesla Supercharger, Mt. Hope
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)14.0 mi — Hawks Nest State Park, Ansted, WV (at a park) · Non-Networked · J1772 · 3 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2025-11-13 · hours: 24 hours daily
- Pricing at the fast chargernot listed
- Power (kW)not listed by AFDC — “DC fast” spans roughly 24 to 350 kW, so ask the network.
- Read this honestlyStraight-line miles, like every distance on this site. Roads run longer than this, and you have to get back. We know where a charger is listed. We don’t know if it works today, how fast it is, or the road miles. Check the network before you commit.
Snapshot 2026-09-16 · AFDC record 395679 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Gauley Tailwaters Campground · National Park Service · WV — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- RestroomTailwaters Campground Vault Toilet · at this camp · NPS
- RestroomTailwaters Restroom · at this camp · NPS
- RestroomTailwaters Old Restroom · at this camp · NPS
- RestroomMason Branch Vault Toilet · at this camp · NPS
Coming out here — Gauley Tailwaters Campground · National Park Service · WV
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Gauley River as a perennial river, ~0.1 mi from the pin (National Hydrography Dataset, data refreshed October 2022). Mapped as perennial is not the same as flowing today. Nobody has checked it for you. Filter or boil anything you drink.
- Ground slope around the pin: about 3.3% — gentle. Measured on USGS's 3DEP elevation model (1 m data here), sampled every 10 metres around the point. That is the hillside, not the ground under your wheels — a graded pullout or a bench a few metres across is too small to show up at that spacing, and nobody has checked this one for you.
- Rail line mapped ~4.0 mi from the pin — the national rail atlas classes it as a main line. That is the FRA/BTS North American Rail Network (data updated Jul 21, 2026), which records that a line is there and what class of track it is. Whether anything runs on it, how often, and at what hour, it does not say, and nobody has checked this one for you.
- No interstate or US route is mapped within 10 mi of the pin in the Census's TIGER/Line primary roads (TIGER/Line 2025, released Oct 2025). That file holds the divided, limited-access highways only — a state expressway or a two-lane US route near this camp would not be in it.
- Power: Dave carries his own — batteries or solar. A generator will run your rig and it is also the thing everybody camped near you can hear.
- Getting online: Dave recommends Starlink. He has had it since SpaceX introduced it, used it for four years living on the road, and it delivers as promised — several hundred nights out, and he can count on one hand the places he could not connect. The cable on his unit runs 150 feet, which is usually all it takes to find enough sky. Starlink → Referral link — Starlink pays Dave $100 in cash if you sign up through it, and that money funds this site and the next trip. It costs you nothing and does not change the recommendation.
Open Gauley Tailwaters Campground elsewhere
Other camps near Gauley Tailwaters Campground
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Battle Run Campground~1.2 mi · fee
- Long Point Campground~1.7 mi · fee
- Brooklyn Campground~17.6 mi
- Big Rock Campground~20.6 mi · fee
Who holds the land at Gauley Tailwaters Campground
USGS’s Protected Areas Database (PAD-US 4.1, queried 2026-09-23) lists 2 overlapping holdings at this pin: Summersville Recreation Area, manager on record: Army Corps of Engineers (federal) · Gauley River National Recreation Area, manager on record: National Park Service (federal). That names who holds the land — it is not a statement that camping is permitted here.
How we know this — Gauley Tailwaters Campground
Stay limit
14 nights (The maximum stay is 14 days at the same camping area)
Source
National Park Service recreation data
Confidence
Likely — The record is good enough to put a pin on, but thin in places. Treat the details as a starting point, not gospel.
How it was placed
Gauley Tailwaters Campground -- a FREE, first-come primitive campground run by the National Park Service. Drive-in. 18 drive-in sites for tents and RVs, immediately below Summersville Dam. NPS directions, quoted: "From Route 19 at Mt. Nebo, take Route 129 west across the dam, then turn left at the river access sign. Bear right through the parking lot to the campsites." This is the put-in end of the Gauley -- expect it to be full during autumn dam releases. COORDINATE: the NPS's own digitized campground point (https://mapservices.nps.gov/arcgis/rest/services/NationalDatasets/NPS_Public_POIs/MapServer/0, read 2026-08-17), MAPMETHOD='Digitized', XYACCURACY='>=1m and <5m', digitized from WV GIS Technical Center leaf-off imagery. Not a geocode, not OpenStreetMap, not field-checked by us. NEAREST TOWN: Summersville, about 5.4 mi away in a straight line. Nearest incorporated place and distance are straight-line, computed against the WV GIS Technical Center municipal point layer (https://services.wvgis.wvu.edu/arcgis/rest/services/Location/wv_cities/MapServer/6, read 2026-08-17). Straight-line, NOT road miles -- the road distance is longer, sometimes much longer, in this terrain. GAULEY RIVER NRA CAMPING -- from the park's own camping page (https://www.nps.gov/gari/planyourvisit/camping.htm, read 2026-08-17). "The National Park Service offers primitive camping at Gauley Tailwaters, located just below Summersville Dam... There are 18 drive-in sites for tents and RVs." FREE: "There is no camping fee." STAY LIMIT: "The maximum stay is 14 days at the same camping area." FIRE: "Open fires are allowed where campfire receptacles are provided and must be contained in these designated containers... Use only dead and down wood." Campfires are prohibited within 100 feet of any river access area, developed trailhead, cliff edge, park structure or historic ruin. Chain saws are prohibited. WATER: the page does not state whether drinking water is provided. Assume none and carry your own; do not treat the Gauley as potable. PRIVATE LAND WARNING, quoted: "The National Park Service does not own most of the land within the boundaries of the Gauley River National Recreation Area. Be aware of private property and respect the rights of land owners." That applies to the backcountry, not to this designated campground, but it is worth knowing before you wander. | auto:agency-trust 2026-08-18: state agency GIS record with a source URL and coordinates, confidence not low. Fee value is the agency's own, not field-checked. Not field-verified -- confirm access, road conditions and fire rules before you go.
EV chargers
US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center station locator, snapshot 2026-09-16. Straight-line miles to the nearest public, open, unrestricted station; restricted and planned units are shown but never counted.
Field check
On the agency's books. The land manager inventoried this site, so its existence is not in question — current conditions are. Nobody from here has camped it recently.
What we don’t know about Gauley Tailwaters Campground
A land record can put you within a few meters of a spot. It cannot tell you any of this — so check it yourself, and treat anything below as the open question it is.
- Road surface & last-mile access
- How many rigs actually fit
- Cell coverage by carrier
- Seasonal & winter access
- Current fire restrictions
- Whether any water here is drinkable
- Shade & wind exposure
- Noise and who else shows up
- Whether a listed EV charger works today, or the road miles to it
Before you go — Gauley Tailwaters Campground
Water on public land →Fire rules & restrictions →First-night troubleshooting →Getting unstuck →All field notes →