4 stars for camping, 1 for hiking Great place for real camping. If you dont mind hiking a mile to your campground this is it (make sure you pack as light as possible for this reason!). The trail paths were well marked and mulched at various points even, all the way to get to the campgrounds which is more than some rustic campgrounds I've hiked to before. For those that prefer rustic instead of city style camping. Here your away from vehicle headlights circling the campground, noisy families in RVS. The fireflies seemed brighter, sparking all over the woods was almost magical. The campsites were decently spread out for privacy and it was very peaceful and quickly quiet after about 11 pm. Its only an hour away, beautiful views and plenty of other stuff to do nearby (river, wineries, fruit u-pick farm next door, etc.). The campsite is situated in the woods- fortunate since its so hot in July and I was worried it would literally be in the meadow. Also firewood is provided $5 for 10 logs right on site in a pile next to the primitive toilet outhouse (pay via honor system). This is a good thing since no one wants to haul wood for a mile in addition to everything else. It was nice to feel like your actually back to nature except when it came to hiking the next day. The camping trails were all fine but when I decided to do a meadow hike I quickly became disgusted with the TICK INFESTATION and abandoned the idea of continuing the hike. The meadow grass trails were literally teeming with them! I had read one Yelp review about this and was hoping it wasnt really all that bad, but it was. I found at least 5 ticks crawled on me from walking through the meadow for under 10 minutes, and then discovered at least another 5 in my clothes, on my shoes, in my car for the next few hours and am frankly, still feeling disgusted and paranoid about then. Ick! Not sure about the life cycle of a tick, but maybe in cooler fall weather its a better time for hiking here? read more

Nothing overly wow about the place. Nice views, places to walk a couple little local ponds has horse trails. Just another state park. I guess I don't use often because I have all this at my house but not a bad stopping smog if you are on a day drive. read more

We rented a covered shelter today for a family cookout, the place has plenty enough space, lots of running room for the kids, nice big recycling bin, AND our own latrines! Signage made it easy to find our way in the park since there was no GPS signal, the staff was friendly and helpful, plenty of parking space. Perfect for what we needed. read more

Gorgeous pastoral park! Wide-open views of the sky over pretty meadows. This state park offers a good amount of hiking trails (the AT runs through it), as well as a historic house (I have not made it inside to tour), and a pond stocked with fish. Go on a clear fall day and enjoy the views of rolling hills in the distance and a beautiful scene from the Piedmont Overlook trail. read more

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This is such a beautiful place and it's hard to believe it's not that far away! The first time I ever went went camping, we came here. It isn't car camping and you have to hike a little less than a mile with your gear to the campsites, but the hike isn't bad, unless you did what my boyfriend and I accidentally did. Maybe we were distracted by nature's beauty around us, but somehow we missed the entrance to the campsite trail (I'm embarrassed to say that it's not that hard to miss) and ended up on a hiking trail through the forest, leading up and down a hill. With all our gear, it kind of sucked, but the scenery was magnificent! It was early autumn and the trees were just turning, you could spot some forest animals here and there, and there were a few scenic resting spots. At some point we realized that we had hiked more than the one mile it was supposed to be, but we weren't sure where on this random trail we were, so we hiked the whole thing. Anyway, after we got to the actual campsite and our friends made fun of our misadventure, it was pretty nice. Each individual site is not so close to the other that you can see each other, but they are close enough that you can sort of hear people "jibber-jabberin'", as the little girl in the site next to us described, the very next morning. There are two tent-pitching areas and both have fire pits. There are also picnic benches. We hiked three trails during our trip and they were all fun, and some parts could get a little bit challenging, but not over rocks or anything. There is one that leads to the top of a hill and you can see absolutely everything. It is the perfect place to watch the sun rise. If you're going for a short weekend camping getaway or just looking for a new place to hike with friends or family, this is a good spot with enough things to do and plenty to see. read more

Came here last Sunday when it was over 100 degrees outside. We happened to be in the area so decided to stop by. There is an entrance fee to the park. The gentleman that was at the booth allowed us to just do a quick drive around the park for free (too hot to park and walk around). There is an old farmhouse in the park. I think I came here on a slow day. May come back for the festival in October. read more

This is a friendly and enormous park, with a ton of things to see and do. All the ranger personnel are friendly and helpful, and there's an excellent gift shop. There's so much to do at this park. Dogs are allowed off leash in certain areas, which is very nice. read more

Went here on an early spring weekend for a hike. The trails were pretty empty, which was nice. I prefer the less traveled spots. There weren't many water views, but it was a beautiful hike with some nice views. read more

As a huge supporter of our National Parks, I must say that this State Park surpassed my expectations by far. The roadways and trails are very well maintained. The gift/concessions shop is quite nice. The views are spectacular. In fact, the views very much approximate those from Shenandoah NP. Dogs are permitted here, unlike in NPs. The park hosts a great variety of birds in easy view. I recommend using this park as a center piece of a relaxing country day with plenty of picnicking options. Nearby wineries offer a perfect post-hike refreshment as well! read more

This campground is spectacular. It is beautiful, wild and well worth the mile hike-in. Heard coyotes last night- quite a few of them. Numerous deer roam the land and hills around the park. Well laid out sites with room between each one. Sites are nice- flat tent surface, picnic table and fire pit. Non-potable water via pump, usually. But the pump wasn't working at all (April 2015). Only basic, non-flushing toilet. Love it. The old farm at the park often has fun activities on the weekend. Downside: TICKS. LOTS of them. read more

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Been to Sky Meadows several times, and like it more each time! Beautiful - great hiking. Bring a picnic and spend the day enjoying this awesome place. There are several winery's right on the same road that you can hit on the way home if you like :). read more

Beautiful, calm, serene and quiet. Never have I come and found it crowded. Love coming here and just relaxing. Space for kids to run sound, kick a ball, fly a kite. read more

Great trail markings, great views. I warn you against going up the South Ridge Trail, but it great to go down. The trail is a steady grade. read more

My husband and I visited Sky Meadow on Friday 12/23, and were shocked to find a parking ticket on the windshield upon our return to the car. Particularly because the visitor center was closed, so I had no way of breaking a $20 to pay the $5 parking fee by using the envelope provided at the unmanned kiosk. Very visitor unfriendly and unfair! read more

The campsites at the hike in campground were really, really nice. There was a great area to pitch two tents, a nice firepit, and a picnic table. It was a bit of a hike in, but not bad. So why the low rating? There was a group of young "adults" (quotation marks intentional) across the campground who were incredibly noisy. Quiet hours are supposed to start at 10pm, but they were playing loud music and yelling still around 10:15pm so I called the ranger. He apparently didn't know what time it was, because he replied that "quiet hours don't start until 10pm". When I told him it was past 10pm, he said he was just heading out to walk through. I'm guessing he talked to them, because they quieted down a bit around 10:45pm. But sure enough, it was much past then that they got loud again so I finally called the ranger again around 12:45am. He said he would try to do so something, but didn't really. I walked around the campground at 1:45am and must have looked ranger-like enough for them to finally shut up. I would have gone to their site, but it was so far off the path, I couldn't find it. Other than for them, the campground seemed to be full of families. So if you want to be able to sleep, I recommend a campground where the rangers are a bit more active. Also, there was no firewood for purchase the second day. We ended up skipping the second night, even though the noisy group left, and eating the cost of the reservation. No firewood and little sleep from the night before would have just made the second night too difficult. Trails were nice, though, and no ticks this time of year. read more

Did a basic 2 hour hike up to the AT and back. The trails were well marked, well maintained and provided some varied landscapes as we moved through some fields to the forest up to the AT and then back down again. The views were nice looking down on some rolling hills and farms. For a quick 70 minute drive from the city with a nice lunch in Middleburg this was a fun day. Don't think there's much variety in the trails regardless of the season - I'd probably just go here to get outside rather than anything ambitious. Good for dogs and kids read more

We love this park and come often for hiking and the views. Pretty easy access and a nice country drive to get here.

this is our default park for the weekends we want to take our dogs out with us. they have several trail loops which are perfect for the dogs and kids. we usually walk out one loop and back to the vehicle for lunch and a break and then end the day doing the loop that takes you up to the top of the mountain when you overlook the park visitors center. totally worth the 4 bucks and great if you have dogs. read more

Sky Meadows is perfect for our 4 month old Goldendoodle -- the Snowden Interpretive trail gives him a workout without exhausting him. I would advise anyone hiking here to bring water (we forgot), as the hiking is so good you'll want to keep going. It's just a short drive from Northern Virginia and worth every mile (I wrote a story about it here: http://roamingtheplanet.com/?page_id=473). The park is also great for kids -- we hiked Sky Meadows for many years with ours, who are now in college. Great memories, and making more! read more

Not a great park for hiking with dogs. A lot of the trails are in full sun and to get to the trails there is a lot of sun. Don't think it was worth the $5.00 entrance fee. Trails can be accessed for free further up the road. Nothing special here. Won't be back. read more

This state park is situated in a gorgeous area and is super well maintained and signed. It has some really nice views on Piedmont Overlook and Ambassador Whitehouse trails. The North Ridge and South Ridge trails are more forest covered walks, but beautiful and enjoyable nonetheless. Highly recommend! read more

Camped here last weekend. While we tried to get there before sunset, we didn't arrive until after dark. You can reserve a campsite online, or do it in person. We registered once we got there. The man at the desk was very informative, pointing out where everything was and suggesting campsites that he would recommend. It was our first time camping, but the campsites were well maintained enough, that setting up our tent and starting out fire, wasn't a hassle. The bathrooms close to our site, were clean, (as clean as you could expect a public restroom) and stocked. There was nobody in the sites directly beside us, but the campsites are wide spread enough, where you get a little privacy from your neighbors. The stars were beautiful at night, and once I got over the fear of the random animal noises, it was interesting hearing the sounds of the wild while you fell asleep. I think I've found my go-to camping site. read more

The park is absolutely beautiful. It is a bird watchers heaven and a wonderful place for a family picnic. If it wasn't for the one factor I am about to explain, I would have given this state park 5 stars. Unfortunately, Sky meadows has a MAJOR TICK PROBLEM! My family and I visited last week and unknowingly ended up bringing home with us over a dozen ticks. We spoke to the ranger while we were there, having removed 2 ticks from my 3 year old son in the 2 hours we were there, and she admitted that they have a tick problem. Unfortunately, we didn't realize just how bad that problem was. Even though we checked all the children and the dogs before leaving the park we still discovered many ticks happily crawling around my car when we got home. On further inspection we removed many ticks from the dogs and the picnic blanket we had in the car (it never came out of the car at the park, we sat at a table!) and I ended up having to vacuum the whole car to make sure we got rid of them all. And despite taking these precautions, I found another tiny tick on myself a day later and several more crawling around our carpets a day after that. Like I said before, the park is beautiful, but it just isn't worth the risk these ticks present. We will not be going back :-( read more