Pohick Bay

[jace]

Wasn't sure if this belongs here or in trip planning.

Staying at Pohick Bay Park at the end of this month for a D.C Trip. Site #56. Wondering if anyone has any recent site pics for this park or familiar with site layout. Seems like there doing some construction this summer ( building more cabins) and was wondering if this is a decent site, we like spacious and private.
Also, looking for travel recommendations. Coming from Lancaster, PA in the afternoon unfortunately around rush hour. I want to avoid 95 like the plague. I was thinking about either coming down 81, or 15 to 50, to 123. I don't mind the extra travel time if it will keep me out of sitting in gridlock.
Lastly, any metro advice? I see Springfield is closest stop.

Thanks for the help.

 

[VAoutdoors]

We are going down to Pohick Bay for the first time on Thursday for 3 nights. We're staying in one of the full hookup sites, can't remember the number off hand. Not sure if you have already gone or are going at the end of August, but I would be happy to snap a few pictures and share here.

We live just about 20 miles north in Arlington. The Springfield metro stop about 10 miles away. From there you can park and either take the yellow line downtown (L'Enfant Plaza will get you close to the National Mall) or take the blue line to Arlington Cemetery.

 

[jmkay1]

You are going to hit a lot of traffic no matter which way you go. However you should have better luck with rt 15, rt 50, rt 286 to rt 123. Getting on 286 will avoid a lot of the traffic lights and traffic you would hit if you were to jump directly on 123 early on. Good luck and hope you have fun. My little side kick loved the water park and didn't want to leave. There is good kayaking there and you can rent different type of boats.

 

[jace]

Thanks a lot for the feedback. We will be going down at the end of august for the first. VA, pictures would be great. Were staying in site 56 if you happen to get over that way. Looking forward to your review, and have a great trip.

Thanks

 

[VAoutdoors]

We had a nice stay at Pohick. I'll get a review posted, but for now here are a few pics of site 56 for you.

 

[VAoutdoors]

We stayed two sites down from this one. There is lots of shade, but a little further from the bathrooms. Another pic for you (different angle):

 

[ghacker]

Hope your trip went well. I'm a little late to the party, but we loved Pohick Regional Park CG a couple of yrs. ago. We had site #50 IIRC. Short walk to the bathroom/showers and a large, easy site to back into. While all the sites are heavily treed, I wouldn't call them private. Little ground level vegetation.

 

[vtbxrfan]

Too late to help with your specific site request, but just wanted to chime in for anyone looking for general info on Pohick Bay...we spent a week there in May 2014 and had a great time. We spent most of our days sight-seeing in DC so we weren't at camp a whole lot, but it was a nice and relaxing place to return in the evenings. We would definitely stay there again.

 

[SLOTerp]

We're getting in one more before we shut the PUP down. While we will be staying at Bull Run campground, Pohick Bay was our first choice as we'd stayed here in October and loved it. Unfortunately, their H2O/Electric sites are all booked up over the holiday weekend.

Anyway, it did remind me to log a review. We stayed October 22nd - October 25th in site #24.

Positives
-Spacious sites with fire pit, grill, & table. Our friends were next door in #26 and they seemed really far away.
-Our site backed up to a huge open area with a playground. The girls met lots of new friends throughout the weekend. We were able to set up our badminton set w/o feeling like we were imposing upon others.
-Short walk to the water with beautiful views of Gunston Bay. Boat rentals in-season.
-Medium walk to Gunston Hall (George Mason's home). The tour is worth the money. The guide was one of the most professional and knowledgable I've ever come across (maybe we got lucky).
-Clean restrooms & showers.

Drawbacks
-Some sights looked tighter and uneven.
-There was a group that was really loud to the wee hours. Fortunately, they were far enough away it didn't really bother us but camp host should've shut it down.
-Wet firewood. We had to supplement with kiln-dried from the 7-11 up the street.

For some reason I never think to take pictures of the camper at the site. I do have some with the scenery mentioned above.