bear creek lake state park

In the area for a few hours and hiked the Lakeside Trail and Channel Cat. Trailhead for both trails at the boathouse/beach parking area. It was raining steady but the dense canopy of the trees kept me from getting too wet. Plenty of birds, turtles, beautiful fall colors along the trails and around the lake. Staff at office helpful and friendly, office appeared to be well stocked, plenty of campers enjoying the weekend. Hope to return to paddle the Lake.

I was expecting a rustic cabin but was thrilled to find a well-appointed, comfy retreat. We stayed in cabin #3, which overlooks the lake and was immaculately clean! Everything you need to be comfortable is provided. Just bring food, games, and hiking boots! It has a large wraparound porch with rocking chairs, and a fire pit for s'mores. The bedrooms were simple but comfortable. Tons of windows and even a wood-burning fireplace.The queen bed in the bedroom was VERY FIRM, but my husband preferred it. My teenager thought the bunkbeds were great. The cabin had ample room. We hiked all around the lake (be sure to pay close attention to the maps where trails link to each other) and rented kayaks for a couple of hours. All around easy and relaxing--no stress of forgetting items or packing essentials. There's always the park office or convenience store at the entrance to the park if you forget something. Friendly staff, too.

The park was very clean and the lake was beautiful. We camped at one of the lakefront campsites and had quite a view. We went paddle boating, hiking, bike riding, and fishing. The park also offered archery programs, campfires, geocaching, art and crafts, and several other activities. We will be back!

We just returned from a 3 day, 2 night stay in Cabin #6 at Bear Creek Lake State Park and had a lot of fun! The cabin is beautiful, and is private- no other cabins overlook this one. The lake is a decent size, and has many things to do- the kayak was fun! Would definitely stay again, park staff was very friendly, and the setting is nice!

I went camping to this state park on my birth day with my friends.This park is 1 hour drive from Richmond so the Kids won't ask 'Are we there yet' question. Office staffs are very nice and they give you option of pick and choose any available camp site of your convenience (you can go see them and before you select). Lake side camp sites provide nice views. Park has very good/clean rest rooms with nice hot water shower. Don't miss Friday camp fire and the riddles. Seasonal forest ranger Danniel was very nice and interactive and kept us engaged for an hour (very informative). Don't forget to sign up for weekend programs since seats are very limited. Actually i learned canoeing and fishing during this trip. My daughter would spend the whole day at the beach (if you leave her alone :) ). Adults can swim or play beach volley ball or hike. Kids could do geo cashing or arts and craftes etc. Over all its nice place to visit and i would love to go back again and again in summer.

This is just a great place. We rented a lakeside campsite for the weekend and arrived as early as possible, as the sites are first-come-first-choice. We got a great site in the shade. All the sites have a leveled area with parking spot for 2, picnic table, fire pit, and a spot for the tent covered in ground tires. Each group of sites has access to shower/restroom facilities, which were cleaner than expected. The lake is great for hiking around or fishing from the bank or small boat. There is a beach area that is open during the day and even a snack bar. This place was great even though it was so hot and humid that sleeping was not great. I will be back in the fall.

I highly recommend Bear Creek Lake State Park!Nice campsites, clean park, friend staff....Beautiful lake area for swimming, fishing & hiking!This is a great place to take your family and hang out, camp, swim, fish & hike.

Cabin 2 has a lake view through the trees. This 2 bedroom 1 bath large cabin has a full kitchen, sheets and bath towels air cond. fireplace, wrap around porch with 4 chairs, grill and fire pit. We had a blast. This is just like camping but with out the tent. Oh yeah! Swimming beach, trails biking and fishing. Great time! Beautiful state park. No TV. Just relax.

If you are looking for comfort and beautiful scenery, you will love this park. We rented Cabin 9 and it was amazingly large and clean! I love that the beds are completely made up before you arrive. The kitchen was well stocked, everything was clean. NO dishwasher, and no television. I was in heaven...no distractions! If you need Wi-fi, you can drive over to the parking lot by the camp office and get it there. There was firewood already in our fireplace; every little thing was taken care of. There is a huge wrap-around porch. There is a fire ring for outdoor campfires, and also a grill. You will need charcoal. The trails are well marked. There is a nice boat ramp to launch from. Fishing is good. There are cleaning stations around the park, which is really great. There is a beautiful area for small children to play; the equipment is very well maintained. The office has a very nice selection of gifts. I believe they are working on the diner by the lake, and there is also a concession stand by the lake. I don't recommend the market store at the entrance to the park; it's not very clean and the selection stinks. Be sure to bring your own TV/DVD player, if you want to watch DVD's. Bring a radio if you want that. We will go back, it was a great trip.

Terrific 2 night mid-week stay in Cabin #2! We thoroughly enjoyed the well marked and maintained trails and the cabin met all our expectations - very clean and well equipped. The view of the lake from Cabin #2 was very nice. Cabin #1 does not have a lake view but on a return visit, we will choose that one as it is more private and secluded. The recreation areas all looked very nice. (Boat rental and swimming were not yet available in April) We had great cell phone and wi-fi service from the parking area beside the park office. The park rangers were friendly and helpful at check-in and check-out. We came for some peace and quiet and Bear Creek Lake Park delivered!

We stayed at a tent only site and although its not as out of the way as being in the mountains, it was beautiful. The tent sites all have tent pads ranging in size from about 10x10 to about 16x20. We have a huge tent and we called ahead to make sure it would fit since you can NOT have the tent overhang the tent pad. You can not reserve a specific site, so we got there super early on a weekday when we knew it wouldn't be packed and we were able to pick a site well before check in time. There was literally not one other camper in the entire park the first nite we were there.. creepy! But also awesome. The hot showers are FREE unlike other parks. They sell ice and firewood from the ranger station BUT make sure you get what you need before they leave! There are some nice lil trails that are super easy to walk, even very kid friendly. You do hear some vehicles every now and then but not many. We did have some squirrels that were very persistant and we had to be super careful with food and garbage. Several hotdog buns and marshmallows were swiped by them. There was also an abundance of flies on the 2nd day until we left several days later. Not sure why. Bug spray didn't help nor did the smoke from the fire. All in all it was a pleasant stay an I would reccomend it highly. Some sites are literally right on the lake, bu they can get lots of wind off the lake and get very cold at nite, but fishing from your site would be awesome!

We camped in a tent for one night. The bathhouse was clean and not too far from where we camped. The park is beautiful. There is plenty to do with multiple hiking trails, boat rentals at the lake and the beach/playground area. There were also free activities offered by park workers for the family, like leaf prints, bird watching and ghost stories with a marshmallow roast.

After a few years (and a childhood) of visiting state parks and living in the cabins you cannot imagine the surprise my family and I had upon entering our cabin at BCLSP!!!The facility was amazingly well kept up, spacious, and accommodated all of our needs.The boat rentals were very well priced, and the trails we hiked were all well marked and in good condition. We canoed and paddleboated on subsequent days and enjoyed seeing turtles, blue heron, and some very odd-looking ducks.

We stayed in a tent site (A9) that had a beautiful view of the lake. The people staying at the other tent camp sites during the night we were there were families and it was nice that there weren't any rowdy, loud groups around us. We enjoyed everything about the experience, including the polite camp staff members, the boat/kayak rental experience, the campsite atmosphere, and the park itself. The lake doesn't seem all that big at first, but when we took kayaks out we realized that the lake spread out further than it appeared at first. We'd recommend it to anyone looking for a peaceful camping experience at a smaller state park.

While traveling (5/27/2013) on Memorial Day we ventured out to this little Virginia State Park lake. I'm a big fan of Claytor Lake, VA and Roxbury Pond aka Ellis Lake in Roxbury, Maine. Bear Creek Lake has a lot of potential but seems a bit run down. The dock is in need of renovating. The beach area is small and seemed crowded for Labor Day. We didn't do any swimming so we didn't look to see if there were bathrooms so I can't comment on their cleanliness. The camping areas seemed nice. The woods have a lot of underbrush. I tend to like to see camping areas with lots of hardwoods and clear grounds. They do rent canoes, jonboats, and paddleboats, we didn't ask about the price. They have lots of picnic tables with grills up off the ground. There were lots of people fishing and many families having a great time celebrating Memorial Day. We paid $3.00 for each car to get in. The staff was very friendly. The lake is more the size of large pond than a lake, but it is still beautiful. It's a diamond in the rough but with a lot of volunteer hours and a dozen goats it could be a spectacular hidden find.