Book Prince William Forest Park campsites online

Prince William Forest Park has joined the National Park Service’s national online reservation system – Recreation.gov.  “This will provide park visitors with a secure and user-friendly online reservation environment and hopefully increase awareness of the park’s family-friendly, 100-site Oak Ridge Campground,” according to Laura Cohen, Chief of Interpretation at Prince William Forest Park.

From April 18 to Oct. 31 2012, visitors who want to camp in Oak Ridge Campground B- and C-loops can reserve a campsite by going to Recreation.gov or calling 1-877-444-6777.  In-person reservations can be made during business hours at the visitor center.  In conjunction with the move to online camping reservations, the park will increase its camping fee from $15 per site, per night ($7.50 for Interagency Senior/Access Passholders) to $20 per site, per night ($10 for Interagency Senior/Access Passholders), Cohen said.

The park official noted that visitors who camp at Prince William Forest Park have access to “family-friendly, ranger-led campfire programs during the summer, and fantastic hiking and biking year-round on the park’s 37 miles of trail and 12 miles of roads.”

The 43 sites in the A-loop of Oak Ridge Campground will remain first-come, first-served for those who decide to camp at the park on the spur of the moment.

According to Cohen, all money collected through park camping and entrance fees stays within the park and is used for projects that directly improve the visitor experience, with the exception of the money charged by the contractor to run the online reservation system, The increase in camping fees was necessary to continue to fund these visitor experience projects, despite the increase cost charged by the contractor.

The park is located between VA 234 and VA 619 in eastern Prince William County, a short distance from exits on Interstate 95 south. For more information, go to http://www.nps.gov/prwi or call the visitor center at 703-221-4706.