Winter RV camping in West Virginia is genuinely comfortable once your rig is set up for the cold — the catch is that most places to plug in close for the season. We run State Line Campground, a small family-owned RV park at 186 Cliff Rd in Blacksville, right on the WV/PA line near Morgantown, and we stay open 365 days a year. So we see a lot of winter campers, and this is the advice we actually give them.
Camping in WV this winter? We are open every day of the year with full hookups, free firewood, and hot showers. Call Dana and Rod at 304-376-5970 and we will get you on a good cold-weather site.
What winter is actually like in north-central WV
Around Morgantown and Blacksville, a typical winter day runs from the mid-20s°F overnight to about 40°F in the afternoon, with roughly 25 to 30 inches of snow in a normal winter — and it usually arrives in several smaller events rather than one burying storm. Blacksville sits at a little under 1,000 feet, which puts it among the milder, lower-snow spots in the state. Head 25 to 30 minutes east toward the ridges and it is a different world: places like Coopers Rock sit well above 2,000 feet and are noticeably colder and snowier, and the high country farther east can see well over 100 inches a season.
The practical point is the freeze-and-thaw pattern. Overnight lows are reliably below freezing through most of December, January, and February, while afternoons often climb back above it. That is not arctic cold — it is very workable in a prepared rig — but it does mean your water lines and hose will freeze overnight if you leave them unprotected, and it is exactly why public campgrounds shut their water off for the winter.
Most WV campgrounds close — or shut the water off
This is the part that surprises people. Near Morgantown, the Coopers Rock State Forest campgrounds (McCollum and Rhododendron) close for the season and do not reopen until spring, and Tygart Lake State Park's campground runs spring through fall only. (Valley Falls, near Fairmont, is a day-use park with no campground at all.) Even at the handful of WV state parks statewide that allow some winter camping, the water systems are turned off once temperatures stay below freezing, because buried public water lines cannot be freeze-protected site by site.
So for December through February near Morgantown, developed public options are essentially nonexistent, and the ones that technically stay open leave you hauling your own water. A private, year-round full-hookup campground fills exactly that gap. (Season dates change, so if you are set on a public park, confirm with the park directly before you plan a trip.)
How to set your rig up for a WV winter
None of this is complicated or expensive, and once it is done your rig stays comfortable down well below freezing.
- Water hose. Use a drinking-water-safe heated hose so you can stay connected to the spigot, or fill your fresh tank and disconnect and drain the hose so there is no standing water to freeze overnight. Either way, wrap and insulate the RV's city-water inlet and the spigot — those connection points are the first thing to freeze.
- Holding tanks. Thermostatic tank heater pads stick to the outside of the gray and black tanks and switch on near freezing. Add a little non-toxic pink RV antifreeze (never automotive antifreeze — it is poisonous) to the tanks, and keep the valves closed except when you dump so a thin layer cannot freeze in the line.
- Skirting. Skirting the rig blocks wind from blowing under the floor and traps a warmer pocket of air around the plumbing and tanks — one of the single most effective things you can do. Leave a vent or breather gap for any propane or generator exhaust, and watch for trapped moisture over a long stay.
- Propane. The furnace is your big draw. A ~30,000 BTU furnace burns around 0.3 gallons an hour at full output, and a 20-lb bottle holds roughly 4.6 usable gallons — so in hard cold, plan on a bottle every day or two of heavy heating (it varies a lot with insulation, wind, and thermostat). Keep bottles topped up and the regulator insulated. Remember the furnace also needs 12-volt battery power for its fan, so a weak battery can leave you with no heat even on a full tank.
- Condensation. A closed-up rig builds a lot of moisture. Crack a roof vent or window, run the vent fan when you cook or shower, and aim to keep humidity around 30–40%. Electric heaters and a properly vented furnace add no moisture — unvented "vent-free" propane heaters dump both water vapor and combustion fumes inside, so skip those.
- Batteries. Cold cuts battery capacity. Keep them charged on shore power, and note the lithium rule: do not charge a lithium (LiFePO4) battery below 32°F unless it is a self-heating model — charging cold damages it. Lead-acid tolerates cold charging better but should be kept full.
- Heat and safety. An electric space heater (oil-filled or ceramic with tip-over shutoff) on shore power is the safe way to offset propane and keep the furnace from running all night. Give it clearance, never leave it unattended overnight, and keep a working carbon monoxide and propane alarm — CO risk goes up in winter when the rig is sealed tight.
Why a full-hookup site matters in winter
When the state parks lock their gates and shut off the water, full hookups are the difference between winter camping and winterizing the rig and parking it. Electric is what makes cold-weather RVing comfortable and safe — it runs your space heaters (cutting propane use sharply), powers the tank and hose heaters, and keeps your batteries charged when the cold would otherwise drain them. A live water hookup means you are not rationing jugs, and a sewer connection lets you manage your tanks sensibly instead of hiking to a closed dump station in the snow. At State Line, every site is full 30 and 50 amp hookups, firewood is free and delivered to your site, and the bathhouse has hot showers.
Getting here in winter
State Line is on 186 Cliff Rd in Blacksville, WV 26521, just off the main routes near the PA line. For road conditions, check WV511 (call 511 or visit wv511.org). One local note: interstates and primary routes like I-79 are cleared first, and smaller county roads are plowed after those, so if you are arriving during or just after a storm, give it time and aim for daylight. Call ahead and the owners will give you directions from your route, or open the campground in Google Maps.
Coming from the other side of the line? We also have a guide to winter RV camping in Pennsylvania.