What do I love about Mathews Arm Campground in Shenandoah National Park? So many things!

• The simplicity of a national park setting: no frills in a beautiful setting.
• Generator-free area: No generators are allowed in parts of the A and B sections.
• Non-reservable sites! This makes it easier to travel without a plan other than arriving early at a campground. The entire A section (A1-A116) and a small part of C (C143-C145) cannot be reserved. Sites in B (B117-B141), the rest of C (C146-C164), and D (group sites D165-D167) can be reserved.
• $15 price: Our Lifetime Senior Pass cuts that in half (and covers the park admission fee).
• Hiking! You can hike to Overall Run Falls from a trail in the parking lot near the campground and turn this into a loop hike by returning a different way. The ranger at the Dickey Ridge Visitor Center near the Front Royal (North) Entrance Station was extremely helpful. We told her we planned to try 3 of the 4 campgrounds as we drove north to south on Skyline Drive and wanted hiking recommendations. There are 15 separate maps with multiple hikes in each, and we left with several of those marked up by the ranger. We also hiked the Stony Man loop on the way to our next stop at Big Meadows; the 180+ degree view while standing up on top of the rocks was spectacular.
• It's quiet! People don't come to national park campgrounds to party. They come to see the sights and hike. They're tired at night and don't make a lot of noise.

I guess that's enough.

The Sites

• Sites are large but many are lined up right next to each other. I recommend staying away from A72 to the end of A. They're lined up too closely for my taste, and there isn't much shade.
• I liked our site A55 and thought A56-A61 were nice sites. When we entered a sparsely populated park in mid-afternoon on a Monday in October, those sites were already taken. By evening, the park was half full. Arrive early in the day if you don't have a reservation, especially later in the week.

Amenities

• Bathrooms are adequate. There is potable water and a utility sink near the bathrooms, but there are no showers. The closest (coin-operated) showers are about 30 miles south at Big Meadows Campground, the next campground on Skyline Drive. Bathrooms are newer/nicer at Big Meadows and Loft Mountain.
• Trash disposal, ash disposal and recycling bins are available.
• Some sites have food storage lockers. Google reviews indicated park rangers insist you keep all food in a locker, camper or vehicle and you can be fined if you don't. Apparently, bears recognize coolers so you should cover them up in vehicles. (I also heard this at Rocky Mountain NP.)
• There's no store at the campground, but there's one a couple miles south on Skyline Drive.