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Summer 2026: The Reader Mailbag, and a KOA Changes Its Mind

No big regional sweep this time. Between mid June and early August the parks came to us: readers wrote in from truck stops, entrance gates, and campground front desks, and 12 new parks across 9 states made the cut, bringing the directory to 591. The quiet headline is Wytheville KOA in Virginia, which went from stations-only to charging at your own site, the first park we have watched loosen its policy.

Total Parks Added
12
✅ Charging Allowed
6
🔌 Charging Stations
1

Highlights This Month

  • Wytheville KOA Holiday is the first park we have watched loosen its policy. It entered the directory as stations-only, with campsite charging off limits. As of July it advertises Level 2 charging at the site itself: plug in the EV and the RV on the same pad, at the same time. Progress rarely announces itself; sometimes it just shows up on the rate card
  • Two Nevada additions cover some of the emptiest highway in America. Welcome Station RV Park outside Wells and Pony Express RV Stop in Austin both told a reader on the phone that any site with a hookup is fair game for overnight charging, no extra fee. Out where the next DC fast charger is mostly a rumor, that answer is worth real money
  • Mt. Lassen Shingletown KOA keeps a Tesla destination charger on site, free for overnight guests, and a reader says a second unit is in the works. At 3,900 feet on the climb into Lassen, a free overnight top-off is the right amenity in exactly the right place
  • Niagara Falls/Grand Island KOA says no to charging but tells you exactly where to go instead: the Western New York Welcome Center, less than 2 miles from the gate, with DC fast charging waiting. A refusal that comes with directions beats plenty of yeses
  • Harry L. Swartz Campground sits inside Middle Fork River Forest Preserve, the first International Dark Sky Park in Illinois. A reader reports you can charge at any powered site, and 53 of the 65 sites have power. Charge overnight while the Milky Way does its thing overhead

Trends & Insights

  • →Every park in this round started as a reader tip. Two we pinned to official sources, one carries the reader-submitted chip, and ten ship with the amber "Reader report, not confirmed by the park" flag, a disclaimer, and a lead FAQ spelling out exactly what we could and could not verify. That system now covers 19 parks across the directory. If you have charged somewhere we have not listed, or been turned away somewhere we list as friendly, write in. This entire issue exists because people did
  • →The KOA wall is showing cracks. In June, eighteen of nineteen new KOAs said no. This round, five KOAs crossed our desk and the split was two yes, three no. Watkins Glen/Corning KOA Resort told a reader that plugging into the site hookup with an adapter is fine, while Savannah South KOA wrote back citing insurance and an electrical system that predates the question. Same brand, franchise by franchise, different answers
  • →Housekeeping, because these updates have a backlog: back in May we swept Tennessee, 27 parks that never got a mention here. The short version is seven state parks with charging stations, led by Fall Creek Falls and Roan Mountain, and a long row of TVA dam campgrounds that all say no. The full list has been live on the Tennessee page since spring
  • →Two small site changes worth knowing about: the address block on every park page now has one-tap Get Directions buttons for Google and Apple Maps, and reader-reported parks are visibly flagged everywhere they appear, so you always know which policies come from the park and which come from a fellow traveler

New Parks by State

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