Bear Creek Lake State Park Beach
Cumberland, VA
Bear Creek Lake State Park's beach sits inside Cumberland State Forest, a small lake built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1938 on land that used to be Depression era farmland. It's one of the quieter, smaller lake beaches in the state park system, tucked well off any major highway.
A peaceful, uncrowded lake beach with real forest around it, though it's small and doesn't offer much beyond the basics once you're there.
How we score beachesCombine a swim with a walk through the surrounding state forest. The old farmland is still visible in places, rock piles left behind by farmers clearing their fields decades before the lake existed.
A day use fee applies at the gate, though a spot is rarely hard to come by here compared to the more heavily trafficked lake parks.
A short trail through the surrounding pines leads from the lot to the beach, flat underfoot the whole way.
Guarded swimming runs Memorial Day through Labor Day. Shade from the surrounding state forest keeps this beach a touch cooler than more exposed lake beaches on a hot afternoon.
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