North Central PA Camping

[+Indiangrass]

We are anxious to make use of the good weather / low snow and get a jump on trailer camping. We thought we'd go to Penn's Cave, PA and do some caching along the way. Maybe a stop over near Benezette to do some Elk peeking. Nothing (except the cave tour) is open for the season yet! Most places start mid April. Water would be nice but even just to have electric would be wonderful. Actually, after some considerable searching we'd be happy to find any place public or private that would be secure so we can make the day trips to sight-see and cache. So; how about it? Any local info? Any past experiences in that region with "pre-season" camping?

[+DragonsWest]

Have you considered looking at National Forest campgrounds?

 

Also, if you can latch onto one of the paper copies of Delorme State Atlas - Pennsylvania, they show buckets of little known campgrounds. Not sure if they have anything on the web you can peruse.

[+KNAPAHOLIC]

We are anxious to make use of the good weather / low snow and get a jump on trailer camping. We thought we'd go to Penn's Cave, PA and do some caching along the way. Maybe a stop over near Benezette to do some Elk peeking. Nothing (except the cave tour) is open for the season yet! Most places start mid April. Water would be nice but even just to have electric would be wonderful. Actually, after some considerable searching we'd be happy to find any place public or private that would be secure so we can make the day trips to sight-see and cache. So; how about it? Any local info? Any past experiences in that region with "pre-season" camping?

 

I happen to be a ranger at Sinnemahoning State Park, which is about 20 miles north of Beneztte, and the campground there is very nice. There are several smaller private campgrounds near there, as well as two other state parks. If you want, I can provide you with a few names of places, as well as contact info.

[+KyleYankan]

I have a cabin in White Haven, PA, right at I-80 and I-476. The Hickory Run State Park is right across the gorge, has a decent number of caches, and i beleive has campsites. Hope it helps.

[+no ceiling]

We drove through Cherry Springs State Park in Potter County on the way home from GW9 and it looked like a fantastic place to camp. As a bonus, it's one of the darkest places on the east coast for stargazing.

[+tomfuller & Quill]

I think I remember a campground at Penn's Cave. There is a small campground at Woodward Cave.

I don't know if the campground at R.B. Winter State Park is open yet (along Rt. 192). There are many free camping spots in the Bald Eagle State Forest. The BESF District office is near Laurelton along Rt. 45. I used to work there. 570 922-3344

[Keystone]

I am moving this thread from the Geocaching Topics forum to the Mid-Atlantic forum.

[+Indiangrass]

OK, Wow. Thanks everyone for the info! We have heard of some of these and they are closed until early or mid April. (We opted for private property available to us for a quick weekend shakedown run of the camper. Bottled water and electric so we weathered the drizzle just fine.) We will be checking out all the stuff everyone suggested that we didn't know about too so; thank again! **KNAPAHOLIC: Yes, please. We would appreciate the info you have on that area. I worked most of last summer near Benezette and drove through / past Sinnemahoning State Park. Looks to be a great area.

[+PeachyPA]

Bald Eagle State Park is open all year, if I recall correctly. We use it if we are traveling eastward and want to start out after work is done for the day. It is easy to reach from I-80.

[+Indiangrass]

Bald Eagle State Park is open all year, if I recall correctly. We use it if we are traveling eastward and want to start out after work is done for the day. It is easy to reach from I-80.

[+Indiangrass]

Second Friday in April to mid Dec. But it does look nice and we'll add it to the list to try out. Thanks!