Panama is the perfect place for adventurous campers and RVers. Panama is a great camping destination for everyone. There are tons of nearby hikes, adventurous activities, and sights to see. Search nearby campsites and find top-rated spots from other campers.
$35 - $300 / night
"Staff was nice and friendly. Facility included several extras including a new pool. Bathrooms were clean and well stocked and showers were nice. Overall, I would highly recommend camping here,"
"Not too far from the Interstate & there was no highway noise at the campground.
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$30 - $65 / night
"We were in a tent on a electric/water site. Sites were a little small but we made it work with three families on three sites."
"Three bath houses available. Depending on where you’re at - it’s a very fast run if u need it quickly.
Staff was very accommodating to our requests and needs. Professional."
"great New York state park. stayed here for 2 nights and I will be back. the park is so big I only got to do some of the hiking. very nice."
"There's also two beaches, over a dozen hiking trails, a restaurant, camp stores, a dump station, and more."
$20 - $53 / night
"Fishing boating, hiking family fun all around. Weather appropriate heated/ cooled indoor real bathrooms and shower rooms."
"HIGHLIGHTS:
Paved loops great for bikes
Lake with small clean beach
Canoe/kayak rentals (closed 2022 season)
Several nice playgrounds
Clean, modern bathrooms
Several kayak/canoe launch areas"
"It was fairly full when I went, the staff was very friendly and helpful. There was a band playing in the middle of the campground at dusk which made for a great experience. Great campground overall!"
"Very friendly staff."
$20 - $130 / night
"For the most part, there isn’t a bad site (although we didn’t see any of the walk up sites, and I recommend not booking a site immediately next to the bathrooms since the ones without showers are more"
"Several sites have electric but most are for boondocking. The sites closest to the GORGEOUS reservoir are all primitive. All sites are back-in."
$12 / night
"No running water or electricity, but that’s what we were looking for. We had a big tent (10x14) and 2 vehicles, with plenty of room to spare."
"Cute little campground with a handful of drive up sites and many hike-in sites scattered along the beautiful Minister Creek in the Allegheny National Forest."
$20 - $100 / night
"Pitching a tent was easy on the driveway and fairly level. Some sites had large high sided fire rings which take away from the fireside relaxation of a shorter camp chair. "
"The site was spacious and was not close to other campers giving a feeling of secludedness and alone time in nature! Could easily walk to a nearby trail and down to the lake front!"
"The bathrooms were clean and cleaned frequently while we were there. We saw the ranger or park staff drive through once or twice a day and they always waved and were friendly."
"The Red House Administration building is a great central location to meet up with other camping families.
Staff is super friendly & helpful."
$12 - $75 / night
"Arrived to a nearly empty campground. Only a few people on a weekday.
No firewood on site, so bring it with ya. Really good, cold water from the well!
Little bit of Verizon coverage."
"Last time we went it was a honor system - put $ in envelope at box near entrance . Ranger might come by to check people and payment - and he/ she may not."
TravelerThis is my favorite campground so far in PA.
For the most part, there isn’t a bad site (although we didn’t see any of the walk up sites, and I recommend not booking a site immediately next to the bathrooms since the ones without showers are more like “outhouse” toilets and can stink). The sites are private, flat, surrounded by trees, and have plenty of space. The ground is quite rocky though, so bring plenty of heavy duty tent steaks.
Highlights include: the reservoir (beautiful and clean! You can swim with your dog from the access points at the campground), quiet, friendly staff (a kind older gentleman helped us jump my car and refused to take any money as a thank you), updated/very clean showers, not buggy, reception is great (we have Verizon), plenty of room to social distance, and 2 trading posts about 1 mile away with milk, eggs, basic supplies, etc.
Cons: the bathrooms without showers aren’t flush toilets, and there is no campground office so you must see the hosts for any issues.
Things to do nearby (last 5 pictures): the Kinzua Skywalk Bridge free- an old train bridge that was partially destroyed by a tornado in the early 2000’s. The bridge is handicap/stroller accessible, pets are allowed. There is a small indoor museum & gift shop, and a hiking trail along the wreckage. If you hike, wear good sneakers, the path is rocky and VERY steep. The hiking path is not recommended for small children). Bathrooms on site.
The Kinzua Dam free - beautiful. Handicap/stroller accessible, pets permitted. Bathrooms were closed due to social distancing.
Rimmrock overlook free- just a small distance from the parking lot. NOT stroller/handicap accessible, and there are rock steps, however we saw numerous families with small children go through the path with no issues. Pets permitted. Bathrooms on site.
Nearby towns of Kane and Ridgway looked cute, but we didn’t spend time there due to our efforts to social distance.
GuideThe facilities in the campground are very good (relatively new bath house with nice clean showers). The campsites are a good size although most have no natural shade or privacy. My only real complaint is that this seemed like a "party park" with music playing and people being loud after quiet hours. In addition, the beach area had a lot of trash laying around.
LegendCampground Review: Red Oak is located in the Alleghany River area of Wahyrren County PA, near the Kinzua Dam. It's a private campground with all kinds of amenities: a pool, gameroom, store, brick oven pizza shop, cermanics hut, activity center and large playground. They host activities like "yard sale weekend" and "mini-carnivals". A large portion of the campground serves as a seasonal campground for campers and other recreational vehicles, and has an adorable little side trail of newer "tiny home" style cabins available for rent. These areas are beautiful, quiet and treed, with large sites including ample space for campfire parties and hammocks. The owners live on site and are very gracious hosts and shop keepers!
The "tent" and daily camper camping area centers primarily around a very large open space, which houses a field, a little kids play area (many huge sized Legos for fort building mini-golf, horseshoes and an inflatable jump pad). This was amazing for my kids and they enjoyed every minute of their camp experience, however, for the adults, we found it a bit busy. Quiet hours are not really enforced, and bands of wild and (let's face it) thrilled, kids played until all hours of the dark night, illuminated at the playground by a bright street light. They are very dog friendly. Campers themselves were fairly quiet and non disruptive, but make no mistake, this is an activity campground focusing on kids and activities. The pool is sunny and well kept, with an added bonus of a lifeguard on duty. Bathrooms were very clean and newer, and the lack of showers didn't seem to be a problem, as most of the campers here use their own RV stalls, and so we never found a wait, which was nice.
Area: this area is unique. It's near a small industrial town on the banks of the Alleghany River, where you can find basic dining and stores for convenience, and is only about 25 mins from the Kinzua Dam Recreational Area which is lush and green and beautiful. Aside from the dam, which is one of the largest in the country, the accompanying reservoir is beautiful. Boating, fishing and relaxing are abundant on this beautiful quiet lake in the mountains. There's a small public beach, park area, and boat docks. The recreational area and surrounding forest include several trailheads for exploring, and mountain hikes at the top of which you can overlook the dam and reservoir. One hidden gem is a small parking area and trailhead just past the dam on the reservoir side, called Bent Run Waterfalls. A short hike in reveals a set of fairy-garden like waterfalls stepping down the side of a mountain that overlooks the reservoir. It's beautiful, and we even let the dog and kids play in their little pools of fresh water. This area is often uncrowded and a gem of the area.
Product Review:
As a Dyrt Ranger, I get the opportunity to review items from time to time. This trip we tried out the Belmont Blanket! First off, let me say that it was unseasonably cold and windy in the evenings for August, so this blanket ended up being a welcome addition to our trip. Deceptively thin and easily packable, this LARGE blanket unrolls to a really usable size of 5'x6' - and has a unique construction. It's outside layer is a soft brushed waterPROOF shell, which seriously works. It blocked out the wind and sprinkling rain of one of our campfire nights. I'll never use a poncho again. The interior of it is a VERY soft brushed fleece, which is shiny and actuallly feels more like a ultra-soft pelt. Its construction is wildly durable, and hand made (by someone who actually signed a little note inside the box!). Being so big, it was able to completely wrap around me, including a hood, and was shareable between myself and 2 kids seated next to me in chairs. Then I brought it home and popped it in the washer! Like new! This blanket is well worth the cost, but I likely wouldn't have known that had I not gotten the opportunity to try it out throughout Dyrt. I even used it over my bed while camping to keep the damp out and the warmth in, and it worked perfectly without unnecessary weight. This is an item that we have since gotten far more use out of than just camping. It's been to the beach, park, and even back yard and we just roll it up and keep it out at this point. I'd highly recommend the investment in this top of the line "adventure blanket". It's also kind of beautiful, with its bold colors and leather hook-loop and strap. Overall - we're huge fans of this über-functional blanket!
TravelerWe found the shelters accidentally during a hike in the park and returned for an overnight. We found parking nearby so it was just a short hike to get to.
I believe it's once a year that they have oil machinery demonstrations. Very interesting. You can also take a train ride through the park.
LegendCampground Review
I can honestly say that Oil Creek Family Campground is the best private campground that we have ever camped at. Especially if you’re camping with kids, it offers everything that you would want for a ‘great American summer’ style camping experience, without being a cookie-cutter big-name private campground chain. They have a large pool; a few llamas that the kids can feed and pet; a 27-hole disc golf course (recently expanded from 18 hole) primarily in the woods near and around the campground property; a small pond for sunfish / bass fishing; a dog ‘playground’ (enclosed area with some obstacles); a well-maintained hedge maze; a pavilion with ping pong, a pool table, and foosball; a DVD rental program at the main office with about 300 movies; and a small camp store with a small selection of books that you can borrow. They also provide weekly entertainment for the kids, e.g. rock painting or special guests. This weekend, for instance was ‘Jungle Terry and his amazing exotic animal family.’ We don’t typically spend a ton of time actually AT the campgrounds when we’re camping, but we did this weekend - and we had a blast on the disc golf course, fishing in the pond, and playing ping pong. The kids had an awesome time in the pool for hours and running around with the other kids in the maze. And everyone agreed that it was a perfect way to wrap up the summer before the school year starts.
We have a pop-up and my parents (whom we were camping with for the weekend) use a tent, so we had two water+electric sites in the tent camping area away from the RVs: sites A7 and A8. The sites in this area are well-maintained and LARGE, with plenty of room for a pop-up or multiple tents plus one or two vehicles, plus lots of room around the fire ring. There are smaller bathrooms placed around the campground as well as a center bathhouse located adjacent to the pavilion with 2 shower stalls and an additional toilet per gender.
We chose this campground due to its proximity to Oil Creek State Park. The state park itself does not have a campground, and OCFC is right next door - in fact, the campground hiking trail loop has a very short connecting piece to the 36-mile Gerard hiking trail that runs through the park. The park is beautiful with a lot of history (it is the site of the world’s first commercial oil well, and where the oil industry began in the United States around 1860) and Oil Creek - which is really a river - runs right down the middle of the park. It is a stocked creek and it’s great for both trout and bass fishing. Some parts of the creek also have a lot of northern water snakes (we saw 4 near the Blood Farm day use area) which was cool to see.
Overall: fantastic campground in a beautiful part of Pennsylvania - and we will absolutely be back.
Product Review
As a Ranger for The Dyrt, I get occasionally receive products to test or gift cards for new companies to check out. Over the past weekend, we tried out one of the Mountain House favorites, freeze-dried Lasagna with Meat Sauce in the #10 can. Lasagna is not exactly a typical camping food, so the fact that we could easily make enough lasagna to feed a group of six people (4 adults and 2 kids) just by heating up some water was wonderful! We made the entire can (boil 8 cups of water, pour it into the can itself, stir a lot to mix up all of the freeze-dried ingredients, and let it sit for ten minutes - EASY) along with some crescent-roll wrapped hot dogs over the fire and it was like a gourmet camping meal. Everyone loved the lasagna - even the two picky kids!
GuideWe enjoyed the hiking trails and the beach with a new modern beach house. There were lots of nature programs put on by the park. The campsites were a little too closely spaced, and no one enforced quiet hours. We could hear people laughing and carrying on all night long.
ScoutThis campground is operated by the state and they take excellent care of it. The sites are spacious with all different types of typography - large boulders, slopes, flats all with grass and dirt, handicap accessible picnic tables and fire rings. Few sites have full hook-up and those are closest to the paved roads. Several sites have electric but most are for boondocking. The sites closest to the GORGEOUS reservoir are all primitive. All sites are back-in. There are paths leading down to the reservoir throughout the campground. The pit toilets and shower houses are well-located and very clean. There is firewood available for purchase on-site. There is an easily accessible dump site right on the property. It was a quiet place with respectful campers. Kayaking down the river from Westline back to the campground was a blast! The water was higher because of all the rains this month so we got lucky and encountered some class III rapids. Usually a trip of this distance might have you doing some portage in that same river when the water is at normal levels. We ventured away from camp this time into the town of Westline and Kane and found some great little local restaurants and even a distillery that rolled out the welcome mat for us! No other frills are available at Redbridge campground, but if you just want to be in the woods and enjoy nature, this is the place to do just that. Bring your boats, bikes and hiking boots and have a ball surrounded by the natural beauty that is the Allegheny Reservoir area.
ScoutWe have a camper, but wanted to take the kids tent camping for a change, and this was the perfect place. It’s first come first serve, but we lucked out with a huge spot, shady, right beside the gorgeous creek, and also the closest to the toilet (which did occasionally send a slight scent our way, but not really a big deal). No running water or electricity, but that’s what we were looking for. We had a big tent (10x14) and 2 vehicles, with plenty of room to spare.
GuideAfter backpacking the rimrock/Morrison trails in one day, my friends and I all drove by Red bridge campground and thought it was perfect! We had a great spot right by the water. There are walk up spots and way more drive up to car camping spots. It was pretty busy, and the owners were constantly making their rounds before it started to get dark. The wild life was great, with barred owls, many ducks, and different fish species constantly popping up by the spot. Very peaceful at night and the showers and facilities are nice as well! Definitely recommend.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is the most popular glamping campsite near Panama, NY?
According to TheDyrt.com, the most popular glamping campground near Panama, NY is Chautauqua Lake KOA with a 5-star rating from 8 reviews.
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