Best Dog-Friendly Camping near Allegheny National Forest

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. There were so many gorgeous hike-in sites it was hard to choose! The scenic overlook hike is pretty easy and there’s a lot of boulders to explore in the national forest. A lovely little weekend get away. Trails are dog friendly, too!

This campground is within Allegheny National Forest near the town of Warren and Tidouette. The sites are few but spacious. Good for car camping, though I’m sure a smaller RVcould get by. Each site has a fire ring. Two sites have Adirondack type shelters. The night sky is promising but light pollution from Warren inhibits a truly awesome night sky. There is a vault toilet. No showers. No water either. Bring what you need! The closest town is about 30 minutes away. Lots of critter life. My dogs loved it here. We spent all days exploring the nearby trails and creeks. Price was cheap. No frills but a quiet respite for sure.

Twin Lakes is a beautiful spot, tucked away in a stream valley in the Allegheny National Forest. It's mainly locals who come here, since few outsiders know about it. If you come in the spring or fall, you're likely to have the whole recreation area to yourself, though the swimming beach can get crowded in summer. Originally, there were supposed to be two small lakes--more like ponds--on this site. But money for the second pond was redirected elsewhere--to construct the swimming area at the Lolita Campground instead. And so, the little body of water called "Twin Lake" sits solitary and with a misleading name. The campground is quiet and pleasant, with large, sunny sites for trailers in the lower loop and shaded tent sites in the upper loop. Unfortunately, nearby gas drilling has made the drinking water unsafe, and so the National Forest Service first closed the upper loop, and now for the 2018 "camping year" it has closed the entire campground. The ANF website promises that this is temporary, and the campground will reopen. In every way, Twin Lakes is a lovely location, with dark, towering hemlock trees, rustic old CCC architecture, and a serene little lake completely encircled by a walking trail. Black bears have long been habituated to humans at Twin Lakes! Keep your food and toiletries in the car. To my knowledge, no one has ever been attacked by a bear here. The wild and overrun Twin Lakes Trail is a linear backpacking route that starts here and heads westward toward the North Country National Scenic Trail. But unfortunately, the Twin Lakes Trail ends up getting lost in those dismal parts of the forest that have been completely trashed by gas drillers. I hope this campground reopens. I have fond memories of bringing my kids here when they were little, flying kites, picking berries, swimming in the frigid spring water! PS: If you've got a tall trailer, be sure to check the Twin Lakes page on the ANF website; there's a way in, but it's not all that easy to find.

We have tented and RV'd at Clear Creek. A must do when camping in Pennsylvania. The Clarian river is great for kayaking . Multiple trails off of park. Biking and breweries close by. if you have RV/travel trailer do NOT recommend the non-power sites, they are not level enough, you may really have to bring up the trailer. There were wonderful campsites hosts when we there

Pros; excellent location, great friendly people, clean and stocked bathrooms which include showers. Some sites are separated.. great camp hosts

Cons…a few sites are really close, however not a bad thing here as we got to meet a lot of great people, so for us it was kind of a Pro.

Cooks forest is absolutely gorgeous. I look forward to returning as there are a lot of hiking opportunities we missed. We stayed in the pet friendly area, which was nice. There is a pet trail through the woods that was really great to take our dog rather than walking around the campground. Our site was right next to a drinking water spigot and a path to the bath house. The sites near ours were in a wooded area, which felt more private than many of the other sites we saw. There was a fore pit and a picnic table. Our fire pit was behind where the camper was parked, which also felt more private. There is no alcohol permitted in PA state parks, so alcohol is prohibited in the campground as well. It was a great spot, and we look forward to returning.

This 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.

We stayed in the pet friendly area for 4 days. Very nice campers, bathrooms very clean. Even with half the spaces open, still felt a little crowded.

This is one of our favorite campgrounds. Very neat & clean. Full hookup sites & pet friendly. Close to dam where the fish are plentiful. Nice level sites.

Grew up in the area so I’m bias but I love the atmosphere. Swimming, mini golf, kayaking, horse riding, etc. and so much more to do in the area. Visit the Farmers Inn restaurant and petting zoo while you’re in the area.

especially on the pet loop - nicest sites, location-wise, for a tent are 49-53 or 43 in the woods, and 40 on the Clarion River. Canoe-in group sites are nice, too, and secluded. 1 bar Verizon service - no wifi - firewood for sale - water spigots throughout park

Allegheny National Forest is Pennsylvania's only National Forest and a gem of a location for outdoor recreation. Hearts Content itself is a well-maintained, very quiet campground with some of the most private sites we've experienced in 15 years of regular car camping.

Site A02 is very nice for privacy, one of the three front sites which means a bit of road traffic for other arriving campers, but covered by dense old-growth forest on all three sides and well set off the road. Ample tree coverage means an excellent shade canopy, but not-so-great if you're powering your rig with solar.

Clean, good-tasting drinking water at several community water spigots are available, and the central grassy area even contains a clean and well-maintained playground.

The campground itself is actually across the road from the Recreation Area. The Recreation Area is home to 3 nice hiking trails, including one all-season trail that converts to a cross-country skiing trail in the snowy months, as well as some picnic tables and a restroom.

The campground has a couple pit toilets that have been very well maintained by campground hosts each year we've been there. Zero smell or problems here, they appear to be looked after daily. They are still pit toilets so this is not exactly a luxury affair, but as pit toilets go, these definitely suffice.

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INTERNET: One bar of usable Verizon 4G LTE and T-Mobile 4G LTE suitable for slow web browsing and e-mail, but little else. Because of the very dense tree cover here, Starlink is not really a viable option. The most southern facing sites have more of a clearing which may work for Starlink, but are smaller, less private, and also face the group campsite which is well trafficked by Boy Scout troops and other summer camp gatherings, so you're upping your noise quite a bit.

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MAJOR PROS: This is a great campground to just enjoy camping. Set some 15 miles back in old growth forest, the most private of the campsites provide a very pleasant wilderness experience but still some well-maintained amenities like fresh drinking water and good pit toilets. In our experience camping here several times over several years, weekdays are very quiet at this location, perhaps the quietest of any campground of this size and caliber we've experienced anywhere. It's only really Friday evenings and Saturdays where you'll see more than 3-4 other campers in this place.

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The closest nearby town is Warren, PA a small but service-rich town set on the Allegheny River that provides all the necessary stuff - a Wal Mart,  a Lowes, and plenty of restaurants and little shops. Warren is the longtime home of a refinery of some sort and on days when the downwind is blowing especially strong, you can catch the faint whiff of a funky but ambiguous smell of…something?

Cell service kicks up to 5G on T-Mobile in Warren itself, but you're still stuck on 4G with Verizon, as of summer 2022.

Back to the campground, I would highly recommend this place for people who can get out there on weekdays and enjoy peace and quiet. Firewood is available for sale at the Camp Host campsite, but there's so much downed wood behind just about every site that purchasing wood really isn't necessary: you can keep a hot fire going all night, for free, just by cleaning out the underbrush.

This is such a pretty, quiet campsite that during weekdays the area deer will often approach from the woods behind the campsites to feast on low hanging leaves. We've seen dozens of them who will get within 10-20 yards of you for a snack later into the night. While never getting too close, it does make for a pleasant wildlife viewing opportunity.

We really like this place. No showers or other running-water facilities and limited internet service prevent this place from being a perfect 5. It is also a bit of a drive into town for provisions or daily ingress if you need these amenities. That aside, tent, trailer or RV, you are likely to enjoy your experience here if you enjoy camping at all.

We are a small family campground located in the Allegheny Forest, 6 miles from the Kinzua Sky Walk. Fishing & boating is located off route 59. Call ahead for reservations we have 8 open sites for visitors and they full fast. See our website for the list of planned actives. We are pet friendly.

Real nice park that can get pretty busy on weekends. We arrived on a Thursday and, in advance, reserved one of the few remaining sites. Never used their facilities, but they looked nice. Electric only at our site. Both ATT & Verizon signals weren't bad. Wouldn't try to watch a movie or stream anything though. For the most part the sites were pretty level. Most pretty shaded, and there is also a pet section as well as a full hookup area. The full hookup, as normal are full sun for big rigs.

We had a great four-night stay in Loop C at Cain Hollow in late July/early August. Our site was wide and long. We had electric and we close to a water pump so we could fill up our camper. The campground provides great metal locking bear prevention boxes at each site for your trash and cooler. So awesome! While we have visited this park in the past, we found the new bath house at Quaker Lake and new boat rental feature at that lake nice. However, $18 for an hour boat rental seemed high.