Best Campgrounds near Butler, PA

Our first time at Cook Forest and the state park campgrounds. The park itself is very hilly and beautiful. Trails in area are well marked and maintained. Nothing beyond moderate difficulty, but some are one direction and miles can add North Country Trail is one example of this. 

The highlight of the park is the old growth forest. 300+year old evergreen trees and ancient stumps, moss, ferns. Some areas are fairy tail gorgeous. Offseason, which is when we were there (mid May) can be dead quiet. Like test your tinnitus quiet. This includes the campgrounds, where there were probably less than 20 campsites in use, most in the pets/full hookup area. 

The campsite is large and winding. Site quality and size and levelness is mixed.  And the services aren’t localized.  There are electric, electric and water, or even full service sites all over the place. Makes it nice, as you can be in a lesser used  ‘no services’ tent area, but find an electric site. Northern most loops are the more wooded and private ones. 

We went Sunday-Wednesday. Apparently it fills up on weekends, but we felt practically alone much of the time. Bath houses are consistent old, tired looking, but functional. No heat/open door style. Cleaned daily and plenty of hot, good pressure water. 

Cell coverage for Verizon was one bar or no bars. But typically one. On top of the fire tower hill across rt 36, there are two bars.

The campground is entirely in a flood zone. It gets so deep the locals cars have floated away. The weather was forecasted to rain for several days. Our camp area ended up in at least 6inches of rushing creek water (we moved when it was ankle deep). The owner relocated us to a concrete slab next to his house so we were safe and dry. We never should have been allowed to set up camp where we were initially. And it was a giant pain to break down camping stuff to relocate. That being said, the owner was nice. And I’m sure in good weather, this is an amazing spot to camp.

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.

I came up for an event at the farm show grounds(yes the event you’re thinking of). I made a reservation and paid in full the day after it was announced 6 days beforehand. I got a call the day before Friday stating that I wasn’t able to check in until 1PM and the latest was 8PM. I asked if I could park there before the event and deal with it later. The owner reluctantly agreed, however said that my vehicle would be towed if I came after 8. He also stated that I couldn’t check in early or wait a little. Gates closed at 1; and was over at 8 and couldn’t leave the parking lot until 10. Needless to say I just drove home 3 hours instead. Mind you the“campground” is a quarter mile from the farm show grounds. I honestly just wanted somewhere to rest my eyes for a couple of hours in my car before I left early on the morning. I understand that places like this have policies, however this was probably the largest congregation of people Butler and the Farm Show has ever hosted. There was 10s of thousands of people in town and as a bonus the rounds were closed to due construction. If you lean even a little right, caveat emptor. The guy knew exactly what was doing. This will be the most expensive$35 this guy ever stole.