Best Cabin Camping near Crooked Creek Lake

Quemahoning Family Recreation Area offers great fishing, some nice trails and generally wonderful weather during the summer season.  The campground offers some sites with electrical and others with varying primitive services.  The campground has a bathroom with showers (2 for men, 2 for women).  The result is there are sometimes lines waiting for a shower to be available.  There is a camp store where wood, ice and fishing supplies are available.  There is no trash service;  campers are expected to carry out their trash.  Campsites do have fire rings, a picnic table and parking available.  The campgrounds are pet friendly.  Boats are available to rent.  If you bring your own power needs to be electric only.

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.

The GAP trail rolls right through the middle of this traditional KOA campground. The seasonal RVers and weekend warriors have long claimed their sites, but for through riders on the trail there is a special place to camp, close to the west-bound entrance. The picnic tables and fire rings are surrounded by hammock poles and there’s lots of space for scattered tents. The bathroom and shower facilities are modern and well maintained. And, of course, they have ice cream and laundry available! They also have cabins if you need to get out of the weather. We didn’t check those out, but saw them on the property. 

If you are an RVer and seeking a place to park and ride along this trail, this is a perfect place to have the best of both worlds. This is a very busy campground, nothing like the serenity of the less easy to access sites along the GAP trail, but offers some nice services for those in need of them.

The closest town is Connellsville where you can get everything you might need.  Great restaurants as well!  Check out the Kickstand Kitchen for an ahhhmazing meal!!  Best restaurant along the trail, by far.

We stayed here on a busy weekend. The sites are good sized, have a picnic table and fire ring with grill. The bathrooms need to be updated. There are a lot of cracks and crevices where bugs hide and lots of chipped paint. I didn't shower, so no commentary on the warmth/pressure. Look at the campground map before you book your site if being close to a bathroom is important; ours was across the campsite behind us but we had to step in a rock set in the stream to get to it without walking around the loop. Plenty of trees and shrubs for privacy. Lots of firewood both in and outside the park. It's a decent drive to Clarion PA to a Walmart, but there are small camp stores close by.

General: This Park is spread out along the Clarion River and, as such, is deceptively large. There are electric and non-electric sites, as well as cabins. On a Friday night in late October, it was nearly full. One man we spoke with said he raised his kids coming to this campground and that it is often challenging to reserve a site unless done far in advance (I believe I reserved about three months ahead of time). 

Site Quality: The sites vary in size and quality. All have either rock or grass “driveways”. A picnic table, fire ring, and lantern hook complete the site. Some sites are tucked in among large pine trees, some are directly on the river, and the non-electric sites are up a hill away from the river and shaded. 

Bathhouse: The one at the very end of the campground was modern and very clean. The showers looked very clean, but we did not use them. 

Activities/Amenities: Several hiking trails, a disc golf course and, in-season, a swimming pond and canoeing. Unfortunately, we woke to rain the next morning that looked like it was going to stick around for a while, so we did not get to explore as much of this park as we would have liked. 

Conclusion: Our stay was nice but brief and it would be nice to return.

A Pennsylvania favorite, Clear Creek State Park is a beautifully maintained, scenic park, right on the Clarion River in the Clear Creek State Park. The Park offers movies on an outdoor screen, regular nature talks and walks and has an onsite museum. The park has tent sites, RV sites and cabins. Clear Creek runs through the campground and is a perfect spot for a BBQ or Picnic. It also has a designated swimming beach with sand. There are multiple hiking trails leaving the campground. There is a general store just 5min from the park, plus multiple private firewood options on the road in. The park also sells firewood bundles. The Clarion is a crystal clear, shallow, rock bottom river perfect for a cool off, fishing or kayaking. There are two kayaking/tubing companies in Cook Forest to hire watercraft to float the river. Both floats don’t go as high as Clear Creek State Park so you won’t float past the campground, with the longest being 9 miles. The facilities are always clean, with large shower areas and always fully stocked with tissue. All sites have fire rings with adjustable grills. The best un-powered RV site is site 40– private and waterfront. The best powered-RV site is 39– private and waterfront. There are also two very private tent sites that are waterfront(classified as Kayak In tent sites) numbered CR-001& CR-002. Both waterfront, shaded with fire rings. Excellent tent sites! Note you can only book them for 1 night at a time. No phone reception at this one! They welcome furry friends at selected sites!

The park is on the scenic Clarion River and offers tent camping, some sites are paddle in only, RV sites, small and larger rustic cabins, and even a couple of yurts. It’s very well maintained, including the restroom/shower houses which were very clean. The upper loop tent sites are a bit more secluded and there is plenty of space for the larger cabins. The smaller cabins are more clustered but we enjoyed staying in them on a couple occasions. Be sure to bring kayaks or inner tubes for lazy hours on the river. There are kayak rentals nearby also. The Clarion River is full of wildlife including bald eagles hunting the river and an occasional black bear nearby.

Be sure to visit Beartown Rocks that is close by. It offers a nice view of the rolling hills of Pennsylvania.

I live nearby so I'm a bit biased towards the park. Definitely one of my favorite places to day hike. The trails are well maintained, and the scenery changes every few steps. Lush hardwood forest; plenty of shade for summer hikes. Not crowded at all in the off-season.

We stayed in the Indian Cabin #I11.  There are 4 twin sized bunk beds but be forewarned, the springs and mattresses were ancient during our stay.  There is a small table, a refrigerator, electric stove and oven, and there is heat.  The windows do not open very much so bring a fan if you're camping in warm weather.   The bathhouse is clean and the showers are hot. 

The cabins can be difficult to find in the dark, but they are located just behind the campground offices.  If you pull around to the rear of the building and look across the creek that is there, you cannot miss them.

While I understand that Memorial Day is a very busy camping weekend, I was hoping that due to the coronavirus that this spot would be less crowded given the restrictions in place.  Our loop had approximately 50 sites with roughly 200 people on it, minimum.  The concept of social distancing here is a joke and the only evidence of there being a pandemic was the sign in the bathroom that stated to stay 6 feet apart and masks being a requirement in all park buildings… with no enforcement whatsoever.  That said, sites are on the small side with a fire ring and a picnic table.  All vehicles MUST back into the parking spaces, and all parking spots are blacktop.  There is a camp store and a bundle of decent hardwood will cost $6; they do accept cards with a $10 minimum.  The city of Altoona is about 30 minutes away for more extensive shopping.  There is a marina and boat rental on the lake about a 10 minute drive away.  Bathrooms are very clean and the push button showers have excellent water pressure.  Drinking water is dispersed throughout each loop.  Pets are allowed on certain loops.