Best Tent Camping near Girard, PA

Wolfkiel is one of two hike-in areas along the Gerard Hiking Trail, in the Oil Creek State Park. Wolfkiel is made up of six(6) Ariondack Shelters and a tent camping area. The Adirondack shelters are perfectly positioned to be private from one another, each looks out over the forest. They are a raised timber platform with a slanted roof and stone chimney with fireplace. There are two shelves and several hooks on the wall. Each shelter has a picnic table. The platform is large enough to sleep 4 people in sleeping bags or set up a two person tent. 

The tent section is cleared and grassy with communal firepit and picnic table. Lots of trees to enable hammock set up. There is a supply of firewood in a covered shed for a small donation and two(2) drop toilets. Water is available in the summer months. The shelters are approx. 15min walk to the creek& Miller Farm Bridge, which joins the Oil Creek State Park trail. It’s a stunning walk with lots of small swimming spots along the way. 

The shelters are approx. 10min drive from Titusville, PA. The walk-in from the carpark is approx. 15min– slight downhill on the way in.

This was our second time to the Wolfkiel Shelters in Oil Creek State Park. Wolfkiel is one of two hike-in camping areas which consists of six(6) Ariondack Shelters and a tent camping area. The road in was snow covered but easily navigated. The Shelter carpark is small and was almost full the day we arrived. The track from the carpark to the campground is beautifully graded making it easy to pull a sled in with extra supplies. The walk in is less than a mile(~15min). The drop toilets were open, but probably wise to BYO toilet tissue. The shelters have hooks that allow you to hang a tarpaulin to help keep the heat in your shelter, although not necessary, especially if the nights are still. Snow did blow into our Shelter in the morning but was minimal. There is a self-serve timber stack which was fully stocked. A donation is requested. It’s wise to bring your own kindling, or an axe to cut some from the larger pieces. The shelter fireplaces have hooks for hanging pots and pans over the flames. Even in Winter, the shelters positioned so you do not look at other shelters. They are a raised timber platform with a slanted roof and stone chimney with fireplace. There are two shelves and several hooks on the wall. Each shelter has a picnic table. The platform is large enough to sleep 4 people in sleeping bags or set up a two person tent. These shelters are very peaceful in the winter and would highly recommend them if you are keen for some“winter camping” but not keen to sleep in a tent or be completely exposed. The shelters are approx.15min walk to the creek& Miller Farm Bridge, which joins the Oil Creek State Park trail. The shelters are approx. 10min drive from Titusville, PA

We stayed in site 218. this spot is in the smaller ( less crowded) part of Jamestown campground in Pymatuning SP. it is right on the water and has an easy access area for shore fishing and entering a kayak or canoe or some other water device. the site sits on a little bay and the otherside (more crowded) of the campground is across the water. the water is a little murky/ grassy but still good entry area. the campsite was spacious for a pa state park. the site is between the lake and the road. sites 212-222 look to be on the water with boat access, but 218 has the easiest entry. 220’s picnic Bench and fire pit sit next to the water with great views, but there is little shade. 218 had a great shady spot were you can hang 3 hammocks. there is no electricity at these sites and pretty much tent only. lots of tent space. the fire ring was decent but we moved it as it was right underneath a burnt tree. 218 was ADA accessible with a nice picnic table. restrooms were fairly close. clean... outdated, but clean.

After getting off I80, our RV GPS wanted to take us on a wonky route, so we followed Waze and the campground’s(CG) web instructions that took us across the causeway on N. Hermitage Rd, then a right turn off on Birchwood Rd, which led us to take a left turn back across N. Hermitage Rd to get back to the Shenango Rec Area turn. Once we got to the CG, check in was quick and very easy. Just happened, our next door neighbor/camp host checked us in and told us we could get water off their site so we proceeded straight to site 199 that’s a back in with electric(50/30 AMP) only plus one of the better spaced sites in the CG. We had to maneuver a couple of times to get into the 90 degree site but the road was wide with no obstacles to prevent swinging into the site. We quickly found out that our 50 AMP connection had issues and after reporting it, a maintenance crew came within 20 minutes and fixed a bad breaker. We got 3 bars on Verizon and a handful of OTA channels. Due to the amount of mature trees, satellite would be iffy depending on your site. There are no FHU sites(camp host sites have electric& water). Electric sites are centrally grouped within the loops and spaced closer together than most COEs. The majority of the sites within this CG are dry camping and they too are fairly close together. The sites right on the lake were all dry camping. With all the dry camping sites in this CG, its nice that they allow generator use during non quiet hours. Quiet hours here are 10:00 PM to 6:00 AM. There are water spigots periodically located within the loops and the CG map identifies where they are. There’s also a two-lane dump station located near the entrance but there is no potable water. There are signs stating no alcohol in the park, but people were openly drinking. We also noted that the contractors who clean the restroom/shower facilities start early in the morning and close the facility while cleaning, which was inconvenient for the dry campers just waking up. If we were to stay at this CG again, we’d come during the week and get a dry camping site on the water.

My family has visited Pymatuning park many times now and try have used a variety of spots at Jamestown campground. It is large, offering multiple options for campsite types. It’s a standard PA state park campground offering bathrooms (bathrooms are older, but are being renovated July-August 2021) showers, fire ring, picnic table, etc. Campsites J-106 thru J-116 are well shaded, but are alongside route 322 which maintains consistent traffic at all hours. If the noise is not an issue, this run of tent sites are well spaced, and offer easy access to the facilities. To be away from the road (and nearer to the lake) sites J-120 thru J-128 are closer together but can be quieter (depending on your neighbors…)

The beach area is clean, and raked often. It has a playground and volleyball court. On Friday’s they have a family movie night at the amphitheater. Most Saturdays in the summer they offer crafts and activities for kids at the beach.

The surrounding area also has plenty of activities to offer: Local restaurants, ice cream, hiking, kayaking/boating, fishing, etc.

Big and busy place. I came on a rainy week so it’s a little mixed review. I am a tent camper so I like a decent lot and I’m currently at lot 82 and it’s big but there is a large mud pit in the middle so we have limited space to put our tent. We ended up putting it on a hill a bit because we knew it would rain so it would wash pass our tent instead of inside it. But that hill backs up to the restrooms which have spot lights on them throughout the night not very good for napping. But get through that the first night and wake up to the cleaning crew lead blowing the sidewalk around the restroom at 7:00 a.m. seriously! But most sites I’ve seen around here are not tent friendly this is definitely to big of a campground for me lots of traffic on crampground roads. Might come back but not at that site.

The Shenango Recreation Area is a large campground with some 300 plus sites located on a lake in western Pennsylvania. Access to the campground is fairly easy and about 12 miles north of I-80. Most campers come here to enjoy the boating, fishing, and relaxing in the lake. Some of the sites are right on the water and provide nice scenery and easy access but, if you are not at a water site, your only access is at the boat launch or public beach area. 

All sites can accommodate tents or RV’s and some are dry camping without utilities while others have 30 amp electric (99 sites) and 50-amp (15 sites). There are no water spigots at individual campsites so you either have to come in with water on board or fill up at a spigot in the campground. You can make reservations on recreation.gov and seniors get half price. The online reservation system has pictures of each site. There are bathhouses scattered around but the one I went in was not very clean and they are pretty old. The bathrooms are heavily used since sites don’t have sewer and water. 

We only stayed two nights as we were just traveling thru the area and had a nice stay. The only complaint we had was a pesky neighbor who came over the minute we started backing into our site and didn’t leave until we were all set up and went inside just to get away from him. Our site was long and level and the electric worked fine. Our site was at the beginning of a loop with a one-way road so there was a bit of traffic. The campground was very quiet at night. 

FYI, alcohol is not allowed in this campground and we did see rangers and camp hosts driving around the campground so we kept ours hidden when outside. Not sure if they were looking for violators or just driving around for other reasons. Check out is not until 4 pm so be careful arriving too early. We noticed in the that a lot of people are fairly local and spend the day on the water before packing up and checking out.