Best Dog-Friendly Camping near Philipsburg, PA

My 3 year old cat and I had a wonderful time staying here. It was incredibly quiet, no cell service (we use total wireless which uses Verizon towers), and I couldn’t hear any of the neighboring campsites (I stayed at #7) even though they were all full. Highly recommend this spot.

It rained almost every day but only for a half hour or so and went back to being sunny. Bring bug spray and tick collars for your pets.

I would recommend bringing firewood with you, as there wasn’t much to collect that was already dead and dry enough for burning. Several of the local gas stations sell some if you want to bring some on the way.

UPDATED reviews for rustic and modern cabins.

March 2020, Modern Cabins: Before COVID-19 hit PA we stayed in one of the modern cabins. Wow...everything was seemingly quite new and it was extremely comfortable. Nice bathrooms, nice kitchen, etc. One of the best things about Black Mo is how isolated it feels and it's never crowded in the off-months. The Moss Hanne is still a thrilling trail even in the winter months and there's been a lot of beaver activity since we last visited including a very impressive dam. 

October 2019, Rustic Cabins: We stayed in one of the rustic cabins on a cold October weekend. Very charming small cabins with robust woodstoves. Although we probably could have been more careful, there were unfortunately some very bothersome mice who kept us awake each night...and were seemingly not very afraid of us! The construction of the rustic cabins is such that there probably isn't much you can do about mice getting in. If this doesn't bother you, these cabins are really cute and cozy.

July 2019, Tent Camping: As far as camping goes, the loop area is a bit cramped for my taste, but if that doesn't bother you it's fine. Clean bathhouse and convenient outdoor sink for washing up after dinner. Overall one of the best PA parks and well maintained.

I really have to address some of these other reviews, though:

"Water was thick with weeds& lilies but ok nonetheless." Wow! Pitcher plants, sundews and water lilies are not "weeds." They are unique to bog environments and don't grow in other places. The vegetation in the lake is what makes Black Mo black, so picturesque and unlike other PA parks!

"The overall area has nothing to do. And I mean NOTHING. We drove 45 minutes to Altoona to see the famous Horseshoe Curve but there’s literally nothing else around for miles and miles. Not even an ice cream stand, or not one we could find. And, since there’s no cell service, we couldn’t figure out any options either." Like many state parks in this part of the world there is no cell service, so you need to bring a real map (Purple Lizard) and look a few things up on the internet ahead of time. Black Mo is literally ten minutes from Philipsburg where there is surely an ice cream stand, 25 minutes from State College, which has tons of touristy offerings…I could go on but really this is laughable.

We stayed during Bigfoot weekend. It was super fun as our family likes bigfoot fun. We started out Friday night getting the offered $12 bbq plate that included pork burnt ends, beans and potato salad that were "oh it's so good". On Saturday was rock painting and then bingo and ended the night with a DJ dance party. The pavilion where all those activities happened were right next to our site (22 with the doggie den). Then Sunday we had pancakes and later a visit from RayCEP which is an education program that PA DNCR provides talking about various outdoorsy type things. This is primarily for kids, but we sat and listened too and our 17 year old helped out with the craft.

After the weekend though, all the activity slows down. There are seasonal campers that stay around, and they're constantly working on improving and fixing up sites during the week. Expect lots of quiet time just relaxing during the week. There's the pool, dog park, bounce pillow, playground, but not tons to do which if you're looking for is great. Raystown Lake has multiple access areas that are probably 15-20 minutes away - we fished at Tautman Run and Aitch - both were accessible and had lots of bluegill to steal our worms.

Now to the site description: Site 22 is a deluxe patio back in site with a patio, 4 nice Adirondack chairs, a double glider, a weber propane grill and built in fire pit AND a dog fence just for that site that was maybe 6 ft x 6ft. it was big enough for our 2 labs to fit into when we fed them. The site wasn't hard to level our RV but overall the sites are hilly and in fact the whole park is on a hill.

The owners and workers were friendly and great hosts! We love what they're doing there.

One last tip: if traveling from the Altoona area, go out through Martinsburg over Cove Mountain Rd - it saves you 30 minutes to an hour.

I honestly struggled with what to rate this campground. I loved the area. Very peaceful and quite, but close to State College (a must since we were in town for a Penn State game). I also loved historic Bellefonte (I highly recommend eating at the Governors Pub). It had a cute little dog park, nice play ground, bouncy pillow, gem mining, pool, etc.- what you expect to find at a KOA. Once we were in it, I even loved our site once we were in it. It was very secluded, private, quite and woodsy. That being said- getting into the site was almost impossible. We didn't think we'd be able to do it. And as it was, our slide out was about an inch away from a tree on one side and up against a raised concrete pad on the other. For a smaller camper, it was probably perfect, but I really don't think they had any business putting a camper our size in that site. Width wise, the site was large and had some sort of shrub growing in the middle of the entrance which helped with giving it more privacy. Then there was the water pressure… or lack of water pressure. Saying it trickled out would be generous. Though there was a lot about the campground that I liked, I won't go back again just based on the water pressure alone. I've never been that stressed out trying to rinse my hair… It could very well have just been a problem with our site- we were in the very back on the hill. Or it may be a problem everyone was experiencing. I'm not sure which is why I gave it a 4 rating. I liked everything about it but that.