Are you planning a trip to McKeesport with your horse? We've got you covered. Equestrian camping is the best way to experience nature. These scenic and easy-to-reach Pennsylvania campsites are perfect for your horse camping excursion.
Campground Closed for Renovation: The campground on Leslie Road will be completely unavailable during renovations beginning October 20, 2019. NOTE: A one-lane bridge on Echo Dell Road CANNOT accommodate vehicles with trailers or RVs. You must approach the Park Office, Wildlife Education Center, Gaston's Mill, and Pioneer Village from the south if you are traveling in a large vehicle.
$18 - $50 / night
From the website:
Primitive tenting not allowed, only group camping as described below. Backpacking site (shelter) with permit.
Update 9/14/2020: All state park day-use and overnight lodging facilities are open according to standard seasons and hours. Group cabin camps remain closed for 2020.
Modern Cabins
Eleven modern cabins are available for rent year round. These cabins sleep six people and have:
Two bedrooms
Bathroom with shower
Kitchen
Dining/living area
Electric heat
Dock on Lake Arthur during the summer season
Renters must provide:
Linens
Towels
Cookware
Tableware
Play equipment for children is in a central area.
This activity or structure is ADA accessible.
Dogs are permitted in Cabins #7 and #11 for a fee.
Moraine State Park Cabin Map (PDF)
GPS DD: Lat. 40.96586 Long. -80.11389 No Camping
Camping is prohibited in the park. Private campgrounds nearby offer camping. Information is available at the park office. Backpacking
The Link Road Overnight Shelter on the North Country National Scenic Trail is available to backpackers by reservation only. Organized Group Tenting
There are two tent camping areas available for organized groups:
Muskrat Cove
Five Points
These rustic camps have:
Restrooms
Picnic tables
Cooking grills
Water, but no showers
Advance reservations are required. To reserve a group tent campsite, call 888-PA-PARKS (888-727-2757), Monday to Saturday, 7:00 A.M. - 5:00 P.M. except on the Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, and New Year’s Day holidays.
Guide
When you pull into Beaver Creek Family Campground you pretty much have two choices: either you go left into multiple Pine tree sites or right into two cabins and more RV friendly open sites. A few of the RV sites have electric, but no water for their tanks. I suggest the pine sites for any tent or hammock campers. I stayed in one of the first set of 3 pine sites numbered 43, 44, and 45. There is some brush and cover between these sites, but each has a pull in parking pad. If 45 was occupied with a RV, 44 would not be as nice as it was. Backing into 44 and 45 would be tricky as well. To be fair any larger RV that came in better know how to get through tight quarters.
The back area of each of those 3 sites looked best to get even ground for a tent. My buddy hung his hammock between the tree to the left of the picnic bench and to a tree back and left in the picture of site 44. Site was fairly clean, but be sure to move the pine tree duff away from the fire pits to be safe.
Probably the nicest pit toilets I have experienced and while we didn't use, it the sun shower building would give anyone privacy if they had packed a portable shower. Lots of trails to choose from and the pioneer village in the state park gives you many options to spend the day. Had some luck fishing at the Canoe/Kayak area in the South East area of the park close to the Group Camp Sites.
Guide
Paved, free, self register, FF, pit toilet, cell service 3 bars. Only negative to some maybe gunfire at nearby range during day. Fernwood state forest.
ScoutThunderstorm had filled all hotels so I looked fora free campground. Set up my site and stayed in my wagon due to storms. It was very peaceful.
TravelerSmall quiet state park. Nice trails and very big sites on the one side.
Guide
Moraine State Park doesn't allow camping within the park and there is no campground affiated with park. The one exception is along the North Country Trail, there are 2 rustic shelters that must be reserved through the park office. There are several private campgrounds in the area
ScoutVery well kept, completely free 1st come campground just outside the very small town of Bloomingdale, OH. Pit toilets and no source of safe, clean water anymore. Very quiet everytime I've camped there, many times btw. Great, quiet, close to nature experience.
TravelerSelf-register with cards located at pit latrine building. 14 days every 30. No problem getting 40' skoolie in and parked in mostly level spots. Camp fire rings and picnic tables at most sites. 🚱 hand pump available, grey water pits and trash cans available. Here late April through early May. 22 total sites, never more than 4 people camping here, including us.
ScoutThe sites that were around us had a perfect view of the Beaver Creek Valley. Our site was more in the corner with trees and brush blocking the view but we still enjoyed our site. Check in was easy since you can go right to your site and they have your trip details already pin to you campsite post. We stayed during the week so we didn’t share the campground with that many people. The campground was mixture of large sites and some small sites. The smaller sites were near the playground. We were thoroughly impressed by this campground, even if it was a smaller state park. We only stayed a night but we had a really nice and relaxing time at the state park. We were able to check out two of there trails but they have a quite a few trails. They had the pioneer village which was cute and interesting to walk through. Overall, a perfect low stress one night trip.
RangerIf you like peace and quiet this is not the place. No privacy. Dogs barking constantly, cars driving up and down the road constantly...kids screaming and running up and down the road especially young ones that definitely need adult supervision. Most of the sites are small and too close together. Not much room to maneuver a trailer into the narrow uneven pads. The rest of the site was full of rocks, cigarette butts and bottle caps. Came for a relaxing weekend and so far just been annoyed by rude people. Drinking water available but rvs are not allowed to fill tanks. Vault toilets. Full at&t reception. Quiet time 10pm-7am
ScoutWasn't very primitive and the gun range is so close all,you hear all day aware guns but beautiful site 22 is at the end and away from others more than the other sites
GuideI’ve always loved this quite, small campground. It’s been closed over the last 2 seasons due to the Ash bore, but the future is bright for this area.
Be sure to take in the Pioneer Village
TravelerGun range 5 mins away or so. Bees are ridiculous.(they love sugar) oh yeah, Harvest Spiders all over the place so be cautious. Bathrooms are disgusting but they have toilet paper 🤷🏻♀️.
Normal Camping Bugs also. So bring big spray. Picnic Tables ,Fire pits,paved.
Clean after yourself! Trash near the campsite.
GuideWe needed a place to crash after traveling all day and knew it was going to be a quick turnaround so we stumbled upon this campsite. It served its purpose as it allowed us to rest for the night. However, I didn’t feel very safe! All through the night there were sketchy cars and trucks in and out of the campground. The noise level was high all throughout the night. We got lucky and landed a level site, but most of the sites are extremely unlevel. Luckily, it wasn’t too crowded (other than the people coming and going), but the sites are very close together. Didn’t use the restroom facilities as we had our own, but they looked very unkept from the outside.
RangerThis tiny gem of a campground is actually quite decent. Each site is furnished with a small fire ring and picnic table. The fire rings do not have a grill grate. The pit toilets in the restroom are "fragrant" when you enter the women's side of the building but not so terribly that they can't be used. My friend did gag upon entering the men's room. There are designated wastewater areas to dump grey water, but you'll have to bring your own water for drinking, washing, etc. There are no electric hookups.
As others have mentioned, there is a gun range nearby and you can hear occasional firing. Helicopter traffic at night was a slight distraction from the otherwise quiet night I spent here.
There is an easy orange-blazed trail behind site 10 but as of this writing, a there are several downed trees blocking the trail a good distance in.
I'd definitely stay again.
5/3/2021 Edited to add:. Well, our second stay here is decidedly less positive. We are at site 9 this time. No fire ring here. The women's bathroom is filthy and it made me gag (there is feces all over one toilet seat and the other smells so bad that I just peed in the woods). It's turkey season so lots of noise in the woods.
GuideI live near by to this state park and have spent much time exploring the entirety of it.
The trails are all nice, nothing too strenuous, and each have something unique compared to the others in the park. During the spring the Salamander trail is filled with thousands of Trilliums, a truly majestic experience. Lots of flowing water to enjoy throughout the park, some are off the trails but never hard to reach. A good park to enjoy with family and friends because you can fish, kayak, bike, skate, hike, horseback, and picnic. In addition, there are numerous historical cabins, locks, shelters, and a water run mill to sight-see. Then for those in search of a bit of spookiness, Gretchen’s Lock is notoriously a haunted location with certainly eerie vibes.
The family campground is small, but the park as a whole is not far from civilization so if any supplies are needed it is not a far endeavor.
I do not horseback, so I cannot comment on that campground, but many of the trails are friendly for horses to travel.
OH! And if you are there on the weekends the Wildlife Center is a must! The staff are so nice, it is by donation to visit so is in everyone’s price range. An astounding display of animals and nature information! You can even hold the snakes and see a bee hive in action.
GuideVery nice park . Scenic on way in . Lots were decent size , not real private but our tent set up gave us privacy. We creek walked and hiked. Nice little campground , don’t have any info for rv’ers but for primitive it’s nice. The nature building was open on Saturday and Sunday and was great for our little ones
Traveler"Camping is prohibited in the park." (That is directly off the DCNR website.)
I am not reviewing Moraine State Park (which is awesome). I am reviewing the CAMPING options at Moraine State Park. Which brings me back to the DNCR website. It says "No Camping" and "Camping is prohibited in the park. Private campgrounds nearby offer camping."
It DOES list cabins, group tenting, and a backpacking shelter, which is available by reservation only.
But this park is not where somebody looking for CAMPING would want to be.
TravelerIt is a very well maintenance campsite most have fire pits a lot of level ground for tent camping pull in parking spots for RVs and campers a bathroom on site and two different trails to hike fishing minutes away the gun rage is also near (the gunshots don’t bother me) must register when you arrive at the box attached to the bathroom building can’t beat it for FREE
RangerThis is a great place just of interstate 79. Been going there since I was a kid. In fact my family used to own property near by. This park has an awesome trail system for walking or biking
ScoutAll paved sites with picnic tables. Most have fire rings. All free but you must fill out a registration card. There are pit toilets and a water pump. The ranger comes by everyday to collect registration cards.
LegendWe chose this park because it was the closest one we could find that was still open with electric this time of year to downtown Pittsburgh. Also, because it had great cell/internet service on our hotspots and had a lot of trails. Unfortunately, it had been raining a lot so we weren’t able to explore the trails. The campground is nice– the toilets are just pit toilets and they do have a sun shower. They are on a well so there is limited water and they don’t allow you to fill up your on board tank. Make sure you fill up before you go! Also, there is a road in the park (Echo Dell Road) that RV’s/Trailers can’t go on so make sure you approach this campground from Leslie Road!
ScoutI have been camping at Moraine State Park since I was 5 years old (so about 14 years). While I was in Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts we used the 5 Points Group Camping Area a lot. It is right next to the bike trail and has access to the lake. I have enjoyed my time at Moraine and will enjoy it every time I visit.
TravelerThis place wasn't bad but nothing really stellar about it either. I visited on a Tuesday in early July and stayed the night with my 9 year old son. Literally the park was abandoned - no visitors, hardly any employees to be seen (saw one guy mowing grass, that was it), and the park office itself closed except for on the weekends. We drove down to the main area of the park to check out the old mill, canal lock, ect. Really cool looking and quaint, but again, everything locked up so you couldn't go inside or find out much more additional info. The creek itself is very beautiful and the campground manager I talked to said a lot of people canoe or kayak down its length to the Ohio.
Campground has limited well water and a one seater vault toilet with no sinks, showers, ect. I stayed in spot 55 on the northern part of the campground which was pretty wooded, but not private. All spots can see into other camps. Small creek ran behind the end of the loop but it was mostly stagnant water which made it very buggy at night. Overall like I said, not a bad place, but I wouldn't rush to come back unless I was on some type of canoeing trip.
TravelerMoraine is a really large state park with a huge lake, nice beaches, and tons of trails. The north country trail runs for over a dozen miles from end to end. This review is of the shelter sites, of which there is one, for backpacking along the trail. There are three shelters which are all very mouse infested. I believe this is because the site does not have a bear pole or bear box, so I think most people probably don't hang their food like they should and thus the mice move in to forage. Of the 3, the Hilltop shelter 2, which we stayed in is the nicest and private. There is a rustic vault toilet but no water at the site. I asked the lady at the park office if there was water nearby and she said yes, just hike down to the access road and over to the group tenting site to fillup. I'll tell you, this is not close - easily a 2-3 mile round trip.
ScoutScoutMoraine State Park is beautiful. It offers many camping styles including Group Tenting, Adirondack shelters for backpacking, and Cabins.
GuideSmall park, only a few sites with hookups, but very nice. Rustic, with trails to the main park that take you through beautiful woods.
Horse camping in Pennsylvania offers a unique way to explore the great outdoors while enjoying the company of your equine friends. With a variety of campgrounds catering to horse enthusiasts, you can find the perfect spot to set up camp and ride the trails.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is the most popular equestrian campsite near McKeesport, PA?
According to TheDyrt.com, the most popular equestrian campground near McKeesport, PA is Beaver Creek State Park Campground with a 4.3-star rating from 17 reviews.
What is the best site to find equestrian camping near McKeesport, PA?
TheDyrt.com has all 3 equestrian camping locations near McKeesport, PA, with real photos and reviews from campers.