Best Glamping near St. Marys, PA

We have tented and RV'd at Clear Creek. A must do when camping in Pennsylvania. The Clarian river is great for kayaking . Multiple trails off of park. Biking and breweries close by. if you have RV/travel trailer do NOT recommend the non-power sites, they are not level enough, you may really have to bring up the trailer. There were wonderful campsites hosts when we there

Pros; excellent location, great friendly people, clean and stocked bathrooms which include showers. Some sites are separated.. great camp hosts

Cons…a few sites are really close, however not a bad thing here as we got to meet a lot of great people, so for us it was kind of a Pro.

Stayed in camper, tent, yurt, and cabins. Always a clean and up kept park. Lots to do in the area. Don't get caught boozing. There pretty strict.

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.

This has become a very popular campground and reservations fill quickly. We usually try for an entire family outing here once a year in October. Very nice, clean campground on the river. We have stayed in sites and a cabin, but never one of the yurts. Family friendly and not overly crowded.

My family has stayed here so many times throughout my lifetime. We always prefer tent camping, but there are spots for RVs, plus there are cabins and yurts available. It has always been clean, quiet and family-friendly.

There's so much to do here--hiking, swimming, rafting, biking, disc golf, etc. There's also a really nice playground and a great little beach at the entrance of the campground (water is always cold though!) Plus plenty of picnic shelters.

This is also a great place to go year-round for kids interested in learning about nature. There is a nature museum. Seek out Ranger Susanne--she is a really great teacher!

General: 73-site campground; most have electric hookups, and some are FHU. Pets are only permitted at selected sites. There are also 20 (13 rustic and 6 modern) cabins. Cell service is extremely limited to non-existent (Verizon). 

Site Quality: Pads are gravel and most appeared to be level. Site 70 was at the end of the loop which is why we picked it. A picnic table, fire ring, and lantern hook complete each site. 

Bathhouse: As has been our experience in all PA state parks, the bathhouse was pristine, and the shower (for no additional cost) was clean with plentiful hot water and was very much appreciated. 

Activities/Amenities: Coin-operated laundry. A playground is in the campground and there is an additional one at the swimming beach. The swimming beach is open from mid-May to mid-September, from 8 am– sunset. Electric motorboats are permitted on Moshannon Lake. Boat rentals are available in season. Permits are required. 24 miles of hiking trails, including two trails directly from the campground to the lake. In the summer, there is a camper store/concession stand. Hunting is allowed in season. There are 4.3 miles of mountain biking trails. 

I used to think Oregon State Parks were the best, but Pennsylvania State Parks have them beat by a mile. We have yet to be disappointed by the amenities(especially the clean bathrooms) offered at the half-dozen state parks we have visited so far.

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!

Our visit was great!

Living only a little over an hour away this is one of our "go to's." This park has so much to offer. There's plenty of Trout fishing opportunities. If you enjoy boating the dam is beautiful. There are also plenty of trails. The visitor center is also a lot of fun to visit. This park is very family friendly.

The campground is very small, and cell service is non-existent, but that's what we were looking for - a quiet getaway. The campground has a small playground, and there is a nice visitors center just up the road.

Adults and Children alike will love the park office / Wildlife Center at Sinnemahoning State Park. Learn about this buildings green construction (LEED)geo thermal heat, rain water harvesting system, recycled materials and more! Step inside to view elk bear birds and other wildlife! Learn about the building of the dam and the early days of the CCC camps. If you can get the children out of the office or bring yourself to leave ... make a souvenir penny on your way out before walking across the parking lot and around the corner to visit the arch tree. This park is a long narrow park with a road running through it that is perfect for a bike ride or stroll. On one end is a wildlife viewing area, the other end offers great fishing and a boat launch. Between is a picnic day use area and a 35 site campground with a dump station, a modern restroom with flush toilets and showers. The restrooms and some campsites are ADA accessible. Electric hookups are available and each pet friendly camp site has its own picnic table, lantern hold and fire ring. Elk, eagles deer and many other varieties of wild life can be seen here on a regular basis! There is much to explore here during any season and even on a rainy day the kids will have the opportunity to learn about the world around them! 5 stars Sinnemahoning! What a treasure in the PA Wilds!

Sinnemahoning is definitely  an excellent spot for car campers to enjoy the Elk State Forest/PA Wilds region. It was a quiet sleep(a little gravelly for tents, but not bad) with dark skies for stargazing.The park staff was knowledgeable and super friendly. Tracy answered my sister’s 500 plant identification questions with cheerful patience. Will definitely be back. And we saw a bear!Beautiful area with a nice visitors center. It’s quite a bit further from Route 120 than we thought from the signs, but a nice ride. Wish it had a nicer playground and picnic area for the kids to enjoy. We would have liked to hang around longer but it was soooo buggy(not their fault).

Small, quiet campground. My kids love riding their bikes here. There are a few nice scenic trails that go to the lake and through the woods. Some are kid bike friendly. The nature center is great! Kid friendly and fun! They offer a free pontoon boat tour of the lake, reservations needed because spots fill up fast! During the fall at the nearby dam rangers set up an elk viewing spot with binoculars.

The park itself is among the best in the entire PA state park system, offering unparalleled opportunities for wildlife viewing, but unfortunately, the campground is altogether too small — only 35 sites wedged between Rte. 872 and State Park Road — for the crowds it pulls. The walk-in sites are just inside the campground entrance and site 17 abuts several private hunting cabins so expect road noise and light pollution at night. Tent pads are of rocky packed earth which makes staking and guying out your tent a bit of a challenge. A decent amount of forest canopy also creates a microclimate that retains/amplifies humidity after it's burned off in other, more open sections of the park.

All that said, this is still a perfectly nice, clean, well-maintained campground probably best visited off-season, mid-week, and (eventually) post-pandemic. You certainly don't have to travel far to get a glimpse of the wildlife: I had a close encounter with a massive bull elk just walking from my campsite to the restrooms at dawn!

It was fun trying to use maps along with gps to find our way to the campground. There is zero cell service/WiFi at the park, or for at least 5-10 miles from it. The sites are clean, flat, and spaced nicely on the northwest end, but a little too open and feels crowded on the eastern end. Bathrooms are clean and functional, with one shower stall in each, so there could be a line for the showers. The fire rings are showing their age (and the regular high humidity of the area), but functional. There is not an actual tent pad, so you’re going to need sturdy tent pegs for guy lines. It’s rocky and covered with gravel. Plenty of trees in the northwestern end for hammocks, and from our hang we were able to watch squirrels, chipmunks, fireflies, and a variety of birds. It’s a fairly flat mile-long walk to the park office and a quaint discovery area with benches, streams, and encourages little wildlings to enjoy the forest. On the way out, we saw elk grazing around homes and nicely mowed lawns. Great end to a lovely weekend.

Visited early June. Very quiet and clean campground. Check out Park Office/ Wildlife Center, Elk Country in Benezette (Elk Life coffee shop is great). Amazing vistas off Ridge road; great hiking all over. Make your first stop the park office and grab a bunch of maps to see what’s around. The SP itself doesn’t offer a ton of hikes, but lots to explore in the nearby state forests. No cell service at all - a blessing!!!

This a small campground, around 33 sites. The pads are all gravel except for the handicapped pad, which is paved. This campground is alcohol free and upon checking on you are asked if you have any alcohol. The sites are fairly spaced apart and many are shaded by large pine trees.

The park visitor's center has many participatory A/V camping and wildlife exhibits. The law enforcement/ranger was exceptionally helpful and friendly and he provided me with the locations of current elk sightings.

I had no verizon cell service in the park.

This is a beautiful campground. You have to go through the national park website to make reservations, so I feel like that's what keeps it quiet maybe. My wife and I stayed here for a long weekend and somehow ended up booking a full hookup site that was really great. The sites are very spacious and mostly divided with brush. The campground is rather hilly overall and I'm not sure it's best for kids unless they're really into fishing. But it is settled right on the Allegheny Reservoir, so if you bring you kayaks you can launch right from the campground. The restrooms with showers were beautiful and the whole place was well kept. The camp isn't far from many attractions in the area. Including the kinzu skywalk which is about a 30 minute drive. Overall a wonderful quiet place to camp.