Best Tent Camping near Vintondale, PA

Kooser State Park is a small campground nestled in the Laurel Highlands, close to Hidden Valley and Seven Springs ski resorts. The park has great amenities just a short walk from all sites. All sites have fire rings, with grills, however note they are double walled so do not expel a lot of heat outward. Great for cooking however. 

Most sites are not level, but very grassy. Firewood is available at the entrance for$5 bundle supporting a local club. A beautiful walk through the park leads you to the Kooser Lake, great for fishing. It is also close to the Laurel Hill State Park which is great for hiking and water activities. The park is close to the road so you will experience some road noise. 

The park is 15min from Somerset. No phone reception at this one! They welcome all furry friends!

PROS 

Able to reserve 129 days prior to arriving 

Melissa at check-in was very friendly and helpful 

Good overnight stop to visit Flight 93 Memorial 22 miles from campground 

Site #391 level 

Gravel site surrounded by grass 

Moveable wooden picnic table 

Large concrete fire ring 

Clean toilet-shower building that are heavily used 

Mostly quiet except for road noise 

Firewood for sale in Park

CONS 

No discount 

Site #391 no shade 

Park cable connection failed 

Sewer connection“up hill” 

Never found trash dumpster and wasn’t marked on campground map 

Very loud radio station blaring in the toilet/shower building that could be heard outside the building 

2 bars Verizon 

No WIFI

Duman lake review notes.

• Well-maintained small park, stocked lake, popular with local fisherman. Kayaking/small boat fishing. I’ve seen bald eagle and osprey.
• Six campsites, w/mature trees, level, w/paved drive & gravel area, large enough for mid-sized RVs. They state 40 ft., but all are back in. All have (lighted)30 amp & water. We did not see the tent sites. Not sure if they are developed, ask.
• Number one is closest to the bathhouse, number five was less shaded. Number six is closest to the road.
• Newer restroom, w/two stalls each. Push-button, hot showers. Men’s worked best.
• Campsite number one is closest to restroom, but also behind picnic shelter number 12, so if the shelter is booked for a party could be noisy? Day use people bugged out quickly at dusk.
• We were in #1 in May & had the entire campground & upper park to ourselves.
• They have a kids’ train in summer.
• Nice playground.
• The only real downside of this campground is that the local road is close by and you do get some traffic noise before dark. It is not a high traffic road however. Dumpsters were overflowing with weekend trash & bathrooms needed a bug sweep-out. Sportsmen were target shooting nearby before dark FYI.

We stayed in a Ranger Smith Cabin in the upper campground. I give this 3 stars because I'm a state park camper at heart: I prefer more room between sites,  more relaxation and nature when camping. But your kids will love it here: two pools, splashgrounds, fire truck rides, arcades, meeting Yogi and friends, nightly movies...the list goes on. Be prepared for an endless parade of golf carts during your stay. We were underwhelmed by the expensive cabin as it had dorm room furniture and uncomfortable beds. The walk-in tent sites were in a hilly area without pavilions, but reservable tent sites in the lower campground had pavilions and more level ground. This is a great base camp for exploring area attractions in the Laurel Highlands such as Idlewild,  Fort Necessity and the beautiful Ohiopyle State Park. If you go to Idlewild, then stop by Gino's pizza in Ligonier; order the sampler pizza (includes pierogi,  taco, white and margherita)--you won't be disappointed.

August 2020 Stay

We camped for 1 night.  We chose site 102 because it looked decent in the picture and seemed a little apart and more private than other areas.  Unfortunately, it was not great for tent camping as there wasn't really a spot to set up our 4-person tent.  We squeezed it in by the fire pit, but if we had wanted to use the fire pit it would have been a fire hazard.  Elsewhere in the site it was rocky or uneven ground.

Looking around the rest of the campground, the loop up near the cabins was a typical RV area with sites lined up with little privacy in between.  I would look at the other loops for our next tent-camping visit.

We were hoping to do some hiking in the morning but got rained out.  However the trails looked nice and we hope to be back soon.

This campground is a nice, quiet campground about 30 minutes from Pittsburgh. It is a membership-based campground, we stayed there using coast to coast. The campground is decent, but not sure it really qualifies as a “resort”. It is an older park that could use some updates, namely electric service, fresh gravel for the sites, and sewer, but overall the park was clean and reasonably well kept.

The park is gated, you have to stop at the security booth to check in, enter, or leave the park, so you might have to wait a few minutes, but that is a nice level of added security. It is pretty easy to navigate the park even with a larger rig, and there is an nice sized overflow parking area to unhook your toad when you first get there. I would recommend getting there before dark. They did have signs directing you to the different site number groups which was helpful.

The road my GPS brought me in was a little tight, but manageable. There was a better route but it did have a very short bridge with a 10 ton weight limit, so be sure to really check your route. Another bonus is that it is only a few minutes from the PA turnpike.

The sites are average, but there are no sewer hookups and no 50 amp service, the whole park is 30 amp. The sites are reasonable level, but the one we had was a little tricky to get into because of it being on a hill, but it was manageable. The picnic table benches were completely rotted out.

There are two dump stations, one located on the way out, and the other located in one of the upper loops.

The campground did have nice amenities, the pool was large and clean, it had a nice playground, a camp store, sports courts, horseshoes, volleyball, and a mini golf course. The staff were all very nice, and they patrolled the park throughout the day and night for security, which is always nice.

The closest town is about 20 minutes away, and there are a bunch of restaurants, a Lowes, and auto parts stores should you need supplies or make a repair.

The campground is about 40 minutes from the Flight 93 National Memorial, about 20 minutes from Fallingwater, and there were a couple of wineries in the area as well.

All in all, our visit was good. I gave three stars because of the lack of 50 amp hookups and the size and quality of the sites.

My husband & I recently purchased our first 20ft. pull-behind camper. Having made reservations for a tent site for Memorial Day weekend back in February, there were slim pickings when it was time to find a site w/an electric hookup mere weeks before the 3 day weekend. I stumbled upon Bush Recreation Area on recreation.gov (FYI- the website has been redesigned & is still working out kinks) and it was the only campground w/availability. It’s located east of Pittsburgh and is tucked alongside a large boat dock/launch on the Loyalhanna Creek. Motorized boating is allowed and there’s access for fishing from the shore. Some of the sites are more open & exposed (see picture) but others are back in a more wooded area further away from the water. There wasn’t a map for the facility on the website; we stayed at site 18 & noticed the higher the site number (starting at about #25), the further back in the wooded area it was, where there’s more privacy. It’s definitely a great choice for families, especially those w/young children- there’s a nice playground and green space. Reservations are required (recreation.gov) and as of 5/25/19 the dump station is closed & undergoing construction. My husband and I prefer places w/easier access to hiking & biking trails and more privacy, but for our first weekend in our new camper, it worked out well!

We looked at this campground in early August, but I wasn’t too sure about the elevation. I booked our site #6 in Ridge Camp. From the time we arrived and filled up the fresh water tank at the ultra-cool 4 lane dump station, I knew we were in for a great weekend. The signage was very well marked and the fresh water spigot was more like a little tank, super-solid, clean and modern. We pulled into Ridge Camp (RCAM on Recreation.gov) and drove a little bit down a hill to our site. One backup attempt into the site and (according to our LevelMatePRO app) it was perfectly level...that was definitely a first for us. We set our chocks and started our setup. The picnic table had a new seat on one side and was in great shape. Our pad was limestone and very flat and level, so setting out our rugs was easy and comfortable underneath our feet. The campfire ring was in great shape with a fully functioning adjustable grill plate....we even had a lantern pole. Looking at some of our neighbor’s sites, depending on where the camper site was located, some had their picnic table and fire ring either above or below them. Definitely worth looking at the pictures. Our site in Ridge, along with most others from #6-24 were very well shaded. One thing to note is Ridge is on an incline with a loop at the end. Perfect for turning around to head out. With the slope, however be aware of the kids and adults riding around on bicycles and skateboards. With the many bike trails in Seven Points, there were a lot of adult mountain bike riders.

We took a drive around through the other six campgrounds and decided Point was our favorite, but obviously crowded because it is right on the lake. Senoia camp was (our) tied with Ridge, but only the lower portion. Once you go up the hill to sites above #231, it gets very steep and far away from the water. Probably not too safe for kids on bikes, although the only playground appeared to be at the top of the hill..again, probably too steep for kids. We drove through Meadow Camp (MCAM) but it was too open for us with not many trees for shade. Bay camp (BCAM) was a bit nicer than Meadow with ample trees, but it wasn’t close to anything except for one portion that had access to the lake/bay below. Finally, Valley Camp (VCAM) was a single in/out with a loop around the playground, but the sites appeared too small for our 28’ TT.

We liked this campground so much that I tried booking (and cancelling our reservation at Red Bridge in Kane, PA) for our last seasonal weekend in October, but there was nothing in Ridge or Point. Later that day, I received an email from Reservation.gov that our Oct 23 booking at Red Bridge was going to be refunded because Red Bridge was under construction. I quickly opened the reservation.gov website and a site across and up the hill a few sites from where we stayed was suddenly available, so I booked it. Another item worth noting is Ridge has a laundromat at only 25¢/load. Also, the restroom at Ridge has 4 shower stalls which were very clean with hot water at a great water pressure. On our way out, we visited the dump station again and got in one of the 4 lanes with no wait. The dump station, as noted above had wide lanes and made the experience an easy and clean one. We can’t wait to go back to Ridge again next month. I took pictures of our site #6 plus several other sites in Seven Points. Each site is sequentially numbered, depending on which of the seven campgrounds - reference the map for the actual locations.