This is a beautiful area with everything you love about camping. The hiking trails are well maintained, there's a swimming area and a boat dock. There's even a disc golf course! It's dog friendly and one of my favorite places.
Nothing too crazy, the trails are kinda boring but it's a chill system all together. Definitely nothing too spectacular but still very fun!
I grew up going to French Creek camping with my family so I'm glad that I have started going back as an adult, as there have been many upgrades. The sites are close together, but there is a lot of greenery between so there is privacy. This is a state park so no alcohol. People always flip out when they get a fine for "quietly drinking a single beer"... Well yeah that's still alcohol. The grounds offer a lot to do between the pool, boating, trails playgrounds. It's safe if you have kids with bikes. Just an overall good time. There are multiple loops to camp in so you have the option of hookups and water and also loops that allow pets. The bathroom was great in our loop, can't speak for the others.
I grew up going to this campground so I might be a little biased...but it’s one of the best eastern PA has to offer. Extremely well maintained sites and facilities. There is a pet friendly loop of sites. Miles and miles of hiking trails, nearby the historic hopewell furnace for the history lover, a public pool if you like to swim, and 2 lakes for fishing, camping, kayaking, paddleboarding, you name it. The park office is nice as well. My only complaint about the campground is that the sites tend to be very close together, so choose your spot wisely.
We like to camp here early in the season because it didn't have a lot to do. They have a pool but not included in camping price. The lake is nice to fish in and the walking trails are nice. We like this park it's close to home and it gets our camping season started. Always clean bath houses. Nice park to go a relax be the camp fire.
All sites have a paved level area which made set up a breeze. Sites were not on top of each other. Bathrooms were very nice and clean with large showers. Nice area to wash dishes. Very nice playground area and clean.
We loved our stay at this park, and plan to return. We tented in loop D…the only bad part was that it was kind of hard to find a level and rock-free spot large enough for our tent, but we managed! There is lots of hiking, the lake is beautiful, at least two playgrounds (perfect for our kids), the bathrooms were well maintained. We were there in October, so the pool was closed, but it looked nice. We did take our inflatable kayak out on the water, and it was lovely! There is also a nice picnic area with grills and picnic tables right by the boat landing, where we picnicked and hung out for an afternoon. They hold a Sunday morning "Church at the Park," which we were planning to go to, but then it rained, and we didn't know there was a rain location (the park office), so we ended up missing that. We would definitely recommend this park!
Campground Review
This state park is tucked in the largest tract of forest that lies between New York City and Washington D.C. and it is absolutely stunning. The area is full of whitetail deer, raccoons, opossums and other abundant wildlife so be watchful when driving especially during dawn and dusk hours.
The park has tons of amenities from freshwater ponds to a fish to a staffed swimming pool. There are multiple playgrounds for kids to play on and plenty of green space to roam. There are four camping loops (A, B, C and D). Loop A, B and C are in close proximity to one another while D is a bit further away and may be used for overflow camping. Loop A offers simple sites with no hookups. Each site has a fire ring and grate of some sort, picnic table and flat space for pitching a tent. Some sites in this loop have lantern posts but not all of them do. Unfortunately, the flat spot in our site that was not gravel was low-lying and would have flooded in the rain (which was forecasted). We wound up pitching our tent on the gravel to avoid waking up in a puddle. Beware, there is a TON of poison ivy riddled throughout the grounds. Some of it looks like it has been sprayed but it is still rather abundant.
The facilities in loop A are VERY nice and look as though they have been remodeled recently. There bathroom has roomy toilet and shower stalls, nice sinks and is all tile (very nice, clean tile). Outside the bathroom are two dish sinks with both hot and cold water. It was nice to not have food caked in the bathroom sinks!
The sites in loop A are rather impacted and there was a fair amount of garbage littered about which was disappointing. However, the sites in this loop are nicely spaced and while the campground was busy, we felt like we had plenty of space.
We drove through the rest of the loops and found that Loop B was very packed and sites were on top of one another. This was a loop with full hookups so there were RVs and other vehicles everywhere. Loop C, which allows pets was also a bit of a mess. Part of it is just an open field that looks more like a parking lot, however, if you keep driving the loop you will find more normal sites in the trees. We didn't have our dogs this visit, otherwise we might have stayed in this loop.
All in all this is a great spot close to the Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site (totally worth a visit). I would certainly recommend staying here and checking out the area.
Gear Review
As a Ranger for The Dyrt, I get products to test from time to time - today I am testing the Ledlenser MH2 Headlamp. This headlamp is interesting and will definitely be great for certain applications, though it will more than likely not be my go to light in the backcountry.
Pros:
Cons:
Overall this is a nice little headlamp. I keep one in my car as well as in our car camping box as an extra light source around the campground. As I mentioned, it won't replace my backpacking go-to model but it certainly worth the investment if you are looking for a spare or heavier duty model for those instances when weight doesn't matter.
Thanks for the opportunity to check out your product.
We were looking for someplace close to the city but away from the hustle and bustle of our city life, this was the perfect little steal-away; relatively close by, great car camping spots, nice easy hikes, there's a lake but unfortunately you can't swim in it, they have a public pool but we opted for hiking instead.
I had to camp the pet loop because I brought the dog, and was completely filled up. My site #16 was far from the best site it was small and rocky and I couldn't switch because they were full. The restrooms and showers were clean. After exploration I found those really nice sites and marked them on my map for next time. French Creek is popular with the locals and can fill up on any weekend as was the case for me. Very nice place and I will have a better site next time.
love the area, grew up near there , great place to be. very friendly people,and you ll have a lot of fun there
Live not far from here. Decent cabin and amenities. Trails are good for hiking and some mountain biking. The tent areas are a bit rough. Hopewell Furnace is a cool place to visit next door.
I grew up not far from here and would come here frequently. It is a great spot with some hiking trails, playgrounds, creek, and other fun things.
Easy drive from Philadelphia, nice trails around the park. Not a ton of other options for hiking, but a good escape from the city.
The camping cabins and yurts are somewhat grouped together in the middle of the campground area. We chose to stay in a yurt, as we were on a business trip to Philly, but wanted a couple days outside before heading home. There looked to be some nice tent sites as well. Lots of hiking trails to explore!
