Locust Lake State Park Campground

Good for day trip (but not returning). Bad for camping. Racist visitors. Rude and ignorant staff. Brace yourself, this is a long review.

In short, staff are rude. Park ranger don't know how to critically think. Racist visitors are allowed to stay (details below). Illicit drug use allowed by staff/ park rangers.

The park: it's a nice park with a good lake and activities. Short hikes are easy and fishing is good for kid activities. There's also a small beach area with sand that's great for kids and adults. Kayaking was decent and we caught some good size fish in the deeper parts. It's a shame our experience will lead us others to never return.

The campsites: they're the average small campsites that could fit two 4 person tents and one car, some sites are larger. We got a good shaded site with tall trees. Our picnic table was in pretty solid shape and not deteriorating. Most sites are too close to each other where neighboring ignorant campers will be ignorant. That's where one problem lies.

The bathrooms: better off digging a hole. Empty or near empty toilet paper. Some toilets were overflowing. It's just bad maintenance.

The staff: this is the real problem. I can deal with racist people; that's easy. What I can't is rude, ignorant, and or inexperienced staff. As mentioned, I camp all over the country and highly respect park rangers. This team was very different.

We arrive at the gate and was greated by Jane. She asked if we had any pets or alcohol. We didnt but a family member told her they had a dog but weren't staying the night. Jane said it was okay and told us we had 10 minutes to unload and park our cars at the big parking lot. We said okay and we all continue.

Less 10 minutes goes by (I know this because we just got to the site and opened the car doors to unload) and Jane drove by and said, “I said that you have 10min to unload, policy is 1 vehicle per site. You guys have too many vehicles, you have to remove them now!” A family member said to her we got here 5min ago and are in the process of unloading. Jane proceeds to say, “I also said no pets anywhere in this site. I see you have a dog. You need to take your dog off the site. They can’t stay.” She said this as a couple walked their 2 full grown labs right by us. The family member asked her “what about them? Aren’t those dogs?” She looked at us and said,”there’s a dog park further down for those sites down there. Your site isn’t allowed to have dogs.” If you remember when we entered we already established that a member had a dog and they were not staying the night and Jane was okay with it. So we tell her that we'll unpack and move the cars as she instructed at the gate.

Jane drove off and stopped to talk to the couple camping behind our tent. As they were talking, I noticed the man Jane was talking to kept turning back to look at us. We continued to enjoyed our day and the dog that Jane was complaining about left the campground. It was maybe 5am the next morning, someone’s child was crying. And from the tent behind us where Jane was talking to the man the day before, we hear a male’s voice yelled,”SHUT THE F*CK UP!" Around 6am we called to report the man and the lady we talked to said someone will come out asap.

Throughout the day the same man that was accompanied by a female, hurrled slurries of racial remarks to us and the other surrounding neighbors (they were not caucasian) throughout the day. We and two other families that we know of reported him. Again, the front office said someone will be out asap, yet throughout the day the man continued his racial remarks. At this point we had a feeling nothing was done about the racial-remarks-yelling man. We gave up on the staff that was responsible to keep the establishment a family friendly environment.

Someone reported us for having a dog and too many cars on our campsite. Who could that be? And so, a park ranger came and told us in a not-so-friendly way to remove the dog and limit our vehicles. This park ranger was clearly ignorant. If he took seconds to assess our campsite, he would have counted 1 car per campsite. As far as the dog goes, there was none because it left with the owners the day before as stated to Jane (from the gate). The ranger obviously did not assess the situation before engaging in a demand that proved his ignorance to the many people before him. Though we knew his ignorance was apparent, we hoped God would enlighten him to do the right thing. So we proceeded to inform him of the racial-remarks-yelling man behind our campsite continuing to do what he was raised or learned to express; hate. And also that multiple people at our campsite smelled a stench of what can only be marijuana coming from behind our campsite. Sure, we don't know 100% exactly where it came from but it was strongest around the campsite where the racial-remarks-yelling man resided. The park ranger confirmed that they had received other complaints about that racial-remarks-yelling man and that "we" will loop back around and speak with him. I checked and marijuana was not legal for recreational use in Pennsylvania.

Their policies possessed a strict 10 minute limit to unload your camping gear along with your supplies and children but must not possess anything about foul language, rudeness, hate speech, or illicit drug use because the racial-remarks-yelling man was still there with his female companion and the stench of marijuana after we left the campground. That or the staff believed the racial-remarks-yelling man's action were fair. Whatever the case, it is a mystery for there was no update from the rangers or staff and the man continued to hurl hate towards us and the surrounding non-caucasian families after multiple reports from multiple families as confirmed by the park ranger.

In conclusion, racist people are easy to deal with. But when the staff and park rangers fail to enforce a family friendly environment at a family friendly campground, victims to people like the racial-remarks-yelling man wonder what kind of people are operating this establishment?

Benefit of the doubt, maybe staff was busy... And you can't leave a review on their website without it being "approved" for publication. Best way to have 5 star rating

This campground has a lot to offer.     Ourselves, we preferred to hike and ended up hiking about 20 miles over the weekend, between this park and the neighboring Tuscarora State Park.    We saw lots of cayakers, canoers, people fishing, swimming and lots of biking.      We had a site which was right along the bike trail and the lakefront.    A little tight to get the camper parked, but once in a wonderful site.    Not really big, but still enough room so you aren't right on top of your neighbor.    Campground kind of has a family feel to it and not something we always enjoy, but here it works.     We had a great time people and dog watching from our site and really enjoyed the hikes.   Had a litte of everything for the hikes, from some pretty easy trails to some other areas that were wet, steep and slippery and slow, but very very beautiful running alongside mountain lakes and creeks to higher up being in thick pine forests to thick oak forests.     We don't normally use the bathrooms, having a camper, but in this case we had a little issue with our water and ended up using the showers in the campgrounds and found them to be very usable.   Great water pressure and the buildings seemed fairly clean, pretty dated, but overall not bad.     We had a great stay and someday we plan to go back.

Camped here Easter weekend 2019 for three nights in loop 162 -186, on sites 165 & 166. Upon arrival, we were surprised at how small the sites were in person, but luckily, they allow you to move the table and the fire pits to accommodate your equipment if needed. You do have to return it to its original location before departing.

It rained fairly heavily during our first day there and the sites became extremely muddy, so be prepared if rain is in the forecast. Some of the sites were covered in gravel which aided the muddiness.

The remainder of the weekend was lovely and the lake was packed with people fishing throughout the day. I took a walk around our loop on Sunday to see if there were any larger sites for a future trip and the sites in the 180’s (along Locust Creek) were severely flooded due to the downgrade of the loop, which levels off as you get closer to the creek, even after two full days of sunshine and warmer temperatures. Literally inches of water throughout the entire row of sites. I figured I would mention it here since otherwise they would be desirable sites due to the close proximity of a near constantly babbling creek.

Otherwise, the bathroom/shower facilities were adequate, albeit in need of a paint job. There is a roadside stand and then a bait and tackle place that sells wood on the road leading to the park, but downed wood was plentiful at the time of our visit. I would imagine by the summer, it won't be so easy to forage.

Locust Lake is a State Park campground that is tucked away in the mountains of Schuylkill County. The lake provides many forms of entertainment, from fishing to swimming, as well as two large boat ramps, (No gas engines) and a boat rental. The southern side of the lake is set aside for mainly tent-only camping, while across the water the northern shore is host to a fairly large amount of sites geared towards RV's and tents both. Each side of the lake has a season long resident ambassador that has always been friendly and helpful.
There are many bathroom buildings through-out the campground and they all seem to be located in such a way that regardless of site location, the bathrooms are always just a short trip. These facilities are maintained very well, I would say a minimum of twice daily. They are clean, well lit units that all include 3-4 showers with hot and cold running water, benches are available both inside the shower stall as well as along the wall in the "public" portions of the building. Each unit also has a public drinking fountain and a community events/emergency information board. These are very well lit and located in a way that while allowing a certain level of privacy from your neighboring campers never leave you feeling like you are in anyway unsafe. The sites vary in price of course in relation to the amenities you request/require, but I find the prices to be competitive if not a bargain in comparison to similar sites at other campgrounds. The park is pet-friendly, and offers sites with power and water connections, as well as a decently large sized grated fire ring on every site.
The camp store, an easy walk from virtually an location within the park, has all the staples and souvenirs one would expect as well as soft serve ice cream, fire wood, and boat rentals,(canoe, kayak, and 12-14 ft aluminum rowboats). You will be pleased to know there is a public beach that allows swimming, many well blazed nature trails of varying difficulty, amphitheaters with scheduled events and classes, guided educational hikes, multiple very nice playgrounds, and an exercise trail. They accept both reservations and walk-ins, and have extra parking for vehicle overflow keeping the sites from getting "cluttered". A large mix of Pa's native wildlife resides in the woods surrounding the camp making for some nice photo opportunities. There are many off-property hiking trails within minutes of your camp, these can lead you to a fire tower from the 1920's, waterfalls, or even an adjoining state park. Outside the park's main gates you are a very short trip to a local tavern, residential homes and farms selling wood and produce, private boat rentals, an impressive golf course, and even a RC airport. I highly suggest packing the family up and spending some time at Locust Lake to enjoy some family oriented, fun, educational, and safe camping.