Loleta Recreation

When we went we were one of about 2-3 groups there so my review may not be accurate when busy. It was nice basically having the place to ourselves.

The site we picked was off the beaten path so we had nice privacy. The site was large with plenty of space for 6 people and 4 tents. The views were gorgeous. The bathroom was clean. Only complaint was that the water near our site wasn't working. And there's only one hiking trail in the area so we had to drive to find more hiking. Careful on the Loleta hiking trail, after the overlook, we made a wrong turn and was off the trail for ~1mi. Eventually we realized we hadn't seen a marker in awhile and turned around and found the trail easily enough.

Stayed 2 nights in teardrop trailer, primitive site. Had almost the whole campground to ourselves. We really enjoyed walking around the recreation area constructed by CCC. Beautiful. Easy to get to. Beautiful hiking trail, though I was unable to get my hands on a map and didn’t have solid cell phone signal. Hoping to get ahold of some good maps of the area for next time.

We stayed in a tent in the lower loop of the campground. We went looking for synchronized fireflies that live in the area...unfortunately we did not see any. However, the bathrooms were clean, our site was cozy and the sky was so clear. I can’t think of anything negative to say about Lolita except maybe the flush toilets are about a 3-5 minute walk from the lower loop...but I like to walk so it was not an issue for us.

Electric sites available but community water faucets. Vault toilets. Privacy afforded by the forest. Busy on weekends. Some showers but not right in the camping area. Approximately 7 miles to town. Hardware store had Coleman fuel. No internet or smartphone connection at the campsites but a short drive toward town and you get it. I felt like the fees were a bit high but campsites in the northeast always are. I think it was $13 a night with my Senior Pass for an electric site.

Could have done with less rain. Otherwise very satisfied. Camp host very helpful. No internet / phone service but a short drive up the road, I had service. Satellite radio reception was good.

Loleta Recreation campground is a good central location for activities in Allegheny National Forest. This campground has everything you look for in a campground, showers, firewood and ice available for purchase and fire pits located at each site. It looked like most of their campsites had electrical hook-ups, if needed, but we are just tent campers and had one of the few sites without electricity. Vault toilets are located throughout the campground and each site has a campfire ring with a cooking grate attached.

There are two main locations in the campground, the upper campground and the lower campground. The lower campground seemed to be taken up by a majority of trailer camping where as the upper campground was a mix of tents and trailers. There are also a couple of group campsites that looked to hold about 25-50 people. The upper campground entrance has a spot to park just for the day and has a few trails to hike or a spot to swim in the river just above a small dam.

We encountered a few loud patrons at the campground, but it did seem that everyone respected the quiet hours and knew when they were 10pm-6am.

While we did some hiking throughout Allegheny we found a few spots that would have been a little more fitting for us to camp, Ministers Creek has some great first come first serve spots along the creek with a short or long hike in, or even a few reserved spots closer to the main road. Loleta did the job for us especially since we were booked last minute for Memorial Day weekend and we had no real complaints. It did the job for us, but don't expect anything great.