## Overview

 Loleta Recreation Campground sits along the east branch of Millstone Creek in the southwestern corner of the Allegheny National Forest, offering a peaceful getaway that is popular with families. 
## Recreation

 Camping is available in both the primitive upper loop and the more developed lower loop. The Day Use area with picnic tables and grills centers around a Civilian Conservation Corps dam across Millstone Creek, which creates a small swimming/wading area. Fishing the stream is permitted with a legal PA fishing license, but the swimming area is off-limits between Memorial Day and Labor Day. There is a 3-mile hiking trail that starts and ends at the campground, passing a rock outcrop on the edge of the Millstone Valley at its furthest point from the campground.
## Facilities

 April 2022 \*\*\* Water will be turned on May 1st. Electric will be turned on for Lower Loop April 1st\*\*\* The lower loop of the campground has spacious campsites that are surrounded by mature trees. The upper loop sites are smaller and tucked into the forest for a more intimate feeling with nature. Each campsite has a parking spur, fire ring, and picnic table. Vault toilets and drinking water are provided in the camping loops while the Day Use area supports the bathhouse with flush toilets, hot showers, and changing rooms. 
## Natural Features

 Loleta is a small opening in the forested hillsides around Millstone Creek. Native tree species in the area include red oak, white pine, black cherry, red and sugar maples, and a variety of others. Millstone Creek is a cold water fishery with a thriving population of native brook trout, and it is also priodically stocked by the Pennsylvania FIsh and Game Commission. Wildlife in the area include whitetail deer, black bear, turkey, raccoon, oppossum, fox, and smaller mammals, birds, and reptiles. 
## Nearby Attractions

 The Buzzard Swamp Hiking Trails, a 9.6-mile network of trails that wind through an area of 15 man-made ponds, make for an enjoyable day trip just north of Loleta, while driving down a dirt road extending south of the campground leads to the beautiful Clarion National Wild and Scenic River. The paved road along the river is popular for bike riding, and the river offers access for canoes, kayaks, and tubes as well as fishing opportunities and large boulders for picnicking or just watching the water roll by. Cook Forest State Park is an easy drive for hiking, marveling at the grove of Old Growth Hemlocks, or climbing an old fire tower for a view of the river. 
## contact\_info

 For facility specific information, please call (814) 363-9090.
## Charges &amp; Cancellations

 Cancellations and changes must be made through Recreation.gov

Loleta Recreation

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.

Loleta Got the Job Done

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.

Overall very nice campground

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. 

Will stay here again

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.