The Pines Campground — Promised Land State Park

Been going camping here for 35 years. Average State Park. No reception anywhere. You get what you paid for, and you can't beat the price.

The park itself is excellent. The trails are plentiful and scenic. The forest is thick and beautiful throughout the park. We loved the little falls trail for hiking and splashing around in the water. The lower lake is more wild and scenic, but less conducive for swimming, while the upper lake had a beach and lots of human activity with swimming, paddleboarding and kayaking. The public beach has nice amenities but is a little rocky and the water wasn't very clear when we were there. We have three boys 5 and under and were impressed that they got a bag full of stuff when we checked in. It was also a pleasant surprise that they offered environmental education programs. We took the boys to learn about fish and then took them later to an amazing bear presentation given by an old timer who knows everything there is to know about bears. Learned a lot! The next morning my wife was on her morning run and crossed paths with a huge male black bear. Because of the info from the presentation, she wasn't afraid and stood still, waiting for him to go on his way. This park has a lot to offer! If you are in a camper or RV, I think that the Beechwood loop looked best. We stayed in the northwoods loop, which was ok but more conducive to tent camping. Our site was in the back of the loop and more private than the others, so we enjoyed it. The sites were not as spacious here, but it looked like Beechwood was better and had water hookups. No water hookups but 30 amp power and spigots close by. Big line at dump station when we were leaving. A nice state park.

Went camping Friday/Saturday/Sunday. We stayed in the pines and it was fantastic. It rained almost the whole weekend but we still got to walk a bit. We were very close to the beach and bathrooms. Lots of wildlife to see as well!

Stayed in a spot without water hook up. All spigots to fill camper with water were situated just off main driving lanes resulting in a lot of congestion of cars behind us when attempting to fill tanks. Spots were very cramped and sites lack any natural character. Kind of like a parking lot or a tailgate scene. Hiking trails were nice our stay was very crowded with lots of time traffic on all trails. May have been the overall crowding that negatively impacted our experience. Overall, not what we were expecting or looking for on a weekend getaway.

I stayed for three nights in a pull through trailer site with 50 AMP and 30 AMP electric. Easy to get in and out of, nice and shady, big spaces so you were not on top of one another, and nice and quiet. Clean and modern bath house, water close by, and great camp hosts. Definitely recommend it.

I had the pleasure of staying three nights at Promised Land State Park; one in June 2018, the other two in July of that year. Our sites (383,385,402) were close to the bathhouse, a short walk away. Facilities were comparable to many state park campgrounds, and for the time of year, there were no wait times for shower or bathroom use.

During the July stay, there were reports of young orphaned bear cubs in the campsite area and we were asked to stow our food safely in a vehicle - our gear is a motorcycle and a Time Out trailer/tent that would not afford the sort of security for our food and belongings that was requested. The camp host kindly accommodated storage of our food and supplies overnight for as long as we stayed.

We did not get to see the entirety of the park, but did get to swim in the lake on premises. I will visit again and recommend this state park to anyone visiting the Poconos.