Quiet, but a little cramped

I stayed here in two capacities: Once as a family camper and once with a scout group. Of the two, the scout camping was preferable in my opinion (but clearly not an option for most). 

The public campsites are very much hit or miss. Our site was on an incline, so trying to find a level area to set up camp was a challenge. Other sites had large, flat spots, so you almost need to visit in advance to figure out which sites are best. 

When we visited there were free pieces of kindling to help start your fire. Bigger pieces were available for purchase, but you had to tote them from the front of the loop to your campsite. Having a wagon or using your car is suggested. 

Depending on how deep your campsite is, you can easily walk into the park and wander the many trails. 

Signs are small and easy to miss, especially in the dark. I drove past the nature center (or whatever it is called) several times because it is not marked very clearly and this was during daylight hours. During the night or winter when it is dark early, seeing those tiny signs by the side of the road would be even more challenging. 

Not a ton of frills here, but the price reflects that. Good for a getaway or cheap place to stay while visiting Gettysburg or Chambersburg.

Quiet sites with some activities

We recently stayed the weekend here in loop A. 

There are several good things that can be said about this campground. 

Restricted- only people camping and visitors are allowed to use the facilities. Keeps things from being too crowded. 

Good sized sites- My family of 4 was able to stretch out 2 tents, our 4 camping chairs, the provided picnic table, our car, and have plenty of room left over. 

Limited activities on weekends- jumping pad/pillow, pedal carts, laser tag ($), ceramics ($), t-shirts ($), hikes, and more. Changes weekly. Details sent out at the beginning of the week. 

Decent stocked camp store with reasonable prices. $10 for wood, 3.50 for 7 lbs of ice, $5 shakes, and lots more. 

There are some clear downsides, too. 

Only 1 bathhouse per loop. Pay attention to where your site is located. You might be in for quite a hike to go to the bathroom, which is inconvenient in the early morning hours. Loop E doesn't have a bathhouse (mostly reserved for RVs). The bathhouses have showers and somewhat warm water. 

The tent pad is gravel. While this might help with drainage (I don't know), it makes it incredibly difficult to walk on and stake down your tent. 

The camp store/activities are quite a good distance from some of the loops. It took me about 10 minutes to walk at a decent pace from the start of loop A to the camp store. From our site which was only not even close to the halfway point it would have added another 5 minutes. The spots really deep in would have easily been a 30 minute walk each way. So driving, especially with little kids, is unfortunately necessary in some instances, especially if you want to visit the playground/basketball/volleyball courts which are WAY down past loop E. 

Activities are limited to certain times. When we arrived Friday the jumping pad was only open for an hour from 4 30 to 5 30. We arrived just before 4 30, so we unpacked a few things and took the kids to the jumping pad area (right next to loop A). It wasn't open and inflated until almost 4 50. You'd think because it was opened late they would keep it open later. Nope! Right at 5 30 a worker pulled up and shut things down much to the chagrin of the kids. Why they can't have it running more often is beyond me. 1 hour on Friday was clearly not enough, especially when opened late. Maybe 2-3 hours on Friday and 5-6 on Saturday. 

They should consider having time for younger kids on the jumping pad, who are bounced off by the older kids. On Saturday there were at least 40 kids, some pre-teens/teenagers from girl scouts. My 4 year old was having trouble staying on the pad because "it is too bouncy". Kids come and go as it stays open longer, but little kids have trouble keeping up. 

The pedal carts were a good idea in practice, but have 2 faults. 1. They are EXTREMELY hard to pedal. I tried two carts, one was totally stuck on an incline and the second barely made it around the track. I have no idea why they are so difficult to use. 2. There are no tandem carts. The only ones using the carts while I was there were little kids who couldn't use the jumping pad. I had my daughter on my lap while on the cart, but it was awkward to use this way. Either having a two seater or side car would have worked out better. Based on the condition of the other carts in the shed, only a few appeared usable. 

Clear signs are needed. Lots of cars were going the wrong way down loop A. The road is barely big enough for 1 car, so having to accommodate 2 is even more problematic, especially with kids walking around. There were at least 10 cars going the wrong way in the loop. 

The limit of 2 cars per site isn't enforced. A few sites had 3 cars, which fit ok. A pack of cub scouts were hiking a few of the trials, so a few sites had 4 or 5 cars. The sites were not big enough to fit that many cars plus camping equipment, so they started taking up the road. This made it hard to maneuver, especially with little kids running about in the road unsupervised. 

All in all it was a great campground and I truly do appreciate the staff trying to provide a few things for families to do. With a few considerations and improvements, this campground could easily be a 5-star location.

Sadly, you couldn't pay me to stay here again

We were looking for a place to take the family for a few days to get away for a while. We'd been to the Jellystone in Luray and decided to give this one a chance. Big mistake! 

I called their customer service number and asked if the water park would be open. I was told yes. We arrive on our first day of 4, put on our swimsuits, and play in the splash park for several hours. My 3 year old loved it. It closed early, maybe 3, and I overheard something about it being shut down for the year. Wait, what!? How is that possible when I called to prevent this type of thing from happening. We stop by the front office the next day and sure enough, closed for the season. As I'm leaving the front desk another irate customer had the same thing happen. No apologies, we'll try to make this right. Nothing. I could have convinced my credit card company to stop the charges but that would have been a huge disappointment to my kids. 

We decided to stick around for what became a literal ghost town. We maybe ran into one other family each day we stayed. 

The state of the park was sad. 

-Flooded mini golf course (several holes were unplayable)

-Two pedal carts available, 1 with a broken seat and the other didn't work. 

- Free laser tag (a plus) with a field full of small tree stumps and roots to trip over (ask me how I know)

-a giant hole next to the jumping pillow big enough for my daughter's foot/leg to fit in. 

And these are just some of the things. When I brought it to the attention of the staff they thanked me and said they'd tried to do better next time. Next time? No way would I return without reassurance things improved and an apology for how things happened the first time.