PAtacoFF's Pennsylvania and Mid-Atlantic State Parks and Forests Campsite "reviews"

Camped at Watkins Glen about 7 years ago. The Gorge trail was nice and we saw a mink. Hit the wineries on several of the lakes. Worth a repeat visit.

Great pictures.

 

Thanks.
We really love the area, there's so much to do and see. In addition to the falls at Watkins Glen there are falls close by in Hector right along Rt 414, and in the Finger Lakes National Forest. A little further drive gets to Taughannock Falls State Park just outside of Trumansburg along Cayuga Lake, and Ithaca Falls in Ithaca. Plus many more, and that's just waterfalls.

 

Indeed. Same trip we visited Taughannok Falls and Ithaca Falls.

 

Colonel Denning State Park and Tuscarora State Forest

Camped at Colonel Denning State Park, in Doubling Gap PA, for 3 nights this past weekend. Besides the thunderstorms, with crazy lightening on Thursday night and heavy rain Friday night, it was a great long weekend. Our 5x10 Hiker Trailer kept us dry and comfortable during the storms and overnight while sleeping with the windows and doors open and a nice breeze moving.

When I was young I went to church camp at Camp Yolijwa which is literally just a stones throw away from Colonel Denning SP for about 8 years, and even though my wife and I don't go to church we still send our son there every year bc it's a great camp, a great experience, and a great area. Bc of that I am somewhat familiar with the area, and some of the hiking trails but I never thought to stay at Colonel Denning even though it is less than 1.5hrs from my house. Maybe I didn't think about it bc of my memories as a kid/teenager being that the park was small and underdeveloped. And Colonel Denning is small, but it is certainly not underdeveloped. I should have done this sooner.

Colonel Denning has three camp "loops" for a total of 52 sites. There is a small lake with a swimming beach. There are 2 playfield areas that are totally separate from each other with sand volleyball courts, large grass area with base/softball diamonds, and newer playground equipment. There is also a large well spaced out picnic area in a wooded area around the 2nd playfield with tons of tables and grills in to many different groupings to count (to many look like they don't get used unfortunately). There is firewood available to purchase for $5 a "bucket"full (which actually was a decent amount of wood for the price and hallelujah for even 5 pricing instead of 6 or 7 dollars just to get an extra dollar or two from you bc how many people actually carry multiple 1s around with them). There is also bagged ice available for purchase from an ancient freezer that somehow still runs.

I reserved site 33 just two weeks ago. When many state parks in PA are full Colonel Denning was only at 50% capacity at most for any of the three nights that I was there. Site 33 was a nice long and decent width site with a nice tent pad also. There were enough trees that I could set up my large Kelty Noah tarp and up end up using it as canopy for the trailer as well. There was also space to hang the hammock my son likes to relax in.




I walked the park one evening and wrote down which sites I liked and some quick thoughts on some:
Campground sites
33, 35,37,39(kinda if with 40 better, 40 alone nope), 44,46,49(better for rv), same for 51,52(big rv site), 9(for tenting), 5 (great small rv at creek), 4 (same) 1-3 if a group would be good, 15 (in back at creek “private” but still real close to others), 20 (nice tent), 21 small rv

No steak pictures this time, but we did have our traditional steak dinner, this time with baked sweet potatoes and the best corn on the cob I have ever made over a fire, or probably ever. Some beverages may have been consumed.



Also as is now traditional for me when camping in the area of a state forest we haven't been to yet, my son and I drove around Tuscarora Sate Forest to check out the forest roads, trails, and dispersed campsites. There are lots of forest roads here that are in really great shape, however if you plan to bike them on a trip know ahead of time that most are very steep, there aren't many flat roads here. Drivable trails are few and far between, most gates were closed on anything that could be considered that. The scenic vistas here are less scenic compared to some others I've been to in the last two years. But this one at the intersection of Three Square Hollow Road and Cowpens Road was nice with a picnic area and everything. This was right before the storms moved in on Friday, the haze was like this nearly all weekend from the high humidity.



Below you will find my thoughts on the dispersed sites as I wrote them down while driving around. Remember, we all have different likes and wants when camping. Mine may and probably are different than yours. I generally like wooded areas that have some but not to much sun, I like higher on the mountain not in the valleys and etc. etc. There is not a purple lizard map of the area or from what I could find a state forest map with the sites locations on it. I had to transfer site locations to the SF map from the online reservation site to find the sites. There is one site that I visited that I held back from posting here bc its my favorite and you all will have to go find it yourself if you want to reserve it.

Tuscarora State Forest Dispersed Sites:
97 - small trailerable, not much flat, decent but not special
96- open are with high grass weeds, small area in woods. No table, or real fire ring. Very meh
95 - cool tent site. Up from little parking area. Rocky. Small. But nice.
91 - NICE big flat occupied. Tent only. At leasts 3 tents set up, plus ez-ups
94 - smallish just off road. Good for small trailer or tent. Table and ring. Could get wet in rain
93- literally just a pull off on side of road. No table or ring.
92 - pull thru, off road and lower. Backhoe parked here. Small rock fire ring not table. Nothing special at all
88 - awesome tent only site. Large. Flat. Wood. Stream.
75 - tent only, on sheriff trail. Didn’t visit
86- decent size for trailer. But right off road. Can see road from table. Small rock ring. Split sun/shade
85 - just a small circle of grass. Open. Rock ring. No table.
82 - on ridge line. Decent size for trailer. Back from road. Table and rock ring. Split sun/shad. Some bugs. Decent site
102 - meh. Lots of grass. Sun. Table. No ring.
103 - slightly better. Shorter grass. Rock ring
104 - another cleaning. Rock ring
105 - another clearing. Table. Rock ring.
107 - nicest on bower Mt rd. Occupied with trailer and big truck. Looks nice tho
101- decent sized clearing. Table real ring
99- pffft. Uphill. Two car width max clearing. A few rocks to make a ring.
77 - decent. Hard to get trailer into. Truck only no cars. Table Real ring. Flat area for tents. Trees
79 - stone. A little off road. Small rock ring no table. Reminds me of a state park site in layout and size.
80 - decent site. Tent or small trailer. But right in road. Table and real ring
90 - the new winner. Huge. Flat. Trees. Big rock ring. Table. Space for 4 diff campsites
89 - smallish site. Big enough for small trailer. Semi sun. Table and rock ring
67- stone parking lot with a table
66 - small site on hiking trail. Stone ring. No table. Can fit small trailer. Exposed to storms
65 - clearing on ridge. Table real ring. Back off road. Decent size. Not bad
64 - Small site. Clearing. Up off road a bit. Table. Ring. Occupied.
63 - small down off road. Table real ring. Nothing special but not bad
57 - just off main road. Nice tho. Occupied. Large enough for full size camper. Sun/shade, table, creek.
59 - tiny just a spot by a gate no table or ring
58 - an uncleared clearing. No table no ring up off road

When I told a friend of mine where I was going he said he didn't know about Colonel Denning SP but as soon as I said Tuscarora SF he perked up and said "I know that, I was there, there's really cool old hemlocks". And then he told me how he knew this and when he saw them which was 19yrs ago. Hemlocks Natural Area is located in the NorthWest corner of the main tract of Tuscarora State Forest. Its called out in the SF brochure as "120 acres of virgin hemlock in a narrow 1.5 mile ravine...Unfortunately wooly adelgid has seriously impacted these magnificent trees." Even after reading that depressing note in the pamphlet I was still excited to see some old growth forest here on the east coast. I gotta say, I was really, really disappointed. If I had to guess I'd say at least half of the old growth hemlocks are dead or dying, my actual estimate is higher. It was really sad to see these huge old trees dead from base to tip. The dying off of the hemlocks from an imported pest has allowed the understory to develop into a low forest of oaks and chestnuts more like the surrounding areas, unlike the old forest of towering hemlocks that nearly blocked out the sun at ground level. I would say that this is still an area to visit, if only to see what kind of havoc mankind can wreck on nature without even trying.

But back at camp, after the storms cleared out as I was sitting by the fire relaxing and looking at the dappled sun coming through the trees over the site I realized, I didn't need to drive to see large old hemlocks. There are some right here in the campground, they might not be virgin old growth but they are really old second growth at least, and they towered over the other trees in the campground.





A few quick last notes. Bears don't seem to be an issue here unlike other state parks/forest. But snakes are. Timber Rattlesnakes are VERY common in this area, as well as occasional Copperheads, assorted water snakes, and regular old Black snakes. Keep that in mind and watch where you step. I know that at least one rattlesnake makes its way into the Camp Yolijwa property just up the road each year. Where there's one, there's more.

TL;DR - Colonel Denning is a great park that seems to be under appreciated unlike some other state parks that are over appreciated. I love my Hiker Trailer. Tuscarora has some really good to decent dispersed sites but maybe less than other state forests. Drivable trails in Tuscarora aren't really a think but the forest roads are in great shape. Don't need to worry about bears, but watch out for the rattlesnakes.

 

Tuscarora State Forest Site #(???) trip report

Every FORKING Time!!!


Last Tuesday and Wednesday I camped at one of the Tuscarora State Forest dispersed sites that I had scouted a couple of months ago. I am withholding the site number for a few reasons such as I don't want to see it get overused, I want to keep if for myself , and the hunt for a great site is half the fun.

And this is a GREAT site! It is quite large with room for 5-6 vehicles in the open grass area. There is a great mix of open and shade area to chose from. And even a perfect flat, grass tent pad area that stayed high and dry during the torrential downpours.





It sits about 3/4 of the way up the mountain, and back off the road. Probably don't want to bring your family sedan up here.



The only real traffic that there was was the DCNR led missing person search party. They drove into the site, told me what was going on left one vehicle and a couple of people to search the are and then continued on. I still haven't heard if the missing person was found.

During one of the breaks in the rain I took the chance to walk around a bit. The entry "road" to the site continues back into the forest a bit and then dead ends at a unmarked gate, and a hiking/biking/horseback trail that looked well maintained. If it hadn't been for the bad weather I would have walked that more but didn't feel like getting caught out. I did find these pretty guys. But something tells me that bright orange means "I'll F'N kill you" in mushroom talk.



Despite the rain I was able to have a fire both nights. There is ample downed wood around to gather. And someone left this at the site to help. They deserve a tip.



Didn't have any major wildlife sitings, but that's probably down to the weather. There is potential in this area with the trails and woods etc. so definitely want to be vigilant. There are two overlooks nearby to watch for birds in nice weather.

On my last morning I had enough of the rain, and decided to just get up and pack it all up wet. it wasn't going to stop anytime soon. Didn't bother to make food or even coffee. And then...



All packed up and now sunny I left camp at 1015. I get just over 5 minutes to the bottom of the mountain and I run into this guy. I don't bring my chainsaw with me bc they are prohibited. I only had my hatchet (recently sharpened thank god) and my hand saw. Cut this out of the way enough to get by.



Move on down the road a couple of hundred yards



FML! There was no way I was making it through that with a hatchet and hand saw.
Luckily I had good cell reception in this area, so I called the forestry number on my camp permit and got a nice guy who said he'd send a crew out to me. A little over 30 minutes later they rolled up and cut the whole thing out in just 15 minutes. They said that trees were down all over Tuscarora roads. They also said in a muted voice and with shrugged shoulders that I should just bring my saw with me. I've been thinking about getting a battery powered saw for these types of trips anyway, just to keep in the truck or trailer instead of lugging my heavy loud Stihl around.

I will definitely be back to this site again, probably with my wife and son next time. And Tuscarora is a great State Forest. Gotta give thanks to the forest staff there, not just for quickly helping my out with the downed tree, but for there great forest maintenance. The roads here are in nearly universal great shape, the forest seems super healthy, there are a variety of use options throughout the forest. It also appears that Tuscarora is focused more towards preservation and recreation than extraction than some others. I know Bald Eagle SF is many peoples fav forest but don't pass up on Tuscarora. It is smaller, and doesn't have the driveable trails but it is equally good if not better in other ways.

 

Greenwood Furnace State Park

Located about a half hour south of State College is Greenwood Furnace State Park. My wife, son, and I visited there last weekend.


We had site 007 reserved for this weekend. It was a nice site, with good width, and the fire pit stuck in the back corner. A small creek ran about 30 yards away and could be heard while sitting by the fire. This site is a nice distance from its neighbor on the drivers side, but luckily the site on the passenger side was empty bc it was really close. There is not a dedicated tent pad at this site but with the size of the site our site had a few choices of were to set up his tent.


As noted in previous posts of mine. It tends to rain when I camp. This weekends trip was no different. It rained for most of the day on Saturday.


But that didn't stop us from having some fun playing UNO and reading some books under our 16ft Kelty Noah's Tarp (my wife said this was her favorite piece of camping gear I have ever bought).

I was even able to cook breakfast over the fire during a break in the morning batch of rain


It finally dried out around 5 on Saturday evening. We were able to get an ok fire going after fighting to keep it burning during some of the downpours, and just sat around and relaxed knowing that after breakfast on Sunday morning we'd be packing up and heading home.


Considering this was only a two night trip and the rain on Saturday we were unable to walk, hike, or drive the surrounding area as we normally do, so I an unable to give any report on what else is around the park.

Park "review":
There are 56 campsites in the park, with in inner loop and outer loop. Most are relatively level, and all are a decent size with some notably larger. Some have tent pads while others don't. Some are setup with the fire pits in the front of the site for those that are social, and others have the pits in the back for the less social of us. I'll list the sites we looked at and liked at the end.

There is fire wood available for 5$ a cube, but honestly it was really low quality. It was either so old that it was degrading into soft spongey wood that sucked up the moisture out of the air, or it wasn't fully seasoned. No matter what, it was wet and took a lot of effort to cook off all of the water in each piece and get a really hot fire. I'd hate to say transport your own wood, but you may want to consider bringing a few chunks just to burn off the first night to get the fire going. We didn't notice any wood for sale on the way in from the east.

There is ice for sale for 2$ a bag.

The bath house is not one of the newer remodeled bath houses. I'd put its build date around the 1980's with some minor updating since. It was clean and serviceable, with nice size showers and good water pressure. This was one of the few parks that actually did have a place for non-campers to place the nominal fee (one sign said 2$ another said 5$) for taking a shower there. There was no issues with having to wait to use any of the bath house facilities.

The park was maybe at about 65-70% capacity but surprisingly quiet. There was one group a few sites away that had a few sites together that we could hear during the day, but by dark they quieted down even thought they were all out by the fire. Park Rangers were driving through every 2 hours or so which is more often than I've seen at other parks.

Overall we liked the place. My wife said she'd like to go back and check out the old town remains, and I'd like to explore Rothrock State Forest some. So we will most likely be back next year sometime. The only downside is that the drive up 22 and 322 while only 2hrs for us, is just a downright boring drive. I don't enjoy it. Oh well, it's still worth it.

sites we liked: 14, 15 (wide), 17, 31 (huge pullthru), 45, 48, 49 (for a big trailer), 41 w/ 35 (back to back sites on inner outer loops), 50 (for small trailer and a tent), 39, 38, 36

 

Big thanks to the OP. Used these pics abs descriptions to find a site (24) in Bald Eagle last weekend. Weather was horrible but was nice finally taking my trailer actually out in the woods. Thanks again.

 

That's a sharp looking camper! Haven't seen one like that, or an OPUS for that matter.

 

Thank you!

They are pretty cool. Make a bunch of pop ups and then the OP15

https://www.opuscamper.us/op15/

 

Awesome, I'm glad that some people are finding this thread to be helpful. Sorry to see that the weather didn't cooperate with your trip. And that is a nice trailer!

 

So, my last trip of the year was scheduled for this weekend. But it fell through for various reasons. I've got to pick next years vacation before the end of the month so I'm already starting to plan for where and when I should go camping.
So far I've only got one trip planned to Cook Forest State Park. I'm hoping to get out at least 8-10 times next year. Do you all have any suggestions of where I should go? Or places you'd like me to check out and report back?

 

Cunningham Falls State Park, Maryland

Located about 10 miles south of the PA/MD state line and 16 miles north of Frederick MD just off Route 15 is Cunningham Falls State Park. The park is is situated in the middle of a large contiguous hardwood forest in the Catoctin Mountains. Uniquely, separated just by a road, to the north of the state park is Catoctin Mountain Park which is managed by the National Park Service. The area of the two parks was previously WPA and CCC work camps during the Great Depression. One of the camps later became Camp David.

Recreation:
Hiking trails are abundant in both parks with one of the main attractions being the Falls in Cunningham Falls State Park which is easily accessible from multiple trails including one right from the campground. My wife recently had surgery and wasn't able to walk for so we parked in the handicapped spots and used the boardwalk trail to meet up with family who hiked in using a separate trail. No climbing on the rocks for us this year but we did get a picture of our son, his cousin and uncle there.


There is a large lake with three designated swimming areas with lifeguards, as well as a boat launch (electric motors only). Fishing is allowed in the lake with a MD fishing license as well as catch and release trout streams in the area.

Campground:
There are six camping loops in the park. All of the sites are designed the same with a 10-15 foot wide approximately 30 foot deep back in section with an additional 15-20 foot square added at the back, the only difference seeming to be the depth of the back in section.


I had reserved sites 97 and 99 in the Deer Spring Branch Loop. We left our Hiker Trailer more to the front of site 97 and used the rear of the site as our gathering/cooking/eating spot. There was plenty of room for two lifetime tables, the picnic table, and six people with chairs around the fire. We put our sons small tent and family's 4 person tent on site 99 which was only a few feet away. A nearly perfect setup for our trip. Our sites were shaded, but each had periods of the day were full sun hit part of the site. This was nice since it was a perfect weekend weather wise and one could chose whether to be in the sun or not as preferred.





There was even enough room to play some Jenga


Bathrooms, wood, ice:
The campground bathrooms were just ok. I wouldn't call them dirty, but I wouldn't call them clean either. I'd guess construction was early 90's with fixture updates since then. The mens side has two shower stalls each with a small separate changing area and a seat and handheld shower head in the shower itself, as well as two urinals and two toilet stalls. The women's side had two showers and 4 stalls.

There is a camp store that sells firewood (at an outrageous $9 a bag of kiln dried that only has 3 full size pieces of wood and several smaller pieces) and ice. The store also sells some camp essentials and other items, but is not overly well stocked.
The park is large though and downed wood was abundant, it only takes some work to gather it.

I had cell reception on both my ATT and Verizon lines with Verizon being stronger and faster, not that I was on my phone much.

Animals:


Yep you're camping in the woods what do you expect. There are no dumpsters or trash cans in the individual camp loops. There are two areas each with 4-6 dumpsters that you must drive to to drop off trash. To keep bears away from the camp loops when they do come into the park? Thats my guess, and only a slight inconvenience.

Overall:
We REALLY liked this State Park. It's just an hour from our house and easy to get to. There are only a few truly bad sites around the multiple loops. It is easy to pick sites close together for a group, or ones that are more isolated if by yourself. The campground was nearly full on Saturday night but still relatively quiet. Between the State Park and National Parks side there is way more than enough to do to take up weekend. We will definitely be back.

 

Fowlers Hollow SP -->Colonel Denning SP and Tuscarora SF sites

RANT: (and I thought I didn't like Long Pine SP)
I was supposed to camp at Fowlers Hollow State Park in central PA the last few days of this week starting on Wednesday after I got off work in the morning. Fowlers Hollow is located centrally in Tuscarora State Forest and would be a good base camp to explore. Or so I thought. I'm sorry if there's anybody on here who likes Fowlers Hollow, but I found it to be shite! The worst PA state park I've ever been to. My site was site 6. It was located right beside the camp hosts site. The camp hosts' trailer was from 1980, and had multiple flex seal over duct tape repairs that wrapped from one side to the other. That trailer isn't moving from that site without breaking into three pieces. There was no screening between sites, and all sites were lined up together, although they did back up to a peaceful creek. The bathrooms were NOT clean at all, and there were no showers! And the drinking water was rust colored. All sites are electric, which means they cost $37 a night. For rusty water, no showers, and another camper right on top of you. HARD PASS. I left without even taking a picture. The only way I cold recommend Fowlers Hollow is if you live in the area. Bc of the orientation of mountain ridges here it takes forever to get from one side of a mountain to another or to another town, and Fowlers Hollow might be the only close option. Still, I'd recommend going to Colonel Denning which has cheaper non-electric sites and showers, (or Little Buffalo which I haven't been to yet but have heard nice comments on), or pick one of the nearby Tuscarora sites which are FREE and all you lose are neighbors and a real toilet.

So I left Fowlers Hollow and headed up and over the mountain towards Colonel Denning SP where I knew I could get a site at least for a night and fill up with clean water. I noted that some of my favorite dispersed sites were open if I needed to come back to them over my 50 minute drive. Along the way I had to slow down and give this guy some room on the road.



I got to Colonel Denning and decided on site 20 this time, and put my money in the honor box (PA should have a way to honor box credit card payments, I was lucky to have the exact cash) for the night and reserved the same site online for the next night. Site 20 is a two tier site with a smaller upper tier for parking or small trailer (angled my 10ft Hiker Trailer for some privacy, max is 15ft per website) and a large lower tier that has a nice raised tent pad that should help keep tents dry in heavier rains. I've reviewed the park before so won't be doing that this time. Go back to the first post index to find out more on Colonel Denning SP.



Thursday morning I woke up and and checked out my new Tuscarora State Forest map from Purple Lizard and started planning my route to check out sites I hadn't seen yet. Breakfast down and all cleaned up I set off on my drive. Headed up the first mountain I was stopped by flaggers, and had to wait. For this, a pilot car, I have never had to follow a pilot car before. He led us up the steep road past PennDot crews with graders, loaders, bobcats, and dump trucks that were cleaning brush, debris and regrading the road berms reclaiming in some areas a good 12+ inches of road. Well done work PennDot.



And then it was onto the forest roads. Or so I thought. The first road I planned to hit was Little Valley road which rises and falls along the ridge line of Conococheague Mountain. There's 7 dispersed sites in this area some with potential, a couple that look like are near streams and a couple that are pretty high up near the ridge. But, Little Valley road was closed with a front end loader spanned across the road and road closed signs (the SF website says closed for road resurfacing due to erosion). I thought about driving around to the other side to enter but I estimated that would have added close to 1.5hrs of driving. Will have to get back some time later to check out sites 40,43,44,47,50,51, and 53. So over to Shade Mountain and Blue Mountain I headed. (if anybody else has details on these reply here, looking at you dude on OverlandBound who reposts my site info there without any attribution or links back to here)

Tuscarora Sites:
26 - just off road. Decent w/ table and ring.


24 - small pull thru no ring no table. Nice little creek


23 - on off-shoot of Blacklog road that is gated about 100yrd further up. Small nothing special but good for hunting maybe?


22 - big pull thru. Nicest pull thru seen so far. Table rock ring. Could fit decent sized rig and easy roads to it


There is parking and picnic tables along licking creek on West Licking Creek Dr. Nice.

And this old CCC mountain spring fountain


21 - up a short punchy rocky incline. Small. Private. Good for tent not trailer

19 - not marked. Flat, sun, rock ring, screened from road somewhat. No table

17 - small split site. Upper area table rock ring small space for rent or teardrop size trailer. 50yrd or so down is clearing for larger tent. Odd but not bad.

4 - occupied w trailer. Up from road. Sun and shade. Looks like could be decent nice site

13 - Right on road. Flat. Sun. Table. Small rock ring

11 - big back in site, flat. Table rock and metal rings. Some sun.


7 - large flat sun site. Table and ring. Up climb from road. Wouldn’t drive a sedan up

6 - “”

5 - “” truck was swarmed by bugs at each of 5-7, didn't seem like biters or stingers, just annoyances. Nice sites tho.

Karl B. Guss picnic area is on East Licking Creek Dr - really nice. Along creek. Quiet, peaceful, birds and water. Ate my lunch here w/ no bugs.



4 - pull thru. Large flat table and ring. Would be easier to pull out larger rig than one at other end of Licking Dr. (22)

This site is a numbered site. However it is not on the Purple Lizard map, I would take a guess bc it is a heavily used site as it is GREAT. It has a large turnaround, Two tables. Fire ring and charcoal grill, and is along a creek. And it was clean. I'm not giving the number out of respect for whatever reason the purple lizard crew didn't put it on the map.

Came across these two just standing in the road. Took them a minute to decide to bound off to the right. Also saw a turkey, but she was to quick to get a shot of.


Here's a panoramic view from Flat Rock Overlook on Blue Mountain. A short 2.2 mile 1200ft elevation gain hike up from Colonel Denning SP. The view from here is stunning in good weather, this day not so much.

 

It's been a long time since I've posted. I've stayed at quite a few new State Parks though, most of have been really great. Just never did the write ups. I'll get to it some time. Life just has it's way of getting in the way.

 

Regardless, this thread is a treasure.

 

How many of these places had decent offroading or trail driving?

 

Hey guys I moved to Downingtown pa after getting out of the service. Is there any decent places in this state I can take my Tacoma and dirt bike and just go camp and ride? I was stationed out in Washington and that was basically a free for all. Is Pa like that or permits..

 

What service?

Inrecommend AOAA out in Coal township or Rausch Creek. Both have offroading and both have camping areas, too. In fact, there's an AOAA takeover planned for October:

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/7th-annual-aoaa-invasion-october-13-15-2023.793852/

 

Army

 

Bald Eagle has the most and best high clearance roads. Check each forests Facebook pages during hunting season as more high clearance roads gates will be open for hunting access. Purple Lizard maps are the best reference for those roads