Ohiopyle State Park

Okay, by "walking distance" I mean more like hiking distance. It's less than a mile, but the walk back does involve a very, very steep 1/4 mile uphill at the end.

Other than that, it's a beautiful trail across bridges, gorges, and through the Laurel Highlands to a really cute little rafting town.

The campground itself is great, tons of space, lots of trees. No alcohol is allowed in PA state parks, so it's relatively quiet at night. Average bathrooms, fires are allowed, and reasonably priced firewood is available just outside of the campground.

Perhaps it was a combination but our experience was less than ideal for an early fall stay (2 nights) at Ohiopyle State Park. We arrived on a Saturday evening and were unable to locate a water fill station. After several loops through the park, dump station area, garbage area, and bath houses, we were able to find a working water spigot at the camp host site, which fortunately for us was vacant. The local water fill up areas did not have the typical water hose fittings so plan ahead and fill up before arrival.

Saturday evening crowd was busy, and the loop was mostly filled. The area was quiet, especially after checkout the second day. Site 034 was an awkward back-in and took some serious backup iterations and not much privacy to your neighbors. The best trailer/RV site appears to be 045 (pictures taken) that is on a dead end spur of the paved road but provides a large parking area that would easily accommodate two vehicles.

Playground facilities were essentially non-existent and (based on several of PA state park experiences) was incredibly outdated and far below expectations for the seemingly highly visited state park. Convenience to the hiking trails is good, with the down town shopping area (bike trails and rafting) being only a few minutes drive away.

Cell reception was spotty; it took walking up to the nearest playground or to the top of the loop from site 034 to get Verizon coverage.

What a lovely park! Despite being early in the season, the park was in good shape. We had a spot close to the shower house but screened by a small stand of trees. Showers had GREAT water pressure, plenty of hot water and heat.

The gravel pad was easy to maneuver onto and power hook up was right there. Each site has a picnic table and a fire ring on which you can cook. Spaces are roomy and quite private.

We will definitely stay here again.

We would’ve given this campground a 10/10….until night hit. I am not exaggerating, or kidding by ANY means whatsoever. I heard something skulking behind me as I relaxed in my hammock, getting closer and closer when I turned around there was a raccoon as large as a preschooler wobbling towards me. I attempted to yell at it, but it gave NO sh%^s. I stood up and tried to throw a piece of wood near it. This thing didn’t even flinch. Basically had to run into my tent (as my kids are screaming), to get away from IT. We had put away all food items except for our extremely sealed/tight cooler, which was placed almost totally opposite of us in our site. My husband ended up running straight at it and it went back into the forest. Its familiarity was a bit freaky, but you’re in nature- we weren’t that worried about it. That is, until about midnight, when we were woken up by raccoons literally, LITERALLY surrounding our tent. My husband had to get out of the tent, armed with rocks, and keep throwing them at them over and over from midnight until my kids and I got up at 7 am. They had gotten into our cooler (my kids can barely open it), and inside our screened in canopy and had gone through anything we left out (not much, and nothing with food in it, just camping supplies). My husband estimates there were between 20 and 30 SEPARATE raccoons that kept coming in waves. He said he felt like he was in a world war. So now that I’ve shared what absolutely ruined a beautiful camping night, I’ll share the positives. Because there were many. Right before the sun went down, and the raccoons went on the offensive, we had just agreed it was probably the best State Park we’d ever been to. The shower and toilet facilities were clean, albeit older, but we don’t have an issue with older. The water pressure was fantastic (short shower head), and heat lasted the whole time we used them. Our walk in site was amazing. It’s the closest to the parking (in that area of walk ins), site 110, which was important because we had a 4 & 6 year old who were already tired from the natural waterslides and a long car ride. Even though it was very close to the parking lot it was SO private. You could not see any other walk in site, nor could you hear anything my (granted the campground wasn’t that full). The gal who checked us in was SO nice. I wish I could remember her name. We had originally booked site 057, but that had a straight up hill walk in, and we had to drive back and see if we could switch/she could recommend an easier walk in. She told us a few and said ‘go drive and check them out! Take your time, then come back and let me know which one you want!’ Hopefully she sees this- thank you!! So- I just cannot recommend this campground. We won’t return, it was the most bizarre experience I’ve ever had camping and made me feel extremely anxious the whole night. If you can’t hang around your campfire in the dark because you’re afraid of a huge gaggle of raccoons descending on you it’s not a good camping experience. So disappointing.

No water at electric sites. Threaded hose bib at one of the barhrooms. Non-electric sites very short, difficult to level, trees overhanging. Staff very helpful.

Trails to hike & bike are amazing. Beautiful area with tons to do.

Note: all pets forced to camp on one loop. If a bad dog owner lets his/her dog bark, it’s misery!

Lovely stay with a last minute reservation. We were close to the bathhouse. No problems hooking up. Level camp sites. Bathrooms had a large utility sink for dishes which was a plus! Will return. Close to town activities.

Spent one night here in early September on a Monday night and we seemed to be the only ones there. We had a tent campsite with plenty of room to spread but only decent privacy from other campsites around. Bathrooms and showers were a bit outdated but does the job. Long but very well maintained road to reach the campsite area.

Reading the previous reviews for the past 4 years I realize not much has changed here in that time, except maybe the cell phone reception has improved. The bathrooms are still outdated but functioning, the sites are fairly level (except our #190) and the nearby Town of Ohioplyle is a nice visit for restaurants, not groceries.

We also used this location as a base camp to travel some 50+ miles to go visit The Flight 93 National Memorial over in Shanksville, PA. Was well worth the trip to go see!

If you are into whitewater rafting this is the area for you. There is a nice museum about the sport down in town.

There are some steep roadway grades (>10%) to access this park, so heed the warnings on ReserveAmerica on how to arrive at the campground and follow their directions.

We visited this campground from 04/18/19 to 04/22/19.

Good location, but lots of crazy steep hills to get here. Site is quiet, but the sound of trains is pretty steady. $$ a bit much for just water and electric.

Make sure you have the campground and not the town of Ohiopyle on your maps for directions! They are two very different places and the town is at the bottom of a very, very steep ravine. Use the Chalk Hill-Ohiopyle road out of the town of Chalk Hill if you are pulling a trailer. The campground is at the top of a very large hill. Others have said the sites were level, but ours was definitely not, sloping well to the back. Also, as others have said, we could notg find water to fill our tank and had to use our 6 gallon jug to do so from the bathroom spigot. We were here on a very quiet day and the only noise at night were the distant trains, which was nice. Cell service was good. Bathrooms were old but clean,