Canyon Country Campground

We've stayed here twice. If I was the type of person who ever stuck to his guns, I never would have come back and stayed the second time, but I think we just happened across it while meandering around in our VW Bus and were tired of driving, so I gave in. My second experience was fine. I would have rated this place a 3 if it weren't for my first experience here, which goes like this:

I’d love to write a great review for this campground. Positioned uniquely on the corner of what seemed to be an enormous roadside attraction: a pub and restaurant, a small zoo which claimed to have turtles, llamas and monkeys, some type of nifty looking lookout tower nearby (presumably for looking into the “Pennsylvania Grand Canyon” nearby), and who knows what other wonders, it has all of the quirky charm of a giant ball of string and the woodsy feel of a theme park KOA...but in a good way. Very nearby is the afore mentioned 800-feet deep canyon that is absolutely fabulously beautiful all covered in the Autumn leaves. Bald eagles soar overhead and Maple sugar is on tap at a small store just before you enter.

But wait, that’s Pine Creek Gorge itself, and this review was meant to be for Canyon Country Campground. Unfortunately, though there was space available, we were denied access in a whirlwind of what I assumed was the owner’s bad mood. It’s all a little blurry as it happened so quickly, but the general gist I believe I can recall.

I walk into the office to try and get a space. I ask the woman behind the counter if they have weekly rates or Passport America discounts, and she gets very annoyed. She asks me for my Passport America card and I explain that it's out in the car. We went through the motions, and she was about to charge me, so I asked if I could run out and grab the card to get the discount. Her annoyance increased.

I ran out to grab it but couldn't find it, but I had the numbers and expiration date, and tried giving her just those. She says she can’t do it and I simply ask her why. I was being exceptionally polite for my typical zero tolerance policy on anyone who even slightly seems like they're kicking attitude. Her response? “Those are the rules.” So I ask her if those are the campground’s policies or Passport America’s, because I know that the latter is fine with you just giving them your numbers, and every single campground that accepts PA has been fine about just having the numbers thus far. She tells me that obviously they’re her policies, how it’s her campground, and so she makes the rules, which totally takes me by surprise because I’m literally only asking her a question about the policy she’s citing me.

I then tell her okay, we’ll just take the spot anyway and it’s fine if we don’t get the Passport America discount. She tears the registration paper in half and tells me no, she doesn’t want me as a customer and that I need to get out. I couldn’t believe it, and so I stormed out of the office, obviously infuriated.

Perhaps the funniest part, however, was that somehow in the whole ordeal I’d left my keys on the countertop in the store, so after it all I had to go back in to retrieve them, in what could easily have been the most awkward moment in all of time.

Her husband followed me out on his little John Deer golf cart type machine, just to make sure I didn't try and sneak into a spot after all of that...

But like I said, the second time we came, I no longer had Passport America, so it never came up, and it was just a normal old evening at an average campground with a nice location.

Wooded old campground with some charm that needs a lot of TLC. Nice young man took on a big project. Office lady was very sweet. Short but very steep walk up to a scenic view tower. Very close to the PA Grand Canyon. A bit pricey for what you get.

Whoa. Where to start. It's July, in the middle of a pandemic. The office lady saw our masks and proceeded to tells us "We don't worry about cooties out here" almost bullying us to take them off. Spewed vitriol about the virus being an overblown hoax. Yiiikkkeess.

Site was ok until we found a bunch of half eaten watermelon ready to rot away in one of the trees at our site. Bath house was small, old and pretty much ick. There was a cute cat though.

Stay away lest you get coronavirus from the staff.

Stayed here for 3 nights in a large spot near entrance. Solid campground although nothing 'special'. Stayed at full service site with 50amp/water/septic. Pretty steep backing up hill but was able to get coach fairly level at the top when backed all the way in.

Pros:
1) Location relative to PA Grand Canyon - you can take a hiking path from the campground through a nice wooded area to the Leonard Harrison State Park Campground and Overlook area. From there, you can hike down one mile on the Turkey Path trail (about a 700 ft descent) to Pine Creek. Some waterfalls along this nice trail. Also can drive over to the other side of the Canyon in about 30minutes for additional hiking and views.
2) Location relative to Lookout Tower - a different path/road leads up to the Lookout Tower tourist attraction from the campground (you can drive or walk up to this). Nice views of the surrounding area and at sunset for $3 credit card swipe. Some hiking around there as well.
3) Dark skies at night - if you walk on the road to the Tower, pass a closed gate at night, there is an open private field adjacent to the road. When not too many campers are there, the night sky was great - can see Milky Way about 100X as many stars as we see at home.
4) Easy to get to and from Wellsboro driving and with fifth wheel on Rt. 660. (just follow Rt. 660 signs out of Wellsboro)

Cons:
1) Not too many amenities and public bathrooms are just ok
2) Wifi - while the campground actually had wifi, we found that it was barely useable, especially on weekend. We were constantly being kicked off wifi and when on, speeds were very low. Our son is still in hybrid high school and we ended up taking him into Wellsboro (Thanks to the Naked Bagel!) for use of a wifi all the school day. This definitely needs an update at the campground if possible.
3) Basically no cell service for us - T-Mobile.
4) Some of the surrounding private property is not kept in the greatest shape and could be seen as an eyesore.

If you read nothing else, PLEASE READ THIS!
No matter how much your GPS complains, follow the driving instructions in your reservation email. There are many gravel roads around here that are absolutely not RV friendly. From Route 6 stay ONLY on 660 (or 362 to Airport Rd to 660 from the west) until you get to Wilson Rd which will take you to the campground entrance.

Pros:
- Woodland trail access to Leonard Harrison State park and the overlook. Usually you can take the Turkey Trail from the State Park down to the Pine Creek Rail Trail that runs along the river in the canyon, but Turkey Trail was closed due to land slides (May 2022). We drove up to Pine Creek Rail Trail Darling Run to park for the rail trail. There are restrooms at Darling Run and the lot is just steps from the trail.
- Quiet. You are quite remote here. 15 minute drive to downtown Wellsboro.
- Bath house was clean, but out-of-date. Meh, pretty much expected this.
- Decent playground and game room
- Friendly staff
- Very nice picnic table

Cons:
- Poor wifi and only accessible when close to the office.
- Site O was muddy by the hookups after a rain. I was sliding around trying to unhook and pack up, without dragging everything through the mud.
- Firewood was in a little shed, but was moist. Lots of sizzling and some trouble getting the fire started.

Comments:
- The office is very small, with limited items for purchase.
- Site O was full hookup, but only had 50amp service. The office offered me a 30amp adapter when I checked in, but I had my own. You might want to have one in case they run out.
- AT&T was no service or 1 bar intermittently. Expected considering the location