Review - Raccoon Creek State Park Campground, Pennsylvania

 

Camping – because therapy is expensive.

- Anonymous

August 3 to August 6, 2024

On our way home from our epic month-long camping trip through Ohio and Michigan, we decided to spend a couple of nights in western PA at Raccoon Creek State Park to enjoy the park and some nearby rail trails. What follows is our review of the campground.

Raccoon Creek State Park is located in Hookstown, Pennsylvania, a short distance from the Pennsylvania/Ohio state border. It’s also close enough to the Pittsburgh Airport that we could hear the planes flying overhead during our stay, although we didn’t find them annoying. The park covers 7,572 acres and includes Raccoon Lake.

The campground at Raccoon Creek opens in early April and closes in mid-October. Check in/out is 3:00 p.m. There are sixty-four 50-amp electric only sites and 107 sites with no hookups. Pad lengths vary between 20 ft to 78 ft long.

Loops A, B, E & F have electric hookups in most of the sites, and a few tent sites with no hookups. Loops C & D are for tent camping only, and loops C & F are pet friendly loops. There are 5 shower houses, a playground, and a dump station. There are several potable water access points in each loop.

Our site in Loop #8 had 50 amp electric service. It was shaded, very spacious, and the site was fairly level. We only needed to use a couple of leveling blocks at the front end. There was a huge amount of space between us and campsite #6. Campsite #9 was closer, but since they were on the back side of our camper, we didn’t really mind it at all. A picnic table and fire ring were included with the site.

Campsite E-8

The bathhouse in our loop had 2 toilets, 2 urinals, 2 showers and 3 sinks on the mens’ side. The women’s side had 4 toilets, 2 showers and 3 sinks. There weren't any counters to place toiletries, but there were shelves above the sinks. The showers didn’t have a bench in the changing area or a shower curtain. The water pressure was good. Our only real complaint was that the showers didn’t appear to be cleaned during our stay. The floors definitely needed sweeping. We didn't see any campground hosts at this campground, and that could be part of the reason for the somewhat dirty bath house, but we've seen worse.

View from our site toward the shower house. The neighboring site is at the white pole at top right.

We use AT&T for our cell service, and we were able to access a cell tower from the campground. We were also able to access several TV channels using our antenna.

Other amenities in the park include picnic areas, the 101-acre lake (electric & non-motorized boats only), a swimming beach, a recreation hall (for rental), fishing, hiking, a wildflower preserve, an old cemetery, and Frankfort Mineral Springs. Please check out an upcoming post highlighting some of the activities within the park.

We enjoyed our stay in the campground. When we arrived on Saturday, most of the sites in our loop were full. It appeared to be a popular campground for weekenders. However the sites were spaced far enough apart so that noise from other sites wasn’t a problem, at least in our loop. When we returned to the campground on Sunday afternoon after having spent the day riding our bikes on some nearby trails, we were surprised to find that other than our RV, our loop and most of the rest of the campground was empty. We had the entire loop to ourselves until late Monday, when two other RVs arrived. We didn’t mind the solitude one bit! We would return to this campground again, and recommend staying during the week if you are like us and enjoy the solitude.

* All photos and videos are the property of the owners unless otherwise noted. *