Fabulous park! Beautiful natural surroundings, many hiking trails. They need to make it clearer that you must bring in your own fresh water. No water at sites, available water nearby but spigots are not threaded so you need an adapter. We camped here in a Travel Trailer.
Review Rating
[ 5 / 10 ]
June 2010
$28
This campground was alright if you live close and don't have to drive far to get there but considering we met our son there and we're from SC it was a little disappointing. The bathrooms were not clean and the park ranger that did come by was not very friendly. We drove all around to find firewood so I would suggest buying it in town by the bundle or searching the woods for your own. It does have a really nice large pool and picnicking area at the front of the park. There are no water hookups but we knew this so it wasn't a surprise. I guess I just expected more since PA is so beautiful. We probably would not stay there again. The 28.00 a night is out of state rate and with pets. We camped here in a Tent Trailer.
THIS DESCRIPTION IS FROM THE PARK WEBSITE: Camping: modern restrooms with showers 175 tent and trailer sites are available in two campgrounds. The camping season opens the first Friday after March 28 and ends after deer season in December. Chinquapin Hill Campground is nestled on the side of a mountain with plenty of shade trees and is close to the swimming pool. Some sites have electrical hookups. Hosack Run Campground is one mile from the main day use area. It has moderately level, open and shaded sites, and offers hot showers, flush toilets, electrical hookups, a dump station and small playground for children. Pets are permitted on designated sites. Two special campsites are set aside for people with disabilities with a nearby family-assist restroom. END WEBSITE INFORMATION. We arrived in early May and stayed in the Hosack Run loop; the Chinquapin Hill Campground was scheduled to open for Memorial day weekend, so we know nothing of that area. OUR REVIEW IS OF THE HOSACK RUN AREA. We went first to the check-in building, which is quite new and beautifully done, and was staffed until 3:30 PM. Check in process is cumbersome; they would not assign a site at the registration office. We had to go to the campground, make note of preferred sites, then return to registration to see which sites were available, then get registered. The campground has 52 sites in a single loop. Sites are not as large or as well separated as the average public campground. The sites on the outside of the loop have no hookups; the first two sites on the outside are beautiful and back up on a river. Most, but not all, of the sites on the inside of the loop have electric hookups, some 30A and some 50A. A few sites are spacious and well separated, but several were in clusters of 2, 3, and even 6 sites (circle the wagons) - there were very few rigs in early May, but we would not want to be there during high season. There were a few unthreaded water hydrants around the loop. The dump station was very awkward; the concrete "funnel" leading into the opening was so steep that it was difficult to get the cover open wide enough to place the dump hose. The threaded hydrant at the dump station had very low flow; less than one gallon per minute. We would stay there again in off season. We camped here in a Fifth Wheel.
Generally we love Pennsylvania state park camping, but I feel impelled to give a warning to anyone who may be considering a stay at Caledonia. Although many of the sites looked very spacious, we were cramped into site 145. It appeared as if they converted a 6-space bathroom parking area into 3 sites, and we were squeezed in the middle, on asphalt, for the weekend. The nice hiking trails of the park were well maintained and well marked, but after a long hiking day, it was not very relaxing to return back to our site. We camped here in a Motorhome.
Water access was a little difficult. Campground is nice, but the surrounding area was terrific. Grounds are within a nice drive to Gettysburg. We camped here in a Fifth Wheel.
This was a pretty good campground, for a State Park. The site was well wooded, and yet level (didn't need to use levelers.) This was our first campground, as an RV'r. I've been a tent camper all my life, until now. There are no amenities (camp store, etc.) The swimming pool is HUGE. However, this (and the public park areas) are used heavily by the local community, so there were lots of people in the pool. The lake is not right next to the campsites, so you had to drive to it. Firewood was sold by camp hosts, within the campground. We camped here in a Travel Trailer.
Too many of the sites in the Hosack Run campground are too crowded, not at all what we expected based on our experiences with other state parks in Pennsylvania. When our neighbor backed in, his slide out was less than 3 feet from our awning. There are a few fairly good electric sites but not many. The non-electric sites on the outside of the loop looked very nice -- roomy and private. No electric in the shower houses from about 8 am to about 8:30 pm. Rather annoying push-button showers, although the water temperature was good. The sites in the other campground at Caledonia are spread out better and more private than those in Hosack Run, but only a handful have electric and most of those have little shade. That campground is also very hilly. We love camping in state parks but will not be returning to Caledonia. We camped here in a Tent Trailer.
This beautiful state campground's setting is tall pines and a rocky running stream. We stated in the 50 amp sites (152) because we wanted to stay near my in-laws who have a big rig (150) and they wanted 50 amp. We chose only from knowledge of the map online, but if we would do it again, we'd choose another site - perhaps 132-136 because of they are level sites near the stream or else 177-183 on the other side because of level, big sites near the bathhouse. The bathhouse is no luxury (push button showers that start out cold but they get hot and no lights during day to save electricity) but they were clean enough. It's pretty, basic family camping at its best. The other campground at the park has the pool nearby but it looks much hillier and more difficult for bigger rigs without as much pretty shade. We will definitely return to Hosack. We camped here in a Tent Trailer.