PA - Pine Grove Furnace S.P.

[vcrt]

We just got back from a chilly two night stay at this campground in the Michaeux state forest. It got down to the high 30's Friday night, but we were warm and toasty in the Sunline. Wife and I were surprised to see so many tent campers there, but I guess they're more dedicated to camping than we are! We had a great time basically doing nothing (hectic lifestyles need the R&R now and then). The campground has no showers and pit toilets in the restrooms, but that's what self-contained trailers are for right? The park is beautiful, if you like a wooded setting, this is a great palce to camp. It's actually a short (about 20 min.) drive to Carlisle PA, so it would be a nice place to camp if anyone wanted to attend any of the auto swap meets held there.
Rich

[Tweety]

Campground Information:
Campground Name: Pine Grove Furnace State Park
Campground Address: The park is easily reached from I-81. Visitors should take Exit 37 to PA 233 south then travel for eight miles.
Campground Phone #: 888-PA-PARKS
Campground Web Site: http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/statepar...vefurnace.aspx

Campground Stay Information:
Date of Stay: 9/08
Length of Stay: 2
Site # / Hook-Ups: 40 / electric
Site Amenities:Picnic Table; Gravel Pad
Rate / night: $22.50 ?
Extra Charges / night : no
First Visit or Return Visit: first
Your Rating (1 Low – 5 High): 5

Campground Facilities Information:
Hook-Ups: electric
Credit Cards Accepted: yes, online
Discounts Accepted : no
Interior Roads : narrow but we made it
Level Sites : yes
Wide Open Sites : big shady sites
Restroom Cleanliness (1 low – 3 high): Pit toilets but they’re building a big beautiful bath house 
Store (rating: 1 low – 3 high): closed
Game Room: no
Pool : lake

Campground Impressions:
Kid Friendly: yes
Pet Friendly: somewhat. Pets are restricted to a few sites, and cannot be walked in any other area.
WiFi Friendly: no
People Friendly : yes


Personal Comments:
This is a really nice park. The only thing they need (besides full hookups ) is a bath house, and they’re almost done building one. There is a nice bicycle trail in the park, hiking (including the AT), and a small lake. You’ll see lots of thru hikers if it’s the season for them to be passing through because there’s a hostel in the park. Stop outside the store and read the AT thru hiker log book. This is also a spot for the tradition of AT thru hikers to eat their half gallon of ice cream in one sitting.
site #40

[RGar]

We were at Caledonia State Park about 2 weeks ago. On the way home we drove through Pine Grove Furnace SP to check it out. The new bath houses look great from the outside. The park looks very interesting if you are interested in history. We plan on doing some camping there next year.
What site number were you in? It looks nice.

[Tweety]

Hey Robesonia We were in site #40 and it was GREAT. It is a pet site. Facing our site, the 2 to the left were even better if you can believe it. Can you recommend sites at Caledonia in the pet loop? We want to try that at some point.

[RGar]

Tweety,
I believe we stayed in site 136. There isn't much privacy between sites and I probably would not have liked the place if it was full for that reason.But since we went durring the week it worked well for us. Almost all sites are well shaded and there are 2 gravel roads where you can take your dog for long walks.

[Al in PA]

Tweety:

In Caledonia, avoid site #170 even if it is the last available site. It is a very tight, narrow site (couldn't open the awning after fighting to get the TT into the site). There is a culvert across the the road and one across the entrance to the site: Both have stone ledges built at either end of the culvert. If you are not careful, you could really tear up your TT or TV on these stones. Sites 132, 134, 135, and 136 are convenient to both the bath house and the pet walking area.

[Tweety]

OK who was at Pine Grove Furnace 10/31 - 11/2 ? Looked like a 2553 with twins in the back...but then I"m not Sunlinefan, so don't hold me to that We kept taking walks to see if you were out, but never saw you. Sorry we missed you if you're a member. And if you were the person reading our reservation tag this morning...wish I could have come out, but we were both still in the PJs

[vcrt]

Barbara and I camped again here in June of this year (site 46 if I remember correctly, anyway although not that far from adjoining sites, it backed to woods and made it seem like you were camping out in the wilderness) and I need to update the bath house report b/c the newly built building is beuutiful!
Rich

[Wannabes]

Update on Pine Grove Furnace SP: We stayed here on Thursday and Friday night, second week in July, while taking a course in Gettysburg. We had spent the first part of the week at Caledonia SP & came to PGF b/c friends who own a Wilderness TT were staying there. We had the site next to them, sites #64 & 66 in the "no pets" section. (FYI: To book on the weekend, it's a 2-night minimum. This is the first time we ran into this.) At first the sites seemed a little close, especially when the neighbor on the other side of us played their camper radio for 9 hours, but we enjoyed our time there, quite a bit to do and very quiet after the neighbor left.

The bath houses are nice and definitely newer. There is an Appalachian Trail museum and also a general store at the front of the CG. While we were there the thru-hikers were coming through; PGF is considered the half-way point on the AT and there is a tradition of eating a half-gallon of ice cream at the general store there. They have a notebook where hikers write what flavor ice cream they ate, how long it took them & other comments - funny! There is also two lakes, swimming, canoeing, kayaking, cycling. Even tho' it was rainy we hiked a little with our friends, visited the store and museum, and enjoyed the woods.

There were at least other 3 Sunlines in the CG the 2 days we were there. An Advancer, an '86 Saturn, and the camp host had a 2006 T264SR. The camp host had been a RV tech and just raved about Sunline's quality. He came down to our site and asked to see our 2363 and we told him about this website which he was unaware of.

Enjoyed both Caledonia and Pine Grove Furnace and will go camping there again when we get the opportunity.

[RGar]

Pine Grove and Locust Lake are 2 of our default get aways.They are relatively close and we enjoy our stays there.I read a story about a prisoner of war camp that was close to there during WWII.