French Creek State Park

Coming from a 20+ year Hickory Run camper, I’m nearly doing all of my camping at FCSP and so are my friends. The location, nestled in Berks and Chester Counties, is easily accessible, but it’s not too remote if you forget something that you can’t run to Dicks in Pottstown or Walmart 6 miles away in Elverson.
A majority of the campsite loops (including bathrooms) have been renovated. I’ve camped on both the electric and non-​electric sites. There are some sites that are more suited to tent camping than others but for the most part, they are able to accommodate even the biggest of tents on their gravel or grass pad. Each site has a picnic table and fire ring. Some sites are even ADA accessible — pay attention to the reservations site or call the reservation toll free number for assistance. Potable water is accessible at several points on each camping loop. The updated Reserve America system seems to have at least one photo for each of the modern sites; know that this is the outdoors and features change through the seasons! The bathhouses aren’t a spa but they do have modern flush toilets, running water, are heated at appropriate times and have free hot showers. Nothing beats a hot shower after a day of fishing, hiking or winter camping! There are even deep sinks outside them to accommodate dishwashing. State Park staff come by daily to clean the bathhouses. There’s even a playground area for kids. While the campground does not have a dedicated «camp store», there are a few private residences approaching the park that sell firewood during the spring/​summer/​fall and during the summer, the campground hosts usually have a decent stack of wood. Beyond that, there’s normally plenty of deadfall off a little ways in the woods. Bring a little hatchet or handsaw and you’re good to go.
I’ve not personally utilized the yurts and cabins but have checked them all out and they appear to be well maintained (as is the group camping area.) Friends of mine camp here with a pop-​up trailer and they have no issues navigating the sites. I’ve watched Class A’s and 5^th wheel goosenecks navigate the loops and back into the craziest spots without difficulty. You’re coming to a state park campground in the woods. Not only does that mean trees but if you look closely at the campground map, a majority of the spaces are on a curve. Those whiny posters unable to get into the site in under 2 hours and still struggling with level might want to practice a bit more before leaving home. Or pick a spot that’s on the straight-​away rather than on the bends.
FCSP is known for the high quality fishing on both of its lakes and Scot Run is on the state stocking schedule for trout. Check the Fish and Boat Commission website for annual dates. There is hunting in the park and on local game lands nearby including a shooting range (when you camp, you’ll hear the pew-​pew during daylight hours.) You’re on your own in terms of the safety of the state park firing range. There are plenty of forums online that discuss these topics; google is your friend.
Beyond camping, fishing and hunting, there’s plenty of other things to do at FCSP. There are over 30 miles of hiking trails that can also accommodate mountain biking, horseback riding and cross-​country skiiing. There’s an orienteering course and a disc golf course. Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site is nearby.
Being a state park, there are some things you should know before you go:
a. First is the strict rule about NO ALCOHOL. Despite what your mommy told you, you’re not a special snowflake and if you’re harassed by the rangers or get a ticket, you absolutely deserve it.
b. Same goes for you party animals who can’t respect the 10pm curfew/​quiet time. Shut the h*ll up and stop disrespecting your neighbors.
c. Licenses are required to fish or hunt!
d. Being a family-​friendly facility, there are these creatures that often run around, scream, yell and play like those creatures are known to do. They’re KIDS and that’s what kids do. They deserve to enjoy the outdoors before they have to grow up and adult.
e. While some of the sites are pet-​friendly, you have to be a responsible pet owner. That means the dog stays on a leash (even if you think your dog is ok off one), that you only let the dog do its business in the proscribed areas (and that you clean up after) and that it shuts up during quiet times. While we’d love to have the dogs with us, we leave our hunting beagles home because they bark at everything, day and night. For the love of God, please leave Cujo home!
f. Not all of the park features, namely the boat rentals and pool, are available year round and they’re NOT FREE. They’re usually only open Memorial Day to Labor Day.
g. For those delusional crybabies with your critical reviews about «the outdoors» being cold, having rough ground, bugs or that it’s otherwise unsuited to your delicate sensibilities; stay home or go camp at the Hilton.

Occupying more than 7,500 forested acres in the Schuylkill Highlands in Chester and Berks Counties, French Creek State Park offers camping, fishing, winter cross country skiing, swimming, hiking, horseback riding, and mountain biking — just about every outdoor activity on your Memorial Day Weekend wish list. Yet, being close to large population centers and offering so many activities, it does feel a bit overused. If you’re looking for solitude along with your tenting, hiking or fishing, you might want to search further afield for a less popular place.
The original woodlands was old growth Chestnut forest, whose hardwood was used in the 18^th and 19^th Centuries for charcoal to fire up the cold iron furnaces in Hopewell and Warwick, that helped arm the Continental Army with cannon and shot that resulted in the birth of our US of A., and was part of the American contribution to the Industrial Revolution. The second growth is primarily oak and maple hardwoods. Hard to believe, but the area is more beautiful now than in those days, when all the coal production and primitive smelting turned the environment into a smoggy wilderness, and eliminated much of the wildlife.
We enjoyed our hours of hiking along the trails in the early morning, but by noon, there were people everywhere, who seemed more intent on talking to each other, than enjoying what nature had to offer. Preferring silence in nature, we knew it was time to move on. Luckily, Hopewell Furnace National Site was very nearby.
If you want a more remote experience, give End of the World State Park, or the Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania a visit.

I went camping this weekend and other than the extremely obnoxious children running around, I have no complaints. Granted, there is no privacy and some of the campsites look awful, but as long as you you book ahead of time online you can score a large campsite with a bush or two for privacy. The amount of RVs and pop outs with TVs flickering is also a little off-​putting. There is a grocery store in Birdsboro, about 8 miles away and also a beer distributor.

French Creek State Park has very nice campgrounds and maintain their trails for hikers and bicyclists year round. Hopewell and Scott’s run lake have a good supply fish for any fishing enthusiast. And while there is a rule for keeping your dog on the leash, as long as your dog is well behaved you can walk them relatively freely down the trails. Kayak and canoe rentals are available at the Hopewell lake recreation area. People work at the park office are very nice and are always willing to help you with anything you might need. Park rangers constantly patrol the area and make sure that everyone is safe. Had a wonderful experience there camping every fall for the last three years and catch a lot of fish from both lakes out of my kayak year round.

If you are not a seasoned RV’er and you have a rig with slide-​outs the camp spaces can be extremely unnerving. We have a new fifth wheel and the site we reserved said the space would accomodate slideouts. We made it work after nearly 2.5 hours of backing, cutting the limbs on trees, leveling (alot of sites are big time unlevel). The campsite was filthy when we pulled in, I cleaned it. The picnic table is old, warped and splitered, doesn’t look safe to sit on. This year they put in full hookups in some of the spaces which is nice but only for a few spaces. Everything needs upgraded. We won’t camp here again.

Let me say that the park itself is just ok. Many of the sites are much too small and lack any form of privacy. However, my main complaint has to do more with the park rangers. Their activities border on harassment. I went to this park with a group of mid-​30s to 40s friends. All responsible adults, successful, etc. I must also admit that we did have alcohol on the premises, which is against policy.
At around midnight, three (!) park rangers snuck on our campsite. When asked why they were there they claimed that they could hear us from down the street. This is the first falsehood as we asked our neighbors and they informed us that even they could not hear us. This was just an excuse. They then asked if we had alcohol. We said that we did and then everyone (two people) holding beers poured them out in an effort to be responsible. This is when the park rangers decided they were going to start acting tough. They immediately began searching our coolers (which we should have prevented them from doing). One of the park rangers was trying to be the cool one while the other was rude and trying to be the «bad cop.» It became very apparent that they were simply out looking for alcohol anywhere they could find it so that they could hand out tickets and make themselves feel useful. This ticket turned out to be $ 262, which is frankly absurd.
Again, we were breaking policy which we admitted at the time; however, anyone who has been camping knows that this is a policy everywhere. There tends to be an understanding that unless you are causing problems for other campers or being destructive, that it’s live and let live. We were doing neither of those things as our neighbors attested. The park rangers were either following orders to bother anyone up past midnight, looking to fill a quota, or simply looking for alcohol they could take for themselves. I’m a firm believer that park rangers deserve respect as long as they show respect, but that is not the case here. Avoid.

Lake is beautiful and great for boating.

I’ve been here twice and always had a great time. My husband and I tent camped in late October — weather was chilly and there was hardly anyone around; the leaves and scenery were incredibly beautiful! In the summertime it’s much more crowded, of course, and the place draws lots of families. So it’s not ideal if you want to be totally alone or isolated, but it’s a great simple, easy-​to-​get-​to spot from Philly. The sites are close together, so again — not somewhere to go to be isolated! The disc golf course is lots of fun, too. The group I camped with came as a walk-​in and faced no issues. Our site (D-​19) had a little path behind it and we found a patch of wild orchids :)

Not super dog friendly. I had my dog on leash while playing fetch was told to get my dog under control after a few throws. My dog was on a leash and calm and happy

Meh — decent small campground. Just be careful with the power hungry park rangers regarding the park’s rule of prohibited alcohol. They seriously circle around the campground at least 4 – 5 times in a hour. Also, the campsite next to us was busted for alcohol and the rangers harassed their campsite at least twice in one day. It was VERY strange especially considering the surrounding campsites had bright neon lights on the entire night and were considerably louder.
Essentially, I would not recommend this campsite for anyone that wants to enjoy themselves with their friends. This would be a great campsite for couples or people who enjoy going to bed at 7PM.

Loved my time here but not a perfect place. It was just (2) of us doing tent camping 4^th of July weekend. We stayed in loop A. Loops A & D seemed to consist of mostly tents while loops B & C seemed to have a lot more RVs/​campers. Campsite was big enough for us, but was still a little small. I didn’t like how most campsites were soooo close to the next campsite — maybe 10 yards or so and there were’t enough trees to make you feel secluded. Each site had a fire pit and a picnic table. The bathrooms were modern and had (2) showers.
During the day there were a lot of kids running around and playing, but I wasn’t too bothered by that. Quiet hour starts around 9 or 10pm until 6 or 7am. Park says no drinking, but we just drank out of plastic cups and didn’t have any problems. Should be noted, that it is pet friendly here.
There is a local pool nearby that is located about a mile away on one of the nearby lakes. Nice pool but CROWDED. There were surprisingly more people sitting outside bbqing then were in the pool area. It was $ 7 to get in the pool with your camping info, $ 8 otherwise. Had a small concession stand that also sold firewood for the campsite which was nice.
We took a nice little hike to a different nearby lake on Sat morning. Very few ppl on the trails. We saw (2) bikers and a family of 7 or 8 people in about a 3 hour time period. The trail was relatively easy but was a nice walk. The lake had a boat launch, few picnic tables, allowed fishing and a vault bathroom.
It appears most people pretty much stayed at their campsite throughout the weekend and kept to themselves.
Overall a nice peaceful getaway with plenty of things to keep you busy. This is definitely more of a family place though, so I wouldn’t come with a group of friends expecting to rage.

Our favorite park. Tons to do. Clean and semi-​pet friendly. But good luck getting supplies. Really nothing around.

Don’t know why some reviewers give negative feedback. This is one of the cleanest, quietest, modern non-​commercial parks/​campgrounds in PA.
It received an award as the number 1 state park in Pennsylvania. Over $ 1Million was invested in recent reburbishments.
We camped there many times and enjoy the low cost to camp in our RV. The spacing between sites is DOUBLE what we have seen in most campgrounds.
The free hot showers are nice.
A short hike rewards you with many treats:
— Hopewell Furnace National Park, a miniature Valley Forge. A diamond in the rough.
— Several lakes
— Activities like frisby golf and geocaching
A short drive rewards you with:
— Daniel Boon Homesread, a miniature Williamsburg. Also a diamond in the rough.
They are also expanding the RV accommodations with more electric and water hookups. Recently, they had electric-​only sites.

No joke, this place is louder than Philadelphia.
Campgrounds — feel cramped. The sites aren’t secluded. The driveways from each campsite are about 10 yrds from one another. One of the «campsites» was literally a firepit stuck in a grassy fork in the road with no trees hiding the site from road LOL. Terrible.
The people next to our site let their kid run around the grounds for an hour blowing a f’ing soccer referee whistle until I said something to them at 5:30 PM, and even then I had to be a major dick about it to get them to grab the whistle. Who turns their kids loose in public with a whistle?
A bear walks by and looks at me like ‘You believe this shit?“
A squirrel went OFF, saying something about going back to the city for peace and quiet.
Trails — OK. Sparse traffic. Rated ‘moderate’ for mountain biking, but definitely easy.’ It’s pretty relaxing mtb’ing. Hikers are sparse.
Lakes — these suck. 2 big lakes, can’t swim in either. I did some research. The ban, enacted in 1975, is due to pollution from geese shit. Solution — clean it up? No, just ban swimming forever and let the feces pile up. Thanks, assholes.
Pool — closed after Labor Day even though the temp is still in the 80’s and 90’s into October. Pool would’ve been packed if it was open b/​c the campgrounds were completely filled. Stupid stupid stupid.
Rules — there’s conflicting information everywhere. The website says nothing about no swimming and nothing about no alcohol, but there’s a sign saying «alcohol prohibited’ on the gate (we drank beer out of plastic cups anyway). Park Rangers drive around real slow and try to catch ppl with alcohol. They just stop in front of campsites and stare, no joke.
Bathrooms — pretty good. No wait. Surprisingly clean. There’s even deep sinks outside to wash dishes.
Overall — Not going back. The Poconos, the shore, and lakes in Jersey are much better.

Beautiful park. Numerous hiking and (some) biking trails. Not too crowded on a nice summer day!

Beautiful Pennsylvania state park with a lot to offer. This park has numerous hiking trails as well as a good size lake. The camping area was really nice, and appeared to be very accommodating to those with families. One really cool, and unique feature to this park is the fact that it’s connected to Hopewell Furnace National Historical Park… so it’s like having two parks in one! We had a great time exploring both areas.

CAMPING REVIEW ONLY!!!
We went tent camping March 2013 and thought we were going to get away just the two of us. You know — before the season really started. I think we need to realize that state park campgrounds in PA are more geared to 1) families with screaming young children and 2) people with pop-​ups. Alcohol is strictly forbidden and quiet hours start at 9. Not sure what time they run to, but the kiddies are up at daybreak and boy are they loud. We were in cite C-​19 which was pretty roomy, but many of the sites were small and my husband pointed out that there were no trees in between sites. Kind of a bummer when you are jonesing for some wilderness. The inner loop was very rocky and we weren’t sure where a tent woudl fit, let alone a pickup and a trailer.
On the plus side — the wash house facilities were clean and the park ranger seemed nice. Also there is a large lake and park open to the public that seem nice for summertime day trips.
We were really excited to be so close to home to get away for a quick weekend. (FYI this park is only about 1.5 hr drive from center city philly.) However, in the future we will be sure to travel further to Delaware, Maryland or NY state for camping.

Roomie came here a lot as a kid. A well-​maintained state park. Has 2 lakes — Hopewell for warm water fishing and Scotts Run for cold water fishing. We don’t fish but rented kayaks and went out on Hopewell Lake. It’s not huge and there aren’t any ski-​doos running around, which would make this lake great for canoe or kayak beginners.
The guy at the boat rental concession was really nice. He helped us launch and get into and out of the boats — again, great if you’re a beginner (although we’re not but it was still appreciated — a lot of places take your money, show you to the boat, and wish you good luck). The other concession near the pool has a wider variety of boats including paddle boats but is less convenient to get to IMO.
Good pool.
We were here on a nice summer weekend and the park wasn’t crowded. Lots of picnic benches and grills open.

I’ve been coming here for the longest time. Ever since I was a little kid we would only go to three places when we wanted to get the fam together for a cookout and some swimming. This place, green lane, or Nockamixon, which is def. nicer. By the way, cookouts are the ish bc my pops is like Bobby Flay’s long lost brother and one of my cousins is the executive chef at the blue bell country club, so basically it’s a carnivore’s delight.
We’ve come to the swimming pool so many times, the owners actually know are faces. There is ample parking, more than enough grills, even during big holiday weekends like memorial day, and plenty of trees to throw up a hammock and relax. The wooden tables are still nice and sturdy and big enough to get games going, spades and dominoes my two favorites.
The pool prices have certainly gone up over the years I remember them being 4.50 not that long ago, nowadays its up 7 regular days and 8 for holidays, but nothing in the place has really been improved so Idk where the money is going. Right next to the pool is the lake, which can be fished in and they also rent out boats if you want to just relax on the water.
The clientele certainly has changed over the years, when we first started going not to many minorities could be found around the place. Nowadays, every single puerto rican family from reading must know about this place cuz thats all I saw. It was crazy, I swear I thought I was back on the island for a minute.

The drive up 422 and winding toward French Creek went faster than I expected. Soon enough, we found ourselves parked near a lake and walking along a surrounding trail with our picnic basket. The lake was alive with seasoned-​looking small boats and canoes, filled with folks celebrating the Memorial Day weekend.
We sat at a picnic table by the water to enjoy a far-​too-​large meal courtesy of the tremendous Wegman’s in Phoenixville. After a moment to digest we wandered slowly around the lake, along sometimes muddy trails with terrific views of the water.
Our walk took more than an hour at a leisurely pace. Satisfied, we prepared to exit the park but stopped for a map before we left. As it turns out, our walk covered a tiny section of the park. If the park were a pizza, the lake we circled is merely the size of a french fry.
So much more to explore! I can’t wait to go back.