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Pennsylvania’s Most Popular Campground and a few others in the Keystone state!

Last Thursday I headed north along rainy roads to Locust Lake.

Rainy-Road Locust-Lake-Sign

There are 282 sites here but only the electric loop was open. I nabbed site 33.

Locust-Lake_033

I quickly walked the open loop because it was going to fill up quickly for the weekend. Even though rain was expected to continue. Which it did.

Number 62 had a nice lake view.

Locust-Lake_062

And then I spent the evening watching the water pour off my tarp as a river formed a path through my campsite.

Stream-1 Stream-2 Locust-Lake-Flood

Friday I explored the rest of the park. There’s a beach and a store.

Locust-Lake-Beach Locust-Lake-Store

Which opened the day after I left but probably was not too busy that weekend.

Near the store is the best site here. Number 274, although several others near it are on the lakeshore as well.

Locust-Lake_274

Life is all about irony and that was made plain to me as I left Locust Lake last Saturday.

The campground had filled up.

Locust-Lake-Crowds

The rain had given way to the sun.

Locust-Lake-Saturday-Morning

Which was fitting as I was leaving and heading many miles north to Hickory Run State Park. Where I enjoyed one day of beautiful sunshine.

Hickory-Run-Sign

One of the cool features of this huge 381 site campground is the boulder field. It’s about three miles away up a mainly dirt road.

Road Boulder-Field-Sign-1

I thought they were dropped by glaciers but that was not the case.

Boulder-Field-Sign-2

Water freezing and thawing.

Boulders

Like a giant cat litter box. But without the smell.

The photo above was shot raw and processed through an HDR program.

Don’t forget to play with your aperture.

This is f/3.5

Hickory-Run-Boulder-Field-2

Pick a rock, any rock.

Make it stand out and blur the background.

Hickory-Run-Boulder-Field-3

Something different.

I stayed in site 72. A very large site and one of my favorites.

Hickory-Run-Campsite Hickory-Run_072

When I arrived and was looking for a site I saw a black bear leaping up from this site and scurrying away. That’s why I picked it. Hoping the little guy would come back and pose for some pictures. He had other plans and never returned.

This is the most popular mountain campground in the state of PA.

A huge beach and several lakes and ponds bring campers from nearby NYC and Philly, less than three hours away.

Hickory-Run-Beach Hickory-Run-Lake Hickory-Run-Pond

The sites range from shaded, like numbers 186 and 269, to open grass ones, such as number 341.

Hickory-Run_186 Hickory-Run_269 Hickory-Run_341

There is a huge grassy field in that area. Perfect for tossing a Frisbee around.

Interesting roads lead to interesting trails.

Hickory-Run-Road Shade-Sign

I passed on that one. Didn’t feel quite right.

Tuesday was Tobyhanna.

Tobyhanna-Sign

A small state park with only 140 sites.

I parked in number 119, the best site in the park.

Tobyhanna_119

I have outrun spring and the trees are naked again. This could be an ongoing theme since I will be in Maine in a few weeks. I think there is still snow there…

Some sites had some foliage. I liked 3 and 56.

Tobyhanna_003 Tobyhanna_056

But the best are are by the lake and if you cannot get 119, 117 is a good choice.

Tobyhanna_117

It was just myself and one other camper here for my brief stay. And a few flies. Small nasty ones. I had to take precautions while making dinner.

Sandwiches

I took some pics of the lake and river as I left on Thursday morning.

Tobyhanna-Lake Tobyhanna-River

It is a gorgeous spot and I would love to come back in the summer. Just to borrow a canoe and paddle some of that water. It’s that good.

That’s it from the Keystone state for now. I’ll be back later in the year. Now I’m off to New York!

Regards, Park Ranger

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