Camping: Loleta Recreation Area

Sunday, July 13, 2014

When considering where to camp this weekend, we thought about possibly Clear Creek State Park, but my friend Marisa's review of the campground ("It's kind of RV heavy--the campsites are definitely within earshot of all the noise-making generators and such. But the bathrooms are very clean") did not inspire too much confidence, especially since Loleta Recreation Area is not far from that site, we've been before and knew it had a perfect distribution of campsites. Most of the leveled-off tent sites are not even viewable from the road, much less from strangers' tents. It gives a feeling of actually being in the woods where you can pretend you don't have any neighbors! The electric RV sites are also a drive away from the standard tent sites, so there's not a generator to be heard. Downsides. While the campground has plenty of access to latrines, running water is at the bottom of the hill, and you basically have to drive there. Plus, there's only one shower per gender! Fun times.

Camping out in the Loleta Recreation Area in the Allegheny National Forest is much quieter than locations closer to the city because there's simply not that much to do! So, we hiked the short 3-mile Loleta Trail starting at campsite 15. We got to the Overlook (not much to look over), and promptly could not find the second half of the loop. So we just bushwacked back to the campsite. Ah, the benefits of having a hiking GPS. The Internet tells me had we followed the trail back, we'd have been pretty close to a creek. Instead, we stomped on ferns and were poked by pines.