Stony Fork Creek Campground

You can’t Yeehaw North of Rt. 80 anymore. Stony Fork Campground is very nice and you’ll be welcome if you have no personality, don’t drive too fast, don’t move the fire ring or park on the grass if it’s wet and like to be looked down upon by the owner who rides around on his throne (the back hoe). Another reviewer said he thinks he’s God’s gift to the campground world and looks at you like you’re lucky to stay here, stirring up his own dust from driving too fast and watching your every move. Another said the owner is a jerk, he has no people skills, he breaks his own rules while screaming bloody murder and cussing at the people paying to stay there. He’d make a great East Germany camp ruler. He has no respect for our US Military men, he screamed and cursed at then banished a 4 year Air Force veteran that just got out of the service for driving a golf cart too fast. Instead of being a «tyrant» like another reviewer called him, he should’ve thanked him and talked to him in a way that would’ve earned respect instead of demanding it — so he can keep being the Number one Bubba butthole of the campground world. The owner will fabricate a story about you and blatantly lie if he doesn’t like you or someone that’s with you and even believe it himself, he has anger issues and needs help. After having a permanent camper site for a few years and attending the Hickory Fest every year which supports cancer victims, my family had 6 tickets last year to which we were banned from attending and told to move out after being cursed at for singing funny camp fire songs. Being a four year survivor of cancer myself, I like to yeehaw every time I remember the battle I survived. He once told me the only reason the organizer of Hickory Fest, survived her battle with cancer was because she had good insurance. This dumbass has no respect or a clue what it takes to survive an illness like cancer. So get on your bad backhoe and ride, Jerk.
— Kenny R

So I knew I was in for an adventure when, on the drive in, following the advice of Google Maps — I turned off PA’s route 414 to find Stony Fork Creek Road, and 30 yards later it dead ended … into a swift moving, 30 yard wide creek. Or maybe it didn’t dead-​end, because the dirt road clearly continued on the other side. At the end of May, in my full size pickup, I made it fine … but I’m not sure I’d try in March or in a lower riding SUV.
Six miles up the road, following a beautiful drive on a dirt road running along Stony Fork Creek, mostly through deeply wooded state forest land, the campground appeared shortly after the road turned back to blacktop. I was pleasantly surprised by the clean, serviceable facilities. It was the only place I could book on late notice, and for $ 8 a night (tent site) I wasn’t expecting much — but the bath houses were clean, location was beautiful, campground store was well stocked with trail maps, etc.
I secured one of the «remote» sites on a small bluff overlooking the creek below — remote being a relative term, of course. SInce it was Memorial Day weekend, and the nearly 200 RV sites along the creek below were filled to capacity, and the pool was not open yet, and no ATVs/​4 wheelers were allowed in camp, and the fire engine ride was really just for the smaller kids, and the pond was only going to support a small portion of the campers … well, all those people needed something to do all day. Yes, it’s true that there’s 57 miles of the best rail trail in the east just up the road, and some beautiful state parks, and hundreds of mile of hiking trails and trout streams and kayaking and rafting and more nearby … but you had to drive to all those places. And, well, who wants to do that?
Fortunately, some of the more creative Bubbas amongst the campers graciously took it upon themselves to provide entertainment for the whole campground. I did not see any official signs, and I didn’t actually participate … but as a casual observer, it seemed the whole thing must have been sponsored by Budweiser. Things seemed to start around 9 or 10AM, when Bubba and his buddies stumbled out of their RVs to start drinking Buds in the hot sun. This continued all day, with various warmup activities, until about dinner time, when it seems some of the hardier Bubbas must have switched to grain alcohol. And that’s when the main event really started. Though it was kind of like the olympics — not a single activity, but all sorts of games running in parallel. There was the «yew wave» in which one Bubba would shriek out a high pitched «ye-​e-​e-​e-​e-​w» as loud as he could — and it would bounce around the campground as others y-​e-​e-​w-​ed back for 5 or 10 minutes until each Bubba had satisfied himself that yes, HE was indeed the center of the party. There was the «toad crush» — in which some Bubbas would wander the campground to hunt down some toads, and then ceremoniously squish them in strategic locations, like the concrete pad in front of the water spout, to prove once and for all their ultimate superiority over the fearsome little beasts. Then of course, there was the «start some shit» game, which started with a beautifully choreographed sequence in which one Bubba would yell across the campground «if you don’t shut up that dog, I’m gonna come up there and do it for you», which of course made most of dogs in camp bark, which caused the first Bubba to scream in righteous indignation «you want to START SOME SHIT??» … at which point the game began in earnest.
So the facility is nice enough, and the hosts are nice enough, and if you are looking for a clean campground, I recommend it. But if you go on an off weekend, don’t be disappointed if campground activities are a bit sparse, and you actually have to go ride the trail or kayak the river or hike by some waterfalls to keep yourself occupied.