For our next weekend camping trip, we were looking for a campground in the Pocono Mountains Region with hiking trails, biking trails, and a lake with a boat rental facility. Promised Land State Park seemed the perfect option, with its surrounding forests and miles of hiking trails, two lakes, and a 6.5-mile paved bike trail. On our way to the park, we stopped for coffee at Skytop Lodge and enjoyed the view, sitting outside on the terrace.
One of the most popular campgrounds is Pickerel Point, which is located on a peninsula and offers beautiful views of the lake. The lakeshore sites are walk-in sites, but you can see on the map that the majority can be reserved online. This campground is open all year long and we would like to go back during the week or in the off-season period.
These campground maps were very helpful for choosing a camping site. There are also rustic cabins rental options, which we discovered later.
Lower Lake Campground
Since we were looking for a wooded and quiet campground, we made our reservation at the Lower Lake Campground, in the Rhododendron Area. This campground turned out to be the best for us, it was shaded and private with easy access to clean bathrooms and showers.
Our campsite (519) was a little short and narrow to back up our 17-foot-long camper, but other sites were easier to access, like campsite 517, which seems to have a longer and larger backup area. We had just purchased a Eureka! Nobugzone shelter and set it up next to our little camper. Even though we didn’t have bugs during the weekend, this screened tent provided privacy and is a great option for setting over the picnic table.
Camping neighbors
Our camping neighbors became quite entertaining when they tried to leave the campsite in the morning. It took them two hours to back up the camper, which seemed to stop running every two minutes. We were secretly cheering for them when finally, they were able to leave the campground. We saw them a few hours later, they were still on the park road and this time, their camper van was being pulled by a towing truck. It is certainly not a fun ending, but it didn’t seem to lower their spirit; they were smiling and having fun anyway!
Bear Wallow Cabin Colony
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On the bike ride along Lower Lake, we discovered Bear Wallow Cabin Colony, a group of 12 historic rustic cabins. The small cabins were built in 1930 by the Civilian Conservation Corps and they are listed on the National Register for Historic Places. Each construction has a unique design and setting.
This map shows the location and capacities for each cabin, but if you want to see pictures of them, you have to go to the online reservation site. Once you enter the dates and what you are looking for, in this case, cabins and lodging, the list will show you the location and a few pictures for each available cabin.
The beach area was very popular with families, so we just continued our bike ride. It seemed a nice place to spend an afternoon with the children and the boat rental facility was busy renting all sorts of boats. We usually avoid crowds, especially during the pandemic, so we were perfectly happy continuing our ride back to our campsite. The weather could not have been better and the weekend was just perfect.