Looking for a CG suggestion

[NLOVNIT]

I'm looking ahead to Bedford & trying to figure out where we want to finish out the week after we leave Shawnee.

Although I'm sure there are more GC's in WV that we haven't done yet, we've done that the past couple years & I'm thinking I want someplace new. I'd like to find some place for a few more nights along that turnpike corridor or around the 70/79 interchange area as we work our way back home.

Any suggestions from you guys would be appreciated. I figure you PA folks might have some ideas for us.

It sure is blustery here today. Just got a dusting of snow but that wind is nasty. I about got frost bit just going out for the morning paper today! Brrrrr!!!!!! Come on spring.

L-

Oh, one more thing about the CG suggestion, we might want fhu, since it's getting late in the season & we might want to take advantage of a fhu site to flush & winterize (depending on weather forecast then). Thanks!

[NLOVNIT]

I'm looking ahead to Bedford & trying to figure out where we want to finish out the week after we leave Shawnee.

Although I'm sure there are more GC's in WV that we haven't done yet, we've done that the past couple years & I'm thinking I want someplace new. I'd like to find some place for a few more nights along that turnpike corridor or around the 70/79 interchange area as we work our way back home.

Any suggestions from you guys would be appreciated. I figure you PA folks might have some ideas for us.

It sure is blustery here today. Just got a dusting of snow but that wind is nasty. I about got frost bit just going out for the morning paper today! Brrrrr!!!!!! Come on spring.

L-

Oh, one more thing about the CG suggestion, we might want fhu, since it's getting late in the season & we might want to take advantage of a fhu site to flush & winterize (depending on weather forecast then). Thanks!

[rebelsbeach]

L, they're actually remotely predicting the possibility of SNOW flurries here in SOUTH Florida for tonight's overnight period..... THAT AIN'Y FUNNY!!

I'm in jeans and a long sleeve t-shirt today and that's in the house!

Sorry for the hijack..... back to finding a campground!

[NLOVNIT]

Bob-

I don't mind the hijack. Just wish you'd hijack me all the way down there. 2-degrees for tonight is a bit nippy....even for me.

L-

[Joe-K]

Lori

You mean you're not sitting there in the house "Plugged In"

[NLOVNIT]

Joe-

HA! Actually, I am. I've got my little electric throw on HIGH with another blanket on top of that!! I'm just not cut out for temps this low.

L-

[Frank P. Martin]

L-

Wouldn't it be easier to just tell Dave to turn the heat up? You're not going to run out of propane at home.

I have my old Kero-Sun burning here in the family room to take the chill off. It's about as close to camping as I get unless I make a fire in the fireplace. For a few hours, though, the Kero-Sun is a little more convenient (and less messy).

[Superslif]

We have camped at Laurel Hill State Park the last 13 years. Its located between PA. Turnpike exits 9 (Donegal) and exit 10 (Somerset) about 5-6 miles south of the turnpike. It's a very quite setting in June. In Oct. I bet there would be a lot of fall colors to be viewed. We usually get a site on top of the hill (#232)with a view of the valley. It rests on the eastern slope of the Laurel Highlands ridge. About 2 miles up the road is 7-Springs Resort. I believe at that time they have 4 weekends (in Oct. )they call their Fall Autumnfest weekends.
Another option would be Pioneer campground located a few miles closer to the Turnpike just off route 31 that runs next to the turnpike. We drove thru there once and it seemed like a nice private campground. I don't know if their open that time of the year. Some private campgrounds start to close Oct 1st.
Another option would be Ohiopyle State Park. But the access road into the campground is a bi_ch. There is a hill that climbs about 1000 ft over about a mile to get into the campground. Many of their sites are not made for MH's.
I know you and Dave like to eat out. We go to Hoss's in Somerset, Oakhurst Tea Room Smorgasbord, 4 miles from Laurel Hill and 7-Springs (The Oak Dining room) Sunday Brunch. 7 Spring Resort has about 4 dining options. I'll post a few links below

~ Pioneer campground http://www.pioneerparkcampground.com...park/index.cfm

~ Laurel Hill State Park http://www.irv2.com/photopost/showgallery.php?cat=543

~ Laurel Hill campground site map http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/statepar...lhill_camp.pdf


~ Laurel Highlands website www.laurelhighlands.org

~Oakhurst Tearoom Smorgasbord www.oakhursttearoom.com

~ 7-Springs Resort picture http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne...6385575&size=l

~ Ohiopyle State Park area http://www.irv2.com/photopost/showgallery.php?cat=718

[NLOVNIT]

Jim/Diane,

Thanks for the ideas. I'm also looking closely at Youghiogheny River Lake Outflow campground too. I saw the photo in your album of one of the cinder sites. It reminds me a lot of the way the sites are at Stonewall WV. The website shows they have several that are full hook up with long pads. That place is sounding good to me. Any opinions on this CG? Are all the sites at the outflow cinder like that? How's the drive to there (coming from Bedford)?

L-

[Frank P. Martin]

There's a number of ways to go from Shawnee to the Yough River Lake Area. The route you're most familiar with (US-30 E to US-220 S to I-68 W) is probably the easiest but the longest. I came to Shawnee last summer from I-68 via US-40, MD-36 and MD-35 which becomes PA-96. To me, the road (all two lane) was about the same as the two lane stretch of US-220. About the only slow-down (once you get out of Cumberland) I remember were some sharp turns and maybe a stop sign or two going through the town of Hyndman.

Using either of the above routes, you would exit I-68 onto US-40 W at Keysers Ridge (Exit 14). I've never camped at the Youghiogheny River Lake Outflow campground but it looks to me that you would take US-40 W to PA-523 and follow that to Confluence. Then take PA-281 S to the campground. I've traveled PA-523 only as far as the bottom of the hill where, there I would turn right to go to Deer Valley YMCA Camp or Mt. Davis (the highest point in PA).

If you feel real adventuresome, you can take either PA-96 S to PA-31 W or take the PA Turnpike from Bedford (Exit 146) to Somerset (Exit 110) and, from Somerset, take PA-281 S all the way to the Campground. Unfortunately, I've never been on that stretch of PA-281 so I'm unable to provide any information on what the road's like.

Your visit to that area of the Laurel Highlands would not be complete without a visit to Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater. Fallingwater was the summer home of the Kaufmann family and were the founders of Kaufmann's Department Store (Now Macy's) in Pittsburgh.

[NLOVNIT]

Thanks, Frank. I appreciate your directions.

I'm leaning heavily towards that outflow cg & even have a site earmarked. I just have to wait for the reservation window to open (in a few months) & then jump on it to be sure I get the one I want.

Part of the reason I picked that cg was to be able to go to Fallingwater. I worked for a bunch of structural engineers for nearly 10 years. Fallingwater was like Mecca for them. Truely a feat of enineering that can't be missed if in the area.

L-

[Superslif]

The Youghiogheny River Lake Outflow campground is much smaller than Tionesta. I rode thru the campground during my bike trip from Rockwood to Ohiopyle. I wrote down some nice sites, but at this time I can't find it. Yes, just about all the sites are cinder and for the most part level. As far as the drive from Somerset to Confluence, you would follow 281 from Somerset which has some small hills which are not that bad and the road to at least New Lexington is nice and wide. Now on the way out of the Youghiogheny River Lake Outflow campground you would want to drop down to route 40, and then onto Uniontown. Now there will be a big downhill section just before getting into Uniontown (1000'+ drop). I'll send ya a few more pictures of the Youghiogheny River Lake Outflow campground. In my opinion ( now this is just my opinion) I would rather spend a few days at Laural Hill SP if I had a choice.....

[woodburner]

Great photos Jim! Some really nice places. Are Laurel Hill and Ohio Pyle State Parks? Ohio or PA.?

[NLOVNIT]

Well, I've been watching the reservation window starting at the 240 day mark & kept watching to the 6 month mark & wondered why the available "A" never moved from that 1st wk of Sept. Then I happen to go back & read the Alerts & Important Info section where I spy "...reduced facilities before and after the summer recreation season.". Low & behold, a phone call later, I'm informed the campground closes Sept 7. That's not reduced facilites...that's NO facilities! What a bummer! Now, why would they close when peak leaf color season is just around the corner.

So, it's back to square one looking for a GC in PA on the way back from Bedford. I'll start with Laurel Hill (at your suggestion, Jim) & go from there.

L-