French Creek State Park Camping in Pennsylvania: The Complete 2026 Guide
French Creek State Park camping guide: the four campground loops, which ones allow pets, cabins and yurts, 11-month reservations, Hopewell Lake and the pool.
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Better camping decisions, faster trip planning, and clearer gear choices. Use this article as your starting point, then keep going with related camping guides and practical help articles below.
French Creek State Park camping is the closest thing southeastern Pennsylvania has to a big-woods campground: more than 7,700 acres of forest across Berks and Chester counties, two lakes, 35-plus miles of trail, and an 18th-century iron village next door, about an hour from Philadelphia. It is also easy to book once you understand the loops and Pennsylvania's 11-month reservation window.
French Creek State Park Campground: The Basics
- Campground address: 410 Park Road, Elverson, PA 19520. The park office is at 843 Park Road, Elverson, PA 19520, phone 610-582-9680. The park is open sunrise to sunset every day.
- Season: March through the first weekend in January. The modern cabins stay open year round.
- Sites: the reservation system lists about 110 non-electric sites, 41 electric sites and 44 full-hookup sites (sewer, water and electric), plus cabins, cottages and yurts.
- Facilities: flush toilets, warm showers and a dump station in the campground.
- Check-in and check-out are both 3 p.m. for campsites. Cottages and yurts check out at 10 a.m.
- Rules: quiet hours 9 p.m. to 8 a.m., no alcohol, and one family unit or up to five unrelated people per site.
The French Creek State Park Campground Map: Loops A to D
The campground map (DCNR publishes it as a PDF) shows four loops, A through D, plus separate areas for cabins, cottages, yurts and group tenting.
The loop letter matters most if you have a dog: pets are allowed in Loop A and Loop C only. Hookup types are spread across loops, so filter the reservation map by site type instead of picking a loop and hoping. Look at campground photos of the exact site, too. Shade and slope vary a lot within a single loop.
French Creek State Park Camping Reservations
French Creek books through Pennsylvania State Parks on ReserveAmerica or at 888-PA-PARKS (888-727-2757), 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday. It is not on Recreation.gov, which is the federal system.
- Most sites open 11 months in advance, bookable until noon on arrival day.
- Summer minimum stay (Memorial Day to Labor Day weekends): one night Sunday through Friday, two nights if you include a Saturday.
- Unreserved sites are first-come, first-served.
Prices vary by site type and date. Non-electric is cheapest and full hookup costs the most, so trust the live rate at checkout. Pennsylvania state parks charge no entrance fee, so you don't need a day-use ticket.
Cabins, Cottages and Yurts
If you searched for "glamping," these are the park's answer:
- 10 modern cabins: sleep six in bunk beds, with a kitchen, electric heat and a private bathroom with shower. Open year round.
- 3 camping cottages: sleep five, with electric heat, a porch and a fire ring, but no bathroom. Pets are allowed in Cottage One only.
- 2 yurts: sleep four, with a cooking stove, microwave, refrigerator and electric heat.
Groups can book rustic group tenting (April 1 to October 31; sixteen 30-person sites and one 60-person site) or the two group cabin camps: Camp One sleeps 135 and Camp Two (Clewell) sleeps 68.
Hopewell Lake, the Pool and Scotts Run Lake
- Hopewell Lake (68 acres) is the hub. Its lake parking lot serves the pool, boat rental and an accessible fishing pier. It is a designated big bass lake, with pike, pickerel, walleye, muskellunge and panfish.
- Scotts Run Lake (22 acres) is the coldwater lake, stocked with trout.
- Boating: rowboats, canoes, kayaks, paddleboards and electric motors only, at no-wake speed. Boat rentals run daily at the Hopewell Lake pool complex from Memorial Day to Labor Day, plus weekends in May and September.
- Swimming: swimming is not allowed in either lake. The French Creek State Park pool next to Hopewell Lake opens Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day, 11 a.m. to 5:45 p.m. Monday, Thursday and Friday and 11 a.m. to 6:45 p.m. on weekends. It is closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays and charges admission.
- Fishing: you need a license from age 16. Ice fishing is allowed, but nobody monitors the ice thickness.
French Creek State Park Hiking Trails
More than 35 miles of marked trails run through the park:
- Hopewell Lake Loop: 2.5 miles, easy.
- Hopewell Big Woods North and South: 1.5 and 0.7 miles, easy and ADA accessible.
- Boone Trail: 6 miles, blue blazes.
- Mill Creek (6 miles) and Six Penny (3.4 miles): both rated most difficult.
- Horse-Shoe Trail: 8 miles inside the park.
Pick up a trail map at the office, because junctions come often. Mountain biking and horseback riding are allowed on designated trails. There is also a free 18-hole disc golf course that has been there since 1987.
Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site
The Lenape and Colliers trails lead straight to Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site, a restored iron-making village that operated from 1771 to 1883. It is free, and its facilities are open Wednesday through Sunday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Not That French Creek
Several unrelated places share the name:
- Custer State Park, South Dakota, has the French Creek Horse Camp, with two corrals per site, and the French Creek Natural Area, a primitive backcountry route.
- French Creek Campground near Fairburn, South Dakota, is on Buffalo Gap National Grassland.
- French Creek Campground, Wyoming, is an 11-site Forest Service campground in the Medicine Bow National Forest.
When to Go
Summers are humid, with afternoon thunderstorms. Late September and October bring fall color and cooler nights. March and December nights regularly drop below freezing. Pennsylvania has black bears, so keep food locked in your vehicle.
If French Creek is full, try Watkins Glen State Park in New York or Smith Mountain Lake State Park in Virginia. Our Ohio state park campgrounds guide covers the next state west. Bringing the dog to Loop A or C? Read our camping with dogs guide first.
Recommended Gear
- A tent with a full rainfly for summer storms. The Coleman Sundome sets up in about 10 minutes.
- A temperature-rated sleeping bag for March and December. The Teton Celsius comes in 25°F, 20°F and 0°F ratings.
- A rechargeable headlamp for the walk back from the shower house. The Black Diamond Spot 400-R puts out 400 lumens.