Gifford Pinchot State Park Camping: The Complete 2026 Pennsylvania Guide

Gifford Pinchot State Park camping puts you on the shore of 340-acre Pinchot Lake in northern York County, Pennsylvania, between Harrisburg and York. The park covers 2,338 acres of reverting farm fields and wooded hillsides along PA 177, and its campground is one of the largest in the Pennsylvania state park system. Expect quiet electric-motor boating, a big swimming beach, 18 miles of trails and a mix of tent sites, full-hookup RV sites, cabins, yurts and cottages.

This guide covers the Gifford Pinchot campground, the cabins and other lodging, the campground map, reservations, the lake, the trails and the phased campground closure that starts in 2027.

Gifford Pinchot State Park Camping: The Basics

• Address: 2200 Rosstown Road, Lewisberry, PA 17339. Park office: 717-432-5011.
• Operator: Pennsylvania DCNR (Bureau of State Parks). The park was dedicated in 1961.
• Reservations: online through Pennsylvania State Parks reservations, or call 888-PA-PARKS (888-727-2757), 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday to Saturday.
• Park hours: open every day of the year, 8 a.m. to sunset. Day-use areas close at sunset.
• Campground season: mid-April to late October. The park's Facebook page puts the closing date on the last Sunday in October. Modern cabins rent year round.
• Getting there: from Harrisburg, take I-83 south to the Lewisberry exit (35), then PA 177 south. From York, take PA 74 north, or I-83 north to the Newberrytown exit (32), then PA 382 west to PA 177 south.

Where is Gifford Pinchot State Park? Between the villages of Rossville and Lewisberry in York County, south-central Pennsylvania. You'll see both Lewisberry and Wellsville in addresses and listings for the park and its campground.

The Gifford Pinchot State Park Campground

The Gifford Pinchot State Park campground has 289 campsites at the southern end of the lake. (Some third-party listings say 283.)

• Paved pads: every site has a macadam pad that fits anything from the smallest tent to a large motor home.
• Site types: modern non-electric, modern electric and full-hookup sites with sewer, water and electricity.
• Pets: allowed on designated pet sites only, so reserve one if your dog is coming. See our tips for camping with dogs.
• Amenities: modern bathhouses with flush toilets and showers, sanitary dump stations, a staffed campground office, an outdoor amphitheater, hiking trails, a boat launch and mooring area, and a swimming beach just for campers.
• Accessibility: some ADA-accessible campsites and an accessible campground beach.
• Stay limits: up to 14 consecutive nights from Memorial Day to Labor Day and 21 nights the rest of the season, then you must leave for at least 48 hours.

Two campground host positions come with a free site with 30- or 50-amp service, in exchange for 40 hours a week of work and a four-week minimum stay. Contact the park office for details.

Gifford Pinchot State Park Campground Map

DCNR publishes a Gifford Pinchot State Park campground map as a PDF on the park's Maps and Guides page, along with the general park map, a lodging map and two Pinchot Lake depth maps for anglers. The reservation site's interactive map shows exactly where each site sits. Cell service is unreliable around Pennsylvania state parks, so download the maps before you go.

2027–2029 Campground Closure: What to Know

Beginning in 2027, the campground will go through a phased closure for a shower house upgrade. DCNR is replacing the old shower and restroom buildings with new, modern, accessible ones. The park's alert says construction should continue through 2029. A September 2026 FOX43 report described the work as running through 2028, so check the park's alert page for the latest dates.

• Portions of the campground will close while other areas stay open as each phase is finished.
• Affected sites are blocked in the reservation system. If a site shows as available for your dates, the project isn't affecting it.
• Contractors work with machinery Monday through Friday, so weekend trips will be quieter.
• Day-use areas stay open.
• DCNR suggests Pine Grove Furnace State Park and Codorus State Park as nearby alternatives.

Gifford Pinchot State Park Camping Reservations

• Booking window: up to 11 months in advance.
• Campsites (non-electric, electric and full-hookup) can be booked as late as the day of arrival.
• Cabins, yurts, camping cottages, group tent sites and pavilions must be booked at least three days ahead.
• Occupancy: one family, or up to five unrelated people, per campsite, with at least one person 18 or older.
• Quiet hours run 9 p.m. to 8 a.m., and visitors are allowed only from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.
• Alcohol is prohibited.

Nightly rates change by site type and season, so check the current price on each site's reservation page.

Gifford Pinchot State Park Cabins, Yurts and Cottages

Don't have a tent? The park has three kinds of roofed lodging, all listed on its lodging map and brochure.

• Modern cabins: ten cabins can be rented year round. Each has a living area, a kitchen and dining area, a toilet and shower room, two or three bedrooms, and heat and air conditioning. They also have boat mooring areas on the lakeshore. Bring your own linens, towels, kitchenware and utensils. One cabin is ADA accessible.
• Yurts: round canvas-and-wood tents on wooden decks that sleep five in bunk beds. Each has a cooking stove, refrigerator, countertop, electric heat, outlets, a fire ring and a picnic table, with water and shower buildings nearby. One is ADA accessible.
• Camping cottages: three cottages sleep five in bunk beds, with wooden floors, windows, electric heat, lights, outlets, a porch, a picnic table and a fire ring. One is ADA accessible.

Yurts and cottages are a good middle ground between tent camping and a cabin. Our guide to what glamping is explains more about yurt stays. No tents, trailers or RVs are allowed at the lodging sites.

Organized Group Tenting

Six group tent sites inside the campground hold up to 250 people in total, for scout, church and other organized groups. Advance reservations are required.

Pinchot Lake: Boating, Swimming and Fishing

• Boating: electric motors only, at slow, no-wake speed. Rowboats, kayaks, canoes, sailboats and paddleboards all do well here. The three launch areas are open 24 hours a day, and 286 shoreline mooring and canoe-rack spaces can be rented from April 1 to October 1. Non-powered boats need a launch or mooring permit or a registration.
• Boat rental: the concession, temporarily in the Conewago Day Use Area, rents canoes, kayaks, paddleboats, rowboats and electric motors by the hour, day, overnight or week. It's open daily from Memorial Day to Labor Day, weather permitting.
• Swimming beach: the large, accessible beach in the Quaker Race Day Use Area is open from late May to mid-September, 8 a.m. to sunset, with a snack bar and play area nearby. Swimming can close for water-quality problems, as it did for part of August 2026, so check the alerts first.
• Fishing: Pinchot Lake is a designated Big Bass Lake with special size and creel rules for bass. Other species include hybrid striped bass, muskellunge, walleye, catfish, crappie and sunfish. Ice fishing and iceboating are allowed when the ice is thick enough, but the park doesn't monitor ice thickness.

Gifford Pinchot Trails

The park has more than 18 miles of marked trails. Yellow blazes mark hiking-only trails, and red blazes mark trails shared with bikes or horses.

• Lakeside Trail: 8.5 miles around the lake, the longest and most scenic route. Plan on five to six hours.
• Mason-Dixon Trail: 6.8 miles of this 200-mile, blue-blazed trail cross the park. Thru-hikers may camp only in the park campground.
• Gravel Trail: a 1.2-mile old road with a gravel surface, good for walking, biking and cross-country skiing.
• Alpine Trail: a flat half-mile from the Conewago Day Use Area, with bluebells and marsh marigolds in April and May.
• Equestrian Trail: 2.33 miles with its own parking area off Alpine Road.

The park is open to hunting in season, so wear orange on the trails in fall.

When to Camp at Gifford Pinchot

Late spring and early fall are the sweet spots: mild weather, wildflowers in April and May, and color on the hillsides in October. Summer brings beach days and full weekends. For a cool shoulder-season trip, read our guide on camping in the rain. In winter, the modern cabins are the only overnight option.

Not to Be Confused With

• Gifford Pinchot National Forest is in Washington State, not Pennsylvania. It's the federal forest around Mount St. Helens and Mount Adams, on the other side of the country. If you're searching for camping near Mount St. Helens, you want the national forest.
• Grey Towers National Historic Site in Milford, PA, was Pinchot's family home. It's a separate site run by the U.S. Forest Service.
• Private "Gifford Pinchot" listings on sites like Hipcamp are private campgrounds, not the state park.

The park honors Gifford Pinchot, the first chief of the U.S. Forest Service under Theodore Roosevelt and later a two-term governor of Pennsylvania. One of his rural "Pinchot Roads," now PA 177, still crosses the park.

More Pennsylvania and Mid-Atlantic Camping

Pair this trip with our French Creek State Park camping guide in southeastern Pennsylvania, or head to the coast with Cape Henlopen State Park camping in Delaware. Traveling with kids? See our list of family-friendly campgrounds.

Recommended Gear

Paved sites, a calm lake and long trails call for simple, reliable gear.

• Coleman Sundome Camping Tent: an easy, weatherproof tent for the non-electric sites. Our how to set up a tent guide helps first-timers on a hard pad.
• Coleman Triton 2-Burner Propane Stove: for cooking breakfast at your site. Get ideas in our campfire cooking guide, or compare more in our best camping stove roundup.
• Black Diamond Spot 400-R Rechargeable Headlamp: for walking to the bathhouse after dark and starting the Lakeside Trail early.

If fires are allowed during your stay, use our guide on how to start a campfire, and use our camping checklist so nothing gets left at home.