Anyone familiar with Raccoon Creek State Park? (Pittsburgh, Latrobe: hotels, cabins)

[siennagreen]

We're considering bringing our family in for a week at the end of August to stay in one of their modern cabins in the park. Does anyone have any thoughts or experiances with the cabins? We aren't looking for fancy, but clean is good. How is the beach? Playgrounds? How far of a drive is it from downtown Pittsburgh? We'll want to make some day trips into the city.

I really appreciate your contributions!
Sienna

[Scientist Mom]

I haven't been there yet. But there was a review of it late last summer on the Pittsburgh Mom blog. As long as you avoid rush hour trips to and from Pittsburgh from there should be easy.

Pittsburgh Family Fun - Moraine State Park and Raccoon Creek State Park - Pittsburgh Mom - Pittsburgh Mom (http://pittsburghmom.com/blogs/pittsburghmom/archive/2009/08/07/pittsburgh-family-fun-moraine-state-park-and-raccoon-creek-state-park.aspx - broken link)

[groar]

raccoon creek is really nice, if you like hiking and doing things on the water. i take my dog there in the off season so she can go swimming. the beach is big and good for swimming although it's one of those weird ones where they truck in sand to make a beach. i think there is at least one playground there, although that's not something i look for so there may be more. if i'm thinking of the right place, there might even be a playground in the modern cabin area.

it's only about 25 miles from pittsburgh, so a day trip here is well within reason. there are also a lot of other parks and things to do within easy driving distance.

[South Range Family]

The beach is sand, and a fairly good size with a big grass area. They may have fixed their goose problem, but I wouldn't count on it. I was there when they made everyone get out of the water because the bacteria count was high. I couldn't believe my eyes when the park employees then went around scooping up the greasy piles of goose droppings, and tossed them into the water.

I never went back. You can go to Bing to see the cabins from a birdseye view.

[ki0eh]

I've stayed in the cabins at Raccoon Creek before. PA State Parks generally keep the cabins in good shape, I've stayed in a number of different parks and never a bad experience for what they supply. Some parks have modern cabins (similar to Raccoon Creek that come to mind are Keystone near Latrobe, and Hills Creek near Wellsboro), and restored CCC cabins (Parker Dam near DuBois is nice).

The hiking trails at Raccoon Creek are long enough to backpack, most mostly in the low rolling hills and woods scenery except for the separate "wildflower preserve" at the east end with a separate trail system (used to be a separate tract I think from the main park).

For my interests (mostly day hiking) Moraine and especially McConnells Mill are more interesting. The Davis Hollow Cabin at Moraine State Park is really nice, it's a restored old settler's place in part 200 years old. It's along the North Country Trail and at least used to be managed by the NCT Association. I can't find a good current link so calling the Moraine SP office and talking to a manager is probably the best way to find out more about how it currently can be reserved. On the east end of Moraine SP the Jennings outdoor center has a really interesting trail around a relict prairie. At McConnells Mill the trail down through the lower end of the park is exceptionally scenic along the Slippery Rock Creek.

[ki0eh]

If playgrounds are a special interest you might want to stay in Cranberry Twp - we've stopped a number of times at the Playtime Palace at Cranberry Township - Official Website - Community Park (we initially discovered it when we wanted to get turned around on US 19 ) and stayed in hotels nearby or used as a midday break for driving further.