The east rim at Leonard Harrison is the first night over Pine Creek Gorge. The far wall is Colton Point, and down on the floor the rail trail follows the creek from one park to the other. In the morning you walk or bike that trail beside the water.
For a first night on the gorge, use Leonard Harrison. It has showers, a dump station, and some electric sites, and Colton Point is first-come only with no dump station.
Telescopes come out on the Cherry Springs field after dusk, under red light, with the gates closed. The Overnight Astronomy Observation Field prohibits camper hook-up and takes a permit from the contact station. Sleep in the rustic campground, which has a dump station and no lighting restrictions.
Hemlock hangs over the shoreline sites at Willow Bay on the Allegheny Reservoir at Kinzua. The campground is reservable, with electric back-in sites, showers, and drinking water, and camping there closes after late October as of September 2026.
At Benezette, dusk is when the elk step out of the trees onto the open hillsides. Hicks Run in Elk State Forest is the roadside night. It takes a permit for motorized camping and has no hookups and no dump.
Cook Forest is a walk under old-growth hemlock and white pine, the canopy closed overhead. Ridge Campground has full-hookup pads. If you need more sleeping space than a campervan, look at RV rentals in Pennsylvania.
Reserve the pad before the van. State park campgrounds in this cluster open in an April-to-May window and most close between mid-October and early December.
Ricketts Glen State Park
The Falls Trail at Ricketts Glen stays wet underfoot, a gorge walk that keeps crossing water. The campground keeps a small number of sites open year-round for winter camping, with showers, flush toilets, and a dump station as of September 2026. Most of the rest of the camping here runs April through December.
Worlds End State Park
High Rock Vista looks down on Loyalsock Creek where it bends back on itself through Worlds End. The campground in that valley is half electric, with a dump station, and it closes in winter as of September 2026.
Presque Isle State Park
A curve of sand follows Lake Erie at Presque Isle, breakwaters standing off the beach. DCNR calls it Pennsylvania's only seashore, a day-use park with overnight accommodations nearby, and there is no camping inside the park as of September 2026. The peninsula is a day from wherever the van slept.
The Poconos, Gettysburg, and Ohiopyle
East of the Wilds, the Poconos and Pocono Raceway start from Long Pond. French Creek is the Philadelphia overnight, and Valley Forge is the day. Amish Country and Hershey go with Lancaster, Gettysburg with York. Knoebels has its own campground next to the amusement park.
Ohiopyle and the Laurel Highlands are the Pittsburgh trip. Around State College the nights are Penn State weekends, Black Moshannon, Bald Eagle, and Rothrock. Keep going and the next states are New York, Ohio, and Maryland.