Pittsburgh sits at the western edge of the Alleghenies, so the terrain worth camping in starts well outside the city and improves as you keep going southeast. Trips from here fall into a few directions, and they differ more than you would expect in what the van needs to be carrying. Most of them stay inside the state, so campervan rentals across Pennsylvania are a sensible second search if nothing local fits your dates.
Ohiopyle and the Laurel Highlands
DCNR's own directions run the Turnpike east to Exit 91 at Donegal, then PA 31 east, PA 711 and PA 381 south, roughly 23 miles in total. Kentuck Campground at Ohiopyle State Park runs from April into mid-December and has sites with electric, but read the park's approach notes before you drive it: DCNR warns that SR 2019 is very steep and that large RVs should instead take PA 40 to SR 2010, the Chalk Hill-Ohiopyle Road, and follow it eight miles to a stop sign.
Fallingwater is in Mill Run, on rural two-lane roads. Tours are scheduled and reservations are necessary, and the house recommends booking four to six weeks ahead in July, August and October. Lock in the tour before the campsite, not the other way round.
If you plan to paddle the Lower Youghiogheny yourself rather than go with an outfitter, note that the park runs a launch quota. Launch tickets are required from the second weekend in April through Columbus Day and are issued at the park office. The Middle Yough, the gentler stretch, carries no such requirement.
Forbes State Forest covers the same ridges and is where Pennsylvania's rules turn unusual. Its motorized roadside campsites sit on dirt and gravel forest roads with no electric, no dump station and no trash service. They run from early April to the close of regular rifle deer season, cap at seven consecutive nights, and the roads receive no winter maintenance.
South to New River Gorge
The longest of these runs, and a genuine long weekend rather than an overnight. The Park Service gives highway access from Route 19 between Beckley and Hico, and from I-64. If you would rather not spend two of your days driving, campervan rentals in West Virginia put you closer to the start.
Camping inside the national park works differently from almost anywhere else: every park campground is primitive and first-come, first-served, with no reservations, no hookups and no drinking water, and a 14-day limit within any 28-day period. Drive-in sites will take a van, but the Park Service points out that campgrounds sit several miles from gas stations and groceries, so arrive with full tanks.
North to the Allegheny National Forest
Worth planning carefully rather than improvising. The forest carries standing orders that close specific ground to camping: it is prohibited on the Allegheny Reservoir shoreline and for 1,500 feet inland, within 1,500 feet of the centerline of the Allegheny Reservoir Scenic Drive, and within 500 feet of the centerlines of several named forest roads including FR 401 and FR 125. A separate order caps occupancy at 14 days within any 30-day period. Read the current orders before you count on a particular spot.
Around the reservoir, camping is directed to nine named campgrounds: Willow Bay, Dewdrop, Red Bridge, Kiasutha, Morrison, Pine Grove, Hopewell, Handsome Lake and Hooks Brook. There are also 27 primitive, numbered campsites along the Clarion Wild and Scenic River. Because so much ground here is closed by order, apps that map dispersed campsites are more use than guesswork.
Cook Forest State Park, reached via Exit 78 off I-80 and PA 36 north, is the softer option on the way up: Ridge Campground has 210 sites, a mix of full-hookup and electric-only sites, a sanitary dump station and a mid-April to mid-October season.
Closer to home
Raccoon Creek State Park sits in southern Beaver County, reachable on US 30 from east or west, or on PA 18, which runs straight through the park. It has 172 modern sites and a sanitary dump station; the E and F loops open early April and close mid-October, while A through D run late May to mid-September. Its Sioux Rustic Campground stays open year-round.
Do not plan on Moraine State Park to the north. It has cabins, a backpacking shelter and organized group tenting, but DCNR states plainly that camping in the park is prohibited.
One Pittsburgh-specific use for a van: the Great Allegheny Passage runs 150 miles between Cumberland, Maryland and Pittsburgh, through the Laurel Highlands, with Ohiopyle directly on the route. A van works well as a rolling basecamp for riding sections of it rather than committing to the whole through-ride.