On Pinchot Lake, the south-shore campground puts macadam pads in the trees, with the swim beach and the boat launch a walk from camp. You hear the water from the loops. On a warm weekend the beach fills, then people drift back into the shade with wet towels.
The launch puts a boat on the lake in the morning, and the beach takes the afternoon. A lake weekend can stay inside the park.
DCNR calls the campground "one of the largest state park campgrounds in the commonwealth," and some of those sites have full hookups with sewer, water, and electric. The season runs mid-April through late October. The other first night is Codorus, on open water.
Codorus State Park and Lake Marburg
Lake Marburg is open water you can look across, with the campground on the bank and a pool in the summer. Disc golf is on the same shore. The loops stay close to the water, so the lake is the whole scene.
DCNR lists sites for RVs up to 50 feet, with electric hookups at many of them. The season runs mid-April through early November. If you need more sleeping space than a campervan, look at RVs for rent in Pennsylvania.
Choose Gifford Pinchot for the south-shore shade and the sewer hookup. Choose Codorus for the open lake, the pool, and the extra weeks at the end of the season.
Samuel S. Lewis State Park puts you on a ridge between two valleys for a look and a picnic. There is no campground on the hill.
Heritage Rail Trail to the Mason-Dixon line
The trail follows the old rail bed south from York, through the Howard Tunnel and past the restored stations at Hanover Junction and New Freedom. Glen Rock and Seven Valleys are on the same bed. It ends at a Mason-Dixon line kiosk, where Maryland's Torrey C. Brown Trail picks up.
You ride or walk it as a day from Gifford Pinchot or from Codorus. There is no camping on the trail, and Maryland's trail is a continuation of the ride, not a place to sleep.
York County notes that adjoining tracks still carry excursion trains, so check both directions at crossings. If you keep going into Maryland for the night, Baltimore picks up from there.
Gettysburg by day, Caledonia at night
Wheat fields and cannon lines take the day at Gettysburg. You park, you walk the field, and the borough of Gettysburg is where you eat, not where you sleep. Hanover and Wrightsville are on the same drive, and neither is the overnight.
The night is Caledonia State Park, a mountainside campground in Michaux State Forest split into two loops, Chinquapin Hill and Hosack Run. DCNR lists full hookups in both. Summer anniversary weekends fill those sites, so lock the Caledonia site first and rent the van second.
Caledonia's season opens around the start of trout season and runs through the close of deer season in December, later than the two lake parks. If the next night is Amish Country, start with Lancaster.