Campgrounds and RV parks near Upper Exeter, PA

Water recreation anchors most trips. Frances Slocum State Park offers hiking and mountain biking trails, a large day-use picnic area, and a lake popular for boating and fishing. At Lackawanna State Park, boating, camping, fishing, mountain biking, and swimming are the popular recreation activities, with a 198-acre lake at the center of the park. Families traveling with kids can combine a park day with a trip into Scranton for the Steamtown National Historic Site or the Electric City Trolley Museum. The Susquehanna River corridor also supports paddling, shoreline fishing, and short scenic drives through the surrounding ridges and farmland. Trails at both state parks wind through mature forest, and the day-use areas close at dusk.

The state-park camping season is tightly defined. The Lackawanna State Park campground opens the second Friday in April and closes in mid-October, and the Frances Slocum campground also runs mid-April through mid-October. Outside those windows, RV renters need to rely on private campgrounds or shift plans farther afield. Summer weekends are the pinch point. Reservations are highly recommended, especially during weekends, holidays, and the peak summer stretch from Memorial Day through Labor Day, when the campgrounds fill quickly. Walk-ins may occasionally find availability on weekdays or in the off-season, but arriving without a reservation during the summertime risks having nowhere to stay. Spring and early fall bring cooler nights, thinner crowds, and easier same-week bookings. One planning note: the campground at Lackawanna State Park is undergoing a phased shower house renovation, with portions of the campground temporarily closed while other areas remain open. DCNR is replacing outdated shower and restroom facilities with new, modern, accessible amenities, and impacted sites are blocked from reservations while work proceeds.

Expect wooded, lake-adjacent sites at the state parks and a mix of hookup levels. The modern Frances Slocum campground has electric, non-electric, walk-to, pet-friendly, and ADA accessible campsites, with potable water, restrooms, showers, an amphitheater, trash and recycling, a sanitary dump station, hiking trails, and a nearby boat launch. Lackawanna's modern campground offers forested sites with full-hookup, electric, and non-electric options, plus camping cottages and yurts, modern restrooms with warm showers, and a sanitary dump station near the campground entrance. RV renters should plan for spotty connectivity in some loops. Pets are allowed only in designated sites, alcohol is prohibited in the state parks, and stay limits apply: the maximum camping period is 14 consecutive days in the summer season and 21 consecutive days in the off-season.