Kelly Pines Campground
- Right now
- Listed not openA database flag with no reason and no date
- A night
- $15–$30Across the site types the agency prices
- Sites
- 97 on recreation.gov
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 11 notices
In the agency’s own words
Kelly Pines Campground is an equestrian campground located in the hub of the Spring Creek Horse Trail system. Keep reading
Recreation
The recreation area is the hub of the Spring Creek Horse Trail system, with 38 miles of designated, marked trails. Day users are welcome to park in the center of the loop and stage their ride from there. View the Spring Creek Horse Trail map . The campground is also popular when trout season opens in April, and anglers are welcome in the first two non-horse sites.
Facilities
The campground has seven campsites: the first two are for non-riders, four sites are single equestrian sites, and the last site is a double equestrian site. Each single site has a 4-horse tie-down shelter with a gravel base, rubber mat, and log rails to separate the horses. The double site has 2 of these tie-down shelters. All sites have a picnic table and fire ring. There is a vault toilet for people and a manure bin to dispose of horse waste, an artesian well, and a designated location along the stream to water horses. A bulletin board provides information and regulations, and a hitching rail allows for quick pit stops.
Natural Features
The location is an opening along Wolf Run, a native trout stream, surrounded by native forest including 300+ year old white pine trees.
Nearby Attractions
Enjoy the thrill of forest riding. Horse riding is permitted in many areas of the Allegheny National Forest, but in the Spring Creek area, riders must stay on designated trails. During wet conditions, riders can ride Forest roads, but no cross-country riding is allowed. The Spring Creek Horse Trail is a major nearby attraction with over 38 miles of trail, some of which is also on State Game Lands. Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (814) 927-6628.
Charges & Cancellations
Cancellations and changes must be made through Recreation.gov
What the agency tells you
Each site payment is for 1 wheeled camping unit and 2 vehicles, additional fees will be collected for additional vehicles and camping units.
Horses must be contained 'inside' tie stalls for overnight camping. No hobbles, high lines, or corrals permitted.
Campers must place all manure and wasted hay inside the manure bin.
Everything else this campground posts · 8
Campers must clear tie stalls of all manure and hay before leaving
Dogs must be leashed at all times and cleaned up after.
All campground regulations apply to Kelly Pines and are posted onsite.
In wet and rainy conditions horses cannot be exercised in mowed areas.
Horses are permitted to graze while under control of the rider with a lead rope.
Horses are not permitted in the stream or spring wetland but are permitted in the designated watering area in the stream located in front of sites 1 and 2.
Double site vehicles and equipment must be between the stump and the rocks on the hardened surface. Trail 2 goes between Sites 4 and 5 and must be kept clear at all times.
Check out time is 12:00pm. Check in time is 2pm.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 9 · 5 equestrian
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 40 ft
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed at 8 of 9 sites
- Campfires
- 8 of 9 sites
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…a picnic table and fire ring. There is a vault toilet for people and a manure bin to dispose of horse…”
Around the campground
- On the water
- Creek
- Horseback riding
- Night sky · 4th darkest of 48 in PA
- Bortle 4
- Fall color · reported yesterday, in Forest County
- Peak color
Nothing on the booking system for the next 30 nightsread 16:50 UTC
recreation.gov lists 7 of the 9 campsites the agency files here. The rest aren’t on its booking system, so a reservation won’t get you one.
Every one of the next thirty nights is in recreation.gov’s record and not one site is being offered on any of them. That’s a campground closed or not yet released for booking, not a sold-out one.
Watch for a cancellation
Full? Watch it.
One email when a night opens, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We read recreation.gov once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time a site in your window is free for the nights you asked for.
Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.
We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.
Every line of the receipt · 14
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rates for this season, $15–$30 a night, plus one $8 recreation.gov reservation fee for the booking. A weekend here means Friday and Saturday night, booked once. Optional charges (an extra vehicle, a second tent, a dump-station fee) are listed separately and aren’t in this total.
“Cancellations and changes must be made through Recreation.gov” · this campground’s own terms
Who keeps the booking fee
The agency’s own policy text says the reservation fee and the cancellation processing fee are “retained by the reservation service contractor”, and that a campground concessionaire will decline to refund them because “they did not receive these fees”. Recreation.gov is run under contract by Booz Allen Hamilton. What share of your booking fee the contractor keeps isn’t published in any federal dataset we can read, so we print no number for it. Our reporting on the contract →
How we know this receipt · 6
recreation.gov availability, read 16:50 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
9 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 7 mapped sitesAll 9 sites
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 7 of the 9 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| KELLY PINES CAMPGROUND | 001 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 138 ft | 64 ft | $15 |
| KELLY PINES CAMPGROUND | 002 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 128 ft | 95 ft | $15 |
| KELLY PINES CAMPGROUND | 003 | equestrian nonelectric | 40 ft | 115 ft | 88 ft | $15–$30 |
| KELLY PINES CAMPGROUND | 004 | equestrian nonelectric | 40 ft | 74 ft | 65 ft | $15–$30 |
| KELLY PINES CAMPGROUND | 005 | equestrian nonelectric | 40 ft | 74 ft | 138 ft | $15–$30 |
| KELLY PINES CAMPGROUND | 006 | equestrian nonelectric | 40 ft | 39 ft | 197 ft | $15–$30 |
| KELLY PINES CAMPGROUND | 007 | equestrian nonelectric | 40 ft | 39 ft | 187 ft | $15–$30 |
| S&P | Double Equestrian Nonelectric | type not stated | ||||
| S&P | S&P Standard Nonelectric/Equestrian | type not stated |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Loleta RecreationAllegheny National Forest · 6.9 mi
Minister Creek Campground and TrailheadAllegheny National Forest · 12 mi
Kellettville Recreation Area (PA)13 mi
Twin Lakes (PA)Allegheny National Forest · 16 mi
Farnsworth CabinAllegheny National Forest · 18 mi
Hearts Content Recreation AreaAllegheny National Forest · 19 miFrom Marienville, take FS 130 to FR 131 N in Lamonville (turn left at the 4-way intersection). From Kane or Ridgeway, take State Route 66 to FR 124 (Duhring Road) at Pigeon. Take FR 131 to the right where the road Y's just before crossing Spring Creek. Follow FR 131 to Kelly Pines. Note that vehicles above 40 ft. in length are encouraged to view the location prior to making reservations. There is a sharp turn and bridge to cross that longer vehicles can have difficulty maneuvering.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Marienville, PA
Typical weather
Typical October night 38°F, day 62°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 16°F, below freezing. Bring a bag rated colder than that, and expect ice in the water bottle.
Daily high and lowDays with 0.10 in or more
A normal is the 1991-2020 average for the month, not a forecast: about half of all Julys are colder than the July line. The seven-day forecast above answers the other question.
The land, and who answers for it
what threatens it · who answers for it
What threatens this place
You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.
Who answers for this land
Kelly Pines Campground is in Pennsylvania’s 15th congressional district. Its representative, Glenn Thompson (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →