Outflow Recreation Area (PA)
- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
- A night
- $26–$46Across the site types the agency prices
- Sites
- 26All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 13 notices
In the agency’s own words
Half of Forest County, where Tionesta Lake is located, is preserved as public lands. The region is known as one of Pennsylvania's best big game regions and is home to a remarkable variety of wildlife. Campers come to the Outflow Recreation Area Campground to enjoy the forested area along Tionesta Creek. The area is ideal for fishing, hunting as well as scenic hiking. Tionesta is a culturally rich region with a long history. The Seneca Indian tribe named this area "where the water separates the land." Nearly a century ago, narrow gauge railways dotted the surrounding countryside, hauling out virgin timber from the hillsides. Keep reading
Recreation
In-season hunting, fishing, boating, hiking and water skiing, are all available from Tionesta. Visitors interested in wildlife viewing are likely to spot white-tailed deer, porcupine, wild turkey, osprey and opossum.
Facilities
Each campsite has picnic table and fire ring *Available starting Memorial Day Weekend - Water, flush toilets, and showers. dump station located nearby* To Labor Day Weekend Natural Features Tionesta Lake winds its way through the rugged hills of northwestern Pennsylvania. Surrounding public areas include the Allegheny National Forest, Cooks Forest State Park, Cornplanter and Clear Creek State Forests, the state fish hatchery and state game lands.
Nearby Attractions
Tionesta Creek Road, which winds through the Tionesta Creek valley upstream of the dam, is an excellent scenic drive with spectacular views. The nearby Allegheny National Forest also makes a great day trip.
What the agency tells you
If you are arriving without a campground reservation, you must pay for camping before you park.
Visit the Tionesta Recreation Area booth, Recreation.gov or call 1-877-444-6777 to determine if campsites are open and to pay for open sites. Preferred method of payments at the Tionesta Recreation Area booth will be credit/debit card or check.
If you have reserved a campsite and wish to change campsites upon arrival, you must call Recreation.gov at 1-877-444-6777.
Everything else this campground posts · 10
For the Tionesta Lake office call: (814) 755-3512
For the Tionesta Recreation Area: (814) 755-3592
Parking on the grass is prohibited.
Two vehicles maximum per campsite.
No alcoholic beverages.
There is a limit of 1 wheeled camper and 1 tent per campsite, or 2 tents per campsite.
Don't Move Firewood: Don't Move Firewood: Protect your forests from tree-killing pests by buying your firewood locally and burning it on-site. Visit Dontmovefirewood.org for further information.
Pennsylvania state law requires children under 13 to wear a personal flotation device; all people on boats less than 16 feet in length and all canoes and kayaks must also wear a PFD Alcoholic beverages are prohibited If you have any questions about the rules and regulations for the Tionesta Recreation Area please call the Ranger Station, 814-755-3512
Camping at one or more campsites at any one water resource project for a period longer than 14 days during any 30-consecutive-day period is prohibited without the written permission of the District Commander.
Check out time will be 12 p.m. Check in time will be 2 p.m.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 26 · 16 tent-only
- Hookups
- 5 electric, 6 water
- Longest rig
- 99 ft
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
Facilities
- Toilets
- Flush Toilets
- “…starting Memorial Day Weekend - Water, flush toilets, and showers. dump station located nearby* To Labor…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- WATER (SEASONAL) on 6 of 27 campsite records
- Dump station
- Yes
- Stay limit
- 14 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, Creek
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Picnicking
- Scenic drives
- Wilderness access
- Night sky · 24th darkest of 48 in PA
- Bortle 4
- Fall color · reported 8 days ago, in Forest County
- Near peak
No reading yet, book on recreation.gov
Every site here is reservable, and the record lists none held back for anyone who drives up.
No availability snapshot inside the last 36 hours, so this page draws nothing rather than ageing a reading into fiction.
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.
Tell me when the season opens
Watch for the season to open
One email when the season goes on sale, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We check once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time the agency has that season on sale.
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 · 16
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rates for this season, $26–$46 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.
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 · 5
rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
27 records · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 26 mapped sitesAll 27 records
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 25 of the 27 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
Measured shade is NLCD Tree Canopy Cover 2024 (USDA Forest Service / MRLC) read at the site’s own coordinate, 27% canopy or more, and only for the sites the agency gave no Shade value. It never changes the agency’s own shaded count beside it.
| 1 | 201 | standard nonelectric | 52 ft | 146 ftTionesta Creek | $26 | |||
| 1 | 202 | standard nonelectric | 42 ft | 149 ftTionesta Creek | $26 | |||
| 1 | 203 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 163 ft | $26 | |||
| 1 | 204 | tent only nonelectric | 40 ft | 183 ft | $26 | |||
| 1 | 205 | tent only nonelectric | 42 ft | 210 ft | $26 | |||
| 1 | 206 | tent only nonelectric | 53 ft | 236 ft | $26 | |||
| 1 | 207 | tent only nonelectric | 61 ft | 251 ft | $26 | |||
| 1 | 208 | standard electric | 82 ft | 30/50/20 amp | 52 ft | 200 ft | $46 | |
| 1 | 209 | standard electric | 99 ft | 20/30/50 amp | 41 ft | 215 ft | $46 | |
| 1 | 210 | standard electric | 99 ft | 20/30/50 amp | 41 ft | 252 ft | $46 | |
| 1 | 211 | standard electric | 70 ft | 20/30/50 amp | 40 ft | 275 ft | $46 | |
| 1 | 212 | standard electric | 80 ft | 20/30/50 amp | 40 ft | 302 ft | $46 | |
| 1 | CAMPHOST | type not stated | 20/30/50 amp | 366 ft | ||||
| 2 | 213 | standard nonelectric | 70 ft | 520 ft | $26 | |||
| 2 | 214 | tent only nonelectric | 44 ft | 498 ftTionesta Creek | $26 | |||
| 2 | 215 | tent only nonelectric | 49 ft | 584 ft | $26 | |||
| 2 | 216 | tent only nonelectric | 44 ft | 539 ftTionesta Creek | $26 | |||
| 2 | 217 | tent only nonelectric | 43 ft | 620 ft | $26 | |||
| 2 | 218 | tent only nonelectric | 47 ft | 595 ftTionesta Creek | $26 | |||
| 2 | 219 | tent only nonelectric | 39 ft | 650 ft | $26 | |||
| 2 | 220 | tent only nonelectric | 39 ft | 641 ft | $26 | |||
| 2 | 221 | tent only nonelectric | 33 ft | 766 ft | $26 | |||
| 2 | 222 | tent only nonelectric | 33 ft | 799 ft | $26 | |||
| 2 | 223 | tent only nonelectric | 40 ft | 816 ft | $26 | |||
| 2 | 224 | tent only nonelectric | 91 ft | 793 ft | $26 | |||
| 2 | 225 | tent only nonelectric | 91 ft | 798 ft | $26 | |||
| OUTFLOW RECREATION AREA (PA) | Outflow Shelter | day use | 15 amp | yes | 145 ft | 151 ftTionesta Creek |
The agency files 1 more record here that isn’t a site for the night. It files it as day use. It’s in the table above, marked for what it is, and it isn’t counted as a site.
25 of 27 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Tionesta Rec. Area Campground0.4 mi
Kellettville Recreation Area (PA)11 mi
Hearts Content Recreation AreaAllegheny National Forest · 18 mi
Minister Creek Campground and TrailheadAllegheny National Forest · 18 mi
Loleta RecreationAllegheny National Forest · 20 mi
Farnsworth CabinAllegheny National Forest · 21 miFrom Pittsburgh take I-79 North. Merge onto I-80 East exit 116a toward Clarion for 9.8 miles. Take the PA-8 exits 29 toward Barkeyville. Turn Left onto Pa-8/State Route 8 for 16.4 miles. Turn right on US-62 and follow US-62 for 34 miles. Turn right onto 36 South in to Tionesta. Turn right at the stop sign and continue 36 south for 2.0 miles and South Elm Street 1.5 miles into the Outflow Recreation Area.
From Warren travel US-62 South for 30 miles take left onto South Elm Street 1.5 miles into the Outflow Recreation Area.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Tionesta, PA
Typical weather
Typical October night 42°F, day 63°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical February night 19°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
who answers for it
Who answers for this land
Outflow Recreation Area (PA) 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 →