Are there any free camping sites or nearly free camping sites in Northern,NJ or North Eastern, PA?

Question

Preferably near a river or large lake.

Answer 1

I can't say for certain what is available in North Jersey, but my guess is no. You might get lucky with a trail camp along the Appalachian Trail, but aside from that almost everything I know of is a fee site.

As for Eastern PA. Pretty much the same deal as NJ. Private campgrounds all charge a fee. All of the campgrounds along the Delaware River in PA, NY, and NJ all charge (Kittatiny, Landers, etc.) Camping is not free in the Delaware Water Gap NRA, and all of the Pocono State parks charge a nominal fee for camping. Camping is not allowed on state game lands, and free camping may be available by permit in certain PA state forests. You'd have to check by state forest.

http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/forestry Free camping is usually only available to backpackers along the Appalachian Trail or some of the smaller hiking trail loops. Look on the KTA website for info on free backpacking campsites. http://www.kta-hike.org/

The largest lakes in Eastern PA are all either surrounded by private land (like Lake Wallenpaupack and Harvey's Lake) or are on state park lands (like Hickory Run or Beltzville.)

Answer 2

In Mahwah NJ its like $5. Small lake there only for fishing.

Its called the Ramapo Reservation and the # is

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