# Lake In Wood Campground



## clarkely (Sep 15, 2008)

Lake in Wood Campground - Navron, Pa
We camped with 5 Families in 5 different sites
Pros:
This campground is one of the Cleanest nicest Campgrounds I have ever been to, May be only # 2 to Ft Wilderness. Great Lake (stocked), Beautiful sites spread out nicely, free wi-fi, paved roads (some a little tight with a big trailer, great Store, Cafe, Mini golf, etc.....

Cons:
We usually feel like less of a "guest" then we were made to feel here. I had been here 5 years ago and remembered they were a "Tightly run ship", which is good.........however we had incidences that were not handled very politely, which as an individual thing all would have been fine, but after 3 of them well they were not very politely conveyed which gave a little of a black eye. 
1. When we pulled up the attendant barked at me "why did you pull to wrong gate - you have been here before", I replied "yeah 5 years ago - sorry - maybe i have a familiar face".
2. Our Girls used sidewalk chalk to do a large Hopscotch - 300 spaces long - we thought it was creative fitness - Fella (I believe to be the owner) stopped by and told me "no sidewalk chalk on asphalt", i said "sorry would you like me to hose it off", he said "no"; i asked "why it was a big deal", he replied "cause it looks like Crap", i said "okay" and turned and walked away.
3. Generally in early preseason or late season campgrounds are liberal with check out as no one is coming in, and we aren't using any services to cost them anything......... as such we generally spend money if they let you stay to make up for it... we tried to take 15 kids mini golfing 5 minutes after "checkout" we were told we couldn't as "we signed a contract to be off the premises by 2:00", we said no one is here, it is empty, "we were going to play minigolf and then treat kids in your cafe' and spend some money", we were told we could pay a 25.00 late stay fee per site to play minigolf "we said really? your indoor pool isn't even open... we said have a nice day, we will leave and spend our money elsewhere."

We were not charged (unless they did to my CC) to stay late....

Overall a Great Campground, Staff just needs to Learn how to be a little more polished in their dealings with Customers.

We would go back again, but will need a year or more to forget about the Cons.


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## go6car (Jan 19, 2004)

You know, you're not the first person to experience something like this. Seems very hit or miss depending on the day. I remember reading similar things over the years in a few forums. I wasn't sure I even wanted to go because of that, but we did, and I guess we lucked out and did not have any issues when we were there. I think people keep coming back simply because it's so nice.

I find it really hard to believe that their norm is the "out-of-hand" crowd, which would at least help explain the rule policing. I would think their price-point alone would filter out most of the riff-raff, so it's hard to tell just why they feel the need to be so strict when it doesn't really seem warranted.

Sorry you had to deal with that! We go to these types of places to get away from that kind of stuff! I really hope they don't get carried away with this behavior because if word spreads, they won't get near the repeat business they could with such nice facilities.


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## clarkely (Sep 15, 2008)

Don't get me wrong - we had a fabulous weekend and the place is beautiful........ and the attitude of the lady when we got there ... i simply blew it off....... even the sidewalk chalk "looking like crap" comment, i could understand the place is beautiful, but it could have been said nicer.......

The 2:05pm you can't spend 50.00 to play mini golf and snacks unless you pay another 25.00 to stay............. when the place is empty, the indoor pool isnt open (1/2 the "amenities available") and its 58.00/ night.....and then being told "you signed a contract to be off the premises", well it made the other two things cumulatively give a bad taste.......

The place is Beautiful........


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## CamperAndy (Aug 26, 2004)

At $58.00 a night I guess I would be riff raff as I would never spend that to camp.

I agree items one and two would just be an annoyance had it not been for number 3. Do you think it would have been different had you asked in advance about staying late to play? I get the impression you assumed it would be okay.


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## go6car (Jan 19, 2004)

clarkely said:


> Don't get me wrong - we had a fabulous weekend and the place is beautiful........ and the attitude of the lady when we got there ... i simply blew it off....... even the sidewalk chalk "looking like crap" comment, i could understand the place is beautiful, but it could have been said nicer.......
> 
> The 2:05pm you can't spend 50.00 to play mini golf and snacks unless you pay another 25.00 to stay............. when the place is empty, the indoor pool isnt open (1/2 the "amenities available") and its 58.00/ night.....and then being told "you signed a contract to be off the premises", well it made the other two things cumulatively give a bad taste.......
> 
> The place is Beautiful........


I totally get it! (I will likely go back as well). Glad you didn't let it spoil the fun.


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## go6car (Jan 19, 2004)

[quote name='CamperAndy' date='12 April 2011 - 07:13 AM' timestamp='1302610383' post='406552']
At $58.00 a night I guess I would be riff raff as I would never spend that to camp.

I meant the riff raff comment at the crowd only looking for a cheap place to drink in the woods without regard for the neighbors kind of thing. Come to think of it, we do get some of those even at the pricy resort campgrounds! LOL!

It's a shame as the first and only time we've been in a national park, the ranger said that they finally had to impose a no alcohol policy due to all the people taking advantage and making the park a party-at-all-cost atmosphere. I guess it's more about consideration in general. With such a tight ship, I wouldn't think Lake in Wood would have attracted that crowd in the first place, but who knows.

I'll just make sure that we don't draw pictures or hopscotch boards on the roadways!


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## rdvholtwood (Sep 18, 2008)

Over the past few years, we have been camping at Oak Creek which is close to Lake in Wood. Both of these campgrounds are within close proximity to Maple Grove Raceway which, depending on the weekend, draws a lot of racing fans to the area. At one time while camping at Oak Creek during one of these weekends we heard lots of loud partying noise coming from somewhere in the campground. This went on pretty much all night and I am sure whoever was camped next to these people didn't appreciate it. I am sure that being close to the raceway does present a problem for these owners and I am sure that they had there fair share of dealing with these people.

Its been many years that I've camped at Lake in Wood, and from what I remember, we really didn't have any issues. Recently, we had contacted the owners regarding camping there and didn't get the impression of them being rude. In fact, they where trying to accommodate us the best they could.

Unfortunately, the few that do create problems when camping make it bad for the rest of us. Since this campground is close to the raceway, they pretty much adopted the policies they have and probably are unwilling to diverge from them - even though we may not agree.

Sorry you had a bad experience. You may want to try Oak Creek for your next trip.

Rick


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## mikenkristipa (May 11, 2008)

I agree with Rick, Maple Grove definitly has an influence on both Oak Creek and LIW's rules. My parents have a seasonal site at Oak Creek and after speaking to the owners of this CG, they would rather not have any of the "Race" crowd at their CG. I stayed at Oak Creek over the weekend of the National event at Maple Grove for three years and had very few problems, however, i did come across some guy stumbling into my site on evening. Little did he know that we were one site over and saw him. His buddy stayed out at the road and he stumbled into the site and grabbed a bottle of Black Streak remover off my table. My friend immediatly ran over to my site and confronted him about "What he was doing?" His buddy told him to give it back and they moved along. This being 2am (Yes we are night owls) I didn't call down to Debbie (the owner). We stopped at the Store the next morning before we went to the track and I told Debbie about the two guys and she yelled at me for not contacting her immediately. Apparently, they had some vandals mess up a bathroom up by our site sometime over night. Lesson learned, it's never too late to call the owner for a disturbance.

It's unfortunate that the few ruin it for the majority. We always have a good time at either campground and very seldom have any issues.

They actually moved the National event to October over the past few years which suited the owners of Oak creek well because they are usually sold out from year to year with Halloween campers.


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## clarkely (Sep 15, 2008)

CamperAndy said:


> At $58.00 a night I guess I would be riff raff as I would never spend that to camp.
> 
> I agree items one and two would just be an annoyance had it not been for number 3. Do you think it would have been different had you asked in advance about staying late to play? I get the impression you assumed it would be okay.


one of us had asked if late stay charges were different since the campground was empty, and we were told they only have one fee 25.00. We didnt think they would charge us and i don't believe they did or will. Which even makes less sense........ we didnt pull out till close to 4:00 anyhow........... they could have made 45.00+ in mini golf as there is no cost for them there, and whatever their profit would be on snacks for 18-20 people (kids and adults)

Is what it is - and different strokes for different folks, that's what makes the world go around.

40.00 and up a night is very common for us east coast campers. plus we are a family of 6 - most places charge more for us


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## CamperAndy (Aug 26, 2004)

We have very few places that charge by the person or animal out in this part of the country. I would most likely get use to it if they did but I am thankful that we do not have to deal with that as much as you guys back east.


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## rdvholtwood (Sep 18, 2008)

Lancaster County, as well as, some of the surrounding areas seem to be somewhat expensive due to being a high tourist area. As such, it does not surprise me that they run a "tight ship" to treat everyone the same.

There are a lot of PA State parks in and around the area that are also nice and a lot less expensive. The only set back with the state parks is that most are just electric only.


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## Just Add Dirt (May 5, 2009)

go6car said:


> I would think their price-point alone would filter out most of the riff-raff,


I resemble that remark







...can't filter out this "riff-raff" with their pricey campground..









Clarkely you outta call up the CG today just to make sure the rain washed away the chalk..tell them how concerned you were after they got so upset..

coulda been worse; we coulda given the kids cans of spray paint instead of sidewalk chalk...







......... thats if we was real ******* riff-raff..


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