We booked two nights at Ringing Rocks Family Campground in Upper Bladk Eddy, Pa., so we could explore the unique geologic boulder field at Ringing Rocks County Park. In this natural wonder, many of the rocks will make different pitches and tones when you strike them with a hammer (or other metal object). It’s a great spot to scope out your family’s potential as a bona fide “rock” band.
Campground: Getting to the campground is not the easiest: Our GPS brought us in from the small town of Upper Black Eddy, which is to the east on the Delaware River just across from New Jersey. If your GPS tells you to go this way, I suggest you find another way! The road was steep, narrow, and twisty. Approaching from the west is not much easier: Marienstein Road, which is really the only access road from the west, is also narrow and the berms drop off on both sides. It would be tight if two campers (or two large tow vehicles for that matter) tried to pass on this road. Limbs were not trimmed back on the road (which is where we think we lost a rain gutter on the camper) and although we saw some big rigs at the campground, I am really not sure how they got them there.
Ringing Rocks Family Campground is a private campground that has a large number of permanent sites. Many of the temporary sites are somewhat separated from the permanent sites, set off to one side. All of the sites had water, electric, and cable but there were no sewer hook-ups. The entire campground, except the playground area, is gravel. There were some pretty tight turns to navigate the camper through when it was time to leave.
The campground provides a number of planned activities on the weekends. The weekend we were there they had a pool party. The DJ kept the music cranking until around 10:15-10:30, and since our site was so close to the pavilion area, we got to hear it all from our bed while we were watching a movie. 🙂 The campground had a rule that “unsupervised children under 18 must return to their campsites when the camp store closes” at 9 p.m. But at about 11 p.m. when I let the dogs out, there were still a dozen teens hanging out around the playground area. Although the campground rules also stated that alcoholic beverages are supposed to be restricted to one’s campsite, we saw several people walking around and at the pool with drinks.
Bathrooms: There are two sets of shower houses in the main camp store building. The men and women’s bathrooms toward the front of the building were tiled and finished. The second bathroom area was concrete and much more spartan.
Amenities: The in-ground pool was relatively new and very nice, plus there was also a kiddo pool with mushroom fountain. Other amenities included a stocked camp store, game room, and laundry (but the machines were not in great shape), shuffleboard, volleyball court, basketball court, and horseshoe pits. There is supposed to be Wi-Fi but we could not get it to work while we were there.
Touring: The main reason for our stay was to visit the nearby (3 miles away) Ringing Rocks County Park. This small park is definitely worth a stop if you are in the area or passing through, but we would not make it the focus of a dedicated trip or stop. Be sure to bring a few hammers as those worked the best for creating the “ringing rocks” effect.
A caution to those who have trouble walking or climbing: The boulder field is not easily accessible to young children, the elderly, or anyone who would have a difficult time climbing over the boulders. In order to reach the rocks that make ringing sounds, you have to climb out into the boulder field. There are NO paths or easy ways into the field. It takes scrambling, climbing, and sliding. We had the kiddos wear their bike helmets as a safety precaution, and even I almost twisted an ankle a time or two.
In addition to pictures I have also included a few short videos of the “ringing rocks”:
Dates of stay: July 8-10, 2016
Cost: $44.00 per night
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