Camping · Straddles the county line
Weiser State Forest — Port Clinton Tract
- Type
- State forest (roadside & primitive camping)
- Where
- Port Clinton Tract, off PA 61 north of Hamburg (near Port Clinton, Schuylkill County)
- Township(s)
- near Port Clinton (sites lie near the Schuylkill/Berks boundary)
- Managed by
- PA DCNR, Bureau of Forestry — Weiser State Forest District
- Coordinates
- 40.59526, -76.01433 · Open in Maps
Per-site latitude/longitude from the official PA State Parks reservation system (Port Clinton Tract campsite PC002) - Last verified
- 2026-06-18
Weiser State Forest spans several tracts across Schuylkill and its neighboring counties. The part that serves Schuylkill County is the Port Clinton Tract near Port Clinton — five remote, permit-required campsites and forest-wide primitive backpacking, with no facilities and dark skies.
Camping in the Port Clinton Tract
The tract has five designated motorized/roadside campsites — each just a parking pad, picnic table, and fire ring, with no water, restrooms, or electric — plus primitive backpack camping allowed throughout the surrounding forest under standard DCNR rules. The Appalachian Trail and forest trails run nearby. State-forest roads here are not plowed in winter, so cold-season vehicle access isn’t guaranteed.
Permits and fees, and the spring wildfire-season campfire restrictions, change year to year — reserve through Pennsylvania State Parks and confirm the current rules with the Weiser State Forest district office rather than relying on a fixed figure here.
A note on the forest’s other tracts
Weiser is a multi-county forest. Its marked, shared-use trail system is currently on the Haldeman and Greenland tracts in northern Dauphin County, and its Roaring Creek hunting tract lies in Columbia/Northumberland counties adjoining State Game Land 329 — so those uses are outside Schuylkill County even though they belong to the same forest.
Access & parking
- Getting there
- Remote sites along dirt/gravel state-forest roads off PA 61, described by DCNR as "just north of Hamburg." State-forest roads are not winter-maintained.
- Parking
- Each designated motorized site has a parking pad; roadside hike-in sites have nearby designated parking with a short walk in.
- Accessibility
- No developed or accessible facilities — these are primitive sites.
Sources
- PA DCNR — Weiser State Forest, Camping
Source type: government - PA DCNR — State-forest overnight prices & policies
Source type: government
Frequently asked
- Do you need a permit to camp in the Port Clinton Tract?
- Yes. The five motorized/roadside sites require a reservation and permit (bookable through Pennsylvania State Parks / ReserveAmerica), and forest-wide primitive backpack camping is allowed under DCNR rules. Fees and the campfire-restriction calendar change — confirm the current details with the Weiser State Forest district office before you go.