Camp Taylor Campground — Hotel in Knowlton Township

I would like to start off by saying Camp Taylor is a wonderful location close to the Delaware Water Gap with easy access to Mount Tammany and the Appalachian Trail. The wolf preserve is neat for those who have not seen it before. While nature is beautiful, management is something to be desired. Before I explain my situation, I would like to preview the fact that the Knowlton Township in general has very weak cell reception. Coordinating with large groups of people via cell will be difficult or impossible after arrival. We had a group of 10 people reserved for 3 sites all prepaid in full and reserved a month in advance. While the website says no arrivals after 9 PM, there is zero flexibility on this rule from management. Of the 10 people on this ground, 8 arrived before 6 PM and two people were running late. Here is a series of events that occurred: 8:30 PM - Mr. Taylor calls me and leaves a message saying that after 9 PM there is no check-in. Obviously having little or no signal, I missed this call. 8:45 PM – He pulls up to our campsite at 8:40 PM and informs me of the same message. I tried to call the other party and try to relay the same message. 9:45 PM – Not receiving my messages, my friends arrived at the site and a series of bizarre dramatics unfold. Mr. Taylor (runs?) the .25 miles from his office to our campsite behind our friends’ cars. He then panting and wailing at the top of his lung’s sprints to my friends’ car and yells “DON’T EVEN THINK ABOUT GETTING OUT OF THE CAR, GET OUT OF MY CAMPGROUND IMMEDIATELY OR I WILL CALL STATE POLICE TO EVICT EVERYONE IN THE RESERVATION”. He then proceeds to chastise us for driving through the campsite and waking everyone. I would like to note - I don’t think anyone has talked to me this way my entire life besides my drill instructor in basic when I was 18 years old. The emotional outrage displayed by Mr. Taylor’s lack of candor or understanding, my friends immediately left. His outrage and/or lack of empathy was extra alarming because they also had a young infant in the car. Thankfully, both of my friends who are social workers, were prepared to handle this emotionally disturbed person. I understand this is private property and Mr. Taylor is entitled to enforce the rules with an iron fist as he pleases. However, there is a loss of an element of customer service, where this is a financial transaction of hospitality. This entire situation could have been handled better, by politely telling them to please leave and come back tomorrow – after all this is customer service. The insult to injury was Mr. Taylors partner yelling “go back to where you came from” at the gate as our friends left. Having an ethnic name and being a person of color can only lead me to interpret that comment as being racist. I understand being upset about the breach of the kingdom’s laws, but extra comments were completely unnecessary. To the people searching for private campgrounds – Camp Taylor is a fine location to camp as long as you 100% comply with the iron fist of Mr. Taylor. Any deviance will be struck down with emotional outrage, threats of eviction via state police and being put on a ban list. Ironically if Mr. Taylor just explained why he feels so strongly about certain rules, and built some rapport with his customers, all this could have been avoided with a friendly...

We drove 2-3 hours here with very optimistic expectations as a birthday present. Considering you get to camp on site with wolves, it sounded like an extraordinary experience.

The biggest flaws were how rude the staff were and how expensive the site was. The way we were treated, really hindered our experience as a whole during our mini vacation. We spent 320$ for 2 nights and ended up leaving a day early. Quiet hours are strictly enforced between 11pm- 9am. We were spoken to around 11:17 about being too loud which is understandable because we lost track of time and we quieted down right after to respect the rule. It was also terrifying because we were a group of young women and it was a large man who snuck up behind us in the dark to tell us to quiet down which was quiet terrifying and a warning from farther w away should have been installed. The next morning they had drilling and construction happening right above our heads at the cabin directly at the site next to us. This happened about 7:30 AM and we were not informed that there for be construction NOR did they respect the quiet hours that they expected us to respect. Non of our group had a proper sleep due to the disturbance and I don’t understand why they did not respect the rules and allow people are are paying hundreds of dollars for a vacation to sleep.

Then, the next morning another guest who came to check in was told that we were slightly noisy which again, I understand if it was slightly after 11 but we simmered down. However, to then talk inappropriately to a guest coming for a vacation about our group made us feel very targeted, violated and scared. It was quite obvious that because we were a group of young women (30s) they were discriminating against our age.

When considering the level of money, planning, and travel we chose in coming to your campground to make a special birthday memory, we did not receive the same respect that you expected from us. We left a day early because of how uncomfortable it felt and upon trying to express our concerns, we were ignored and the only thing said was we did not separate our trash from our recycling. Which FINE there was a rule set in place for that. But we were trying to express our concern about an issue reflecting the way we were being treated and you belittled us and told us to pick the trash apart in the rain and separate it. I had no problem doing so but feeling so unheard, talked about to new guests, and not respected was uncalled for. We all work very hard for our time and money as adults, which you did not treat us as such, and this was a vacation.

The only plus about this camp site was being able to walk to the pen and see the wolves walking around. Otherwise, very very overpriced, especially to have to deal with the level of discomfort, disrespect, and belittling as we have experienced. This truly made for an awful birthday experience and I wish we had spent our money elsewhere. One word of advice sure take a tour here and support the wolves! But avoid the campground heavily!!! There is far nicer, bigger, more respectful places in the area that actually care about you as a person and someone who is paying to vacation rather than an intruder.

Stay...

WORST CAMP EXPERIENCE EVER! I never leave negative reviews but felt the need to write one for this campsite as a warning for any new customers considering this place. Unless you want to be around aggressive unfriendly management and ruin your trip then avoid this place. Unfortunately, almost all the negative reviews seem to be true.

The owner and most of the staff are rude, unfriendly, and make you feel uninvited. I understand the need to keep certain rules in place and enforcing them but you can approach it in a polite manner and make your customer feel welcome when they first arrive to check in. The customer service here was nonexistent.

I work in customer service and deal with all types of customers. The way they acted is unacceptable at my job. We always try to approach each customer in a friendly manner and treat them with respect no matter the situation.

Here’s a little summary of my experience: We arrived Friday night before 9pm to make sure we were all able to check-in on time as we were told we cannot arrive after 9 or you will not be able to enter. No exceptions so you have to account for possible traffic/delays. This was also said in a rude tone when my friend called to confirm with them so I was anxious about the stay but thought maybe it would be different in person.

We didn’t know that you can’t have anyone stop by to drop additional stuff you may have forgotten. Beware, you’ll be threatened with a call to state troopers to have you arrested and get the cars towed.

We listened to their rules and followed what was requested of us even with separating the trash from the recycling. The only thing we didn’t mention was that we had a friend bring us supplies because we didn’t bring enough for the full time we’d be there and no one thought it was a big deal. We told him to stay to eat with us since we were cooking food already. We didn’t have him register at the desk since he wasn’t going to stay over. We could have asked if it was okay for him to stay for awhile to eat with us so I understand them having to come over but the way he did it was unnecessary. Very unprofessional. Someone could have had a friendly conversation or given a warning about that being unacceptable on property.

As soon as the owner said “you’re stealing from me,” we knew this was a place we would never return to or pay for ever again. There was a deposit already and we were asked to pay the balance when we arrived… but we’re stealing because someone came by to bring us more supplies!? The owner acted like a child when he approached us with his tantrum. You would think he was scolding his kids for not listening.

Even if we didn’t have the person come by to bring stuff we forgot. We already still didn’t have a good experience there and felt unwelcome.

It’s a shame that we were treated this way as the site was only a little over an hr drive so that’s the reason we booked it in the first place and to try a...