Camp Charles Campgrounds — Hotel in Upper Mount Bethel Township

This is unlike any place I've ever been, and not in a good way. We stayed over Labor Day weekend. Wanted to pick my son up from college for the weekend and hotel rates were through the roof. Decided to camp as we were able to get 3 nights for half the going rate of a hotel room for 1 night. This campground had the best (and I use that term lightly) rating in the area. Payed for the first night but couldn't come until the following day and I was willing to eat that 40 bucks. Per the campground rules, you had to book 3 days for the holiday weekend, but our neighboring campers were only booked for 1 night because their other family members (who were staying in a camper) were regulars and they were on a pay as you go schedule. Got to the campground the next day and set up. The pool they boast isn't much bigger than a backyard swimming pool. The entire campground uses it all at once, because there's nothing else to do. Then, night happens! Oh my goodness!! My 18 year old son and his girlfriend were stopped on their way back from the bathroom and asked by another camper if they knew where the "Big A Meeting" was being held. Awkward! It's supposed to get quiet at 10pm. The campground rules are NOT enforced, at all. By 3 am, all the dogs got tired of barking, and my polite request to the neighbors to shut off their lights and music allowed for enough peace to try and sleep, We got up with the sun, packed up our site and were gone by 8 am. Drove an hour and a half away to go to Knoebels and ended up spending the night in a hotel near there. I couldn't imagine spending another entire day and night at this place. The general store is a joke. JOKE!!! The campground makes you buy their firewood, you're not allowed to bring your own, and then they sell you wet crap that doesn't burn! Makes cooking over a fire impossible. This place isn't well suited for young adults with kids, older adults with grand kids, middle aged parents with kids...really, anyone! God forbid you drive 7 mph instead of the posted 5 mph, you get the old biddies sitting on the front deck with a cigarette hanging from her mouth, yelling at you to slow down! If you like loud campgrounds where the band plays 70's and 80's rock in the rec hall and everyone sits in a chair with their coolers of beer, watching until they're drunk enough to get up and dance, then this is the place for you! Oh, and the bathrooms/showers, just disgusting. You can put a pretty bow on a piece of poop, but its still going to be poop. Same goes for the shower curtains in this place. A descent curtain doesn't excuse the condition of the rest of the bathroom. Nothing like taking a shower and feeling like you need to take another shower, somewhere else, to be clean! Just stay away from this place. BTW, I had to pick a star to get the review published, but I tried to leave...

Just got back from our family camping trip. Stayed for 2 nights. Friday-Saturday, & Sunday morning we left. We enjoyed the general stay but it’s very unfortunate that the majority of my family members felt uncomfortable because of the people constantly staring at us because of our ethnicity/race. It is indefinite that the owners and people who are regulars/live in the site are very patriotic and supporters of a specific party. Hence me saying that the people in the community were constantly staring at us and what we did.... unfortunate that it had to come to those terms. We meant no harm to begin with but to enjoy a camping trip just like we do every year.

Cons: the owner Doug was upset at us for collecting wood from the forest for our fire and insisted that we had to buy the wood they provided and not do that. We were never told of such rule, I would have appreciated if they told us at check in. And I find it outrageous that we couldn’t even use the sticks from the forest, when in fact it’s nature...Yet the wood provided by them wasn’t even that good! The community watching our every move and staring at us!!!!!!!!!!!! Loud people & getting drunk regularly. Nothing to do, no fishes in the pond. The store BARELY has anything but random things. Need to stock up on inventory big time. Very old school to the max.

Pros: the pool was decent (deepest level 9ft) the bathrooms/showers were decent; not good, small basketball court & playground. Arcade room is also decent, legit. Some activities for kids (tie dye on Saturday morning, bingo on a Saturday afternoon)

Overall, I would not recommend unless you are about that and don’t mind that. Very much rate this camp on a scale of 1-10 a 3. Would never come again. I appreciate Pams hospitality though.

Posted photos showing the majority of the campground. I hope people can see how it really looks with updated images !!! They need to update...

I purchased an RV back in late-summer 2019. My first trip with it was to Camp Charles over Labor Day Weekend. The campground itself is pretty nice. Now, as I mentioned, it was Labor Day Weekend. I booked quite late (Was waiting to actually have the RV first) and was given a spot on the grass, on a slope, under a tree, between two full time residents. This was a VERY loud area of the campground during that weekend. Music on full, doors to the vehicles open. You could hear the music throughout the whole campground and I was directly across from the main source of the noise. This was a bit obnoxious, but not the worst. The worst part, was the verbal arguments that ensued as the night wore on. One of my dogs had diarrhea so I was taking her out every hour overnight. From quiet hours until about 4am this one couple was continually arguing. I couldn't hear it from inside my RV with the AC on, so it wasn't a big deal, but just something to consider if you camp without an AC unit.

My friends who also brought their RV's did have a bad encounter (actually several) with one inebriated camper. This guy harassed my buddy and his wife both next to their RV and at the DJ party. Management was made aware of this and did speak to them.

The best part of this campground is the location to some great hiking. My friends, my pups, and I drove to the Delaware Water Gap and hiked the Appalachian Trail up to Mount Minsi. This is a very scenic part of the trail and I highly recommend it.

All in all, the campground probably isn't this bad during non-holiday weekends. The staff was very friendly and accommodating. They apologized for the issues with the inebriated camper. The camp store was stocked. I had no power or water issues for the 3-nights I was there. The pond was nice to look at. I wouldn't personally go back, but don't let that sway you from...