Anyone here familiar with Raystown Lake in Pennsylvania? I am doing very-long range planning for a houseboat vacation and the name popped up on the internet.
It is in the sticks, and that is nice, but walking access to a grocery store and some commercial eating establishments will be required.
Your thoughts in general about the place?
I went to undergrad about 15 miles from there, and I’ve been on boat trips there before. It’s a really beautiful area.
I haven’t really tried staying there and shopping/ eating, so I can’t help there.
No idea about PA, but I just returned from a houseboat vacation on the Canadian side of Lake of the Woods. On the Minnesota side, Lake of the Woods is a gigantic, open water lake. On the Canadian side, there’s tons of islands and inlets and miles and miles of shorelines to explore. It’s a really great vacation; incredibly relaxing.
We used Floating Lodges, in Sioux Narrows, Ontario. (My parents-in-law have been renting houseboats from Jim, on and off, for nigh on 20 years. Maybe longer. This is the third houseboat trip I’ve been on through Jim.) His boats are clean and well-appointed (but not posh or fancy) at very reasonable prices. If you’re not married to somewhere further east, I highly recommend Floating Lodges.
Just read the OP again - you do take and cook your own meals in the houseboat’s kitchen on Lake of the Woods, so I don’t know if that works for you. (We always stop at the Safeway just across the border in Ft. Frances.) Jim does a resupply trip for anything you need mid-week.
Thanks, let me look at that too.
Raystown is on my list of places to haul our pontoon boat. I’ve heard good things about a campsite that is accessible by boat only. Haven’t been there yet though.
I grew up not far from Raystown, but I haven’t actually been to Huntingdon/Raystown Lake in over 15 years, so I can’t really help much on current conditions.
I’ve been there a few times, on a relative’s motorboat. It’s a good place for waterskiing. I don’t know about any of the amenities on shore, though.
And “good place for waterskiing” might imply “bad place for a houseboat”, since you’re likely to have to deal with a lot of wake.
Since the OP is asking for opinions, I’ve moved the thread to IMHO.
It’s a nice area, but I’m in the same boat as jayjay–I live within an hour of it, but given my interests lie in canoeing I haven’t actually been on the lake in over a decade.
Wow. I just had Raystown lake up on Google maps. I was thinking of my mother who grew up around there and her family had a cabin on a site that’s now at the bottom of the lake. :eek:
Sorry, that’s all.
It is a beautiful lake. We went water skiing there many years ago and I had a great time.
I cannot say definitively, but I do not believe you will find walking access to either a grocery store or an eating establishment. However, it is a big enough lake that there are plenty of places on it that I have not been, so maybe…
And now for my main memory of that day:
One of the guys, a college professor, was there early.
He got the boat and went out on the lake and when we showed up, he came in for us.
When I do this, about 100 yards from the shore I cut the engine and let the boat drift in.
Instead, he decided to slam it into reverse.
Only, he didn’t. He hit full speed ahead. Rammed the dock and smashed it good. (The boat was OK and no one was hurt.)
I remember being very hungover and being torn between laughing at him and struggling to keep my breakfast down because I had to jump out of the way.
Looking at the website for Raystown, it looks like there aren’t any grocery stores in walking distance. However, there are a restaurant and a snack bar at 7 Points Marina, which is probably where you’d be renting from.
The choices seem to be to self-cater (for a week), or go to Lake of the Woods instead.
Lake of the Woods would be largely self-catering as well, just to reiterate. (But the kitchen’s got a stove and microwave, and there’s a grill in back, so it’s not totally roughing it.) There may be places that you can pull in and get a snack, but I’m not familiar with them.
I did a week long fishing vacation there where it rained like a banshee for 3 of the days. I loved it! It’s isolated but there is stuff within a reasonable drive if you need/want it. After one solid day of rain I spent the next two wandering Altoona and Duncansville; Duncansville having some great antique shops and auctions. The next day the sky cleared and it was back to hermit-mode.
Yes! I spent just about every spare moment I had on Raystown Lake during the summers when I lived in PA. (Over 10 years ago.) It was just gorgeous then, and I always had so much fun, water skiing, boating, swimming, etc.
One of my girlfriends just spent her summer vacation there a couple of weeks ago. She had a blast and the pictures she shared indicate it’s as pretty and as fun as ever. 