Jim Thorpe Camping Resort

Jim Thorpe Camping Resort in Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania, provides big-rig-friendly resort camping in Carbon County's Lehigh Gorge at the foot of the Pocono Mountains, where the Victorian-era downtown of one of Pennsylvania's most architecturally remarkable small cities, the Lehigh River's celebrated white-water rafting corridor, and the surrounding Pocono Mountains' hiking and biking trails create a multi-dimensional adventure and heritage destination unlike any other campground location in the northeastern Pennsylvania mountain corridor. The resort's pool, game room, and planned activities serve the family recreation agenda while the surrounding community and landscape of Jim Thorpe—sometimes called the Switzerland of America for its dramatic gorge setting—provides the authentic cultural and outdoor experience that makes this Carbon County destination worthy of multi-day stays. The resort's facility provides comfortable big-rig camping with family recreation amenities: big-rig-friendly full hookup sites, an outdoor pool, playground, game room, walking trails, firewood, showers, bathrooms, dump station, Wi-Fi, planned activities, and the pet-friendly policies for trail companions collectively serve the families and outdoor enthusiasts whose Jim Thorpe visit combines comfortable base camp camping with the adventure recreation and cultural exploration that Carbon County's Lehigh Gorge corridor provides. The walking trails through the Carbon County woodland terrain and the nearby access to the Lehigh Gorge State Park's trail network extend the hiking and biking recreation beyond the resort's own property. Jim Thorpe—named for the legendary Native American athlete and Olympic champion in a 1954 promotional rebranding of the former Mauch Chunk—is Carbon County's most visually distinctive community: a Victorian-era coal and railroad wealth city built on steep hillsides above the Lehigh River gorge where the Asa Packer Mansion, the Jim Thorpe Memorial, and the Switchback Railroad Trail preserve the heritage of a community that was the Lehigh Valley Coal Company's most prosperous company town in the anthracite region's nineteenth-century peak. The Carbon County Courthouse, the Broadway streetscape of Victorian commercial architecture, and the Josie's Portico Tea Room reflect the architectural confidence of the coal era's prosperity. The Lehigh Gorge State Park's 26-mile trail between White Haven and Jim Thorpe follows the abandoned Lehigh Canal towpath and railroad grade through a gorge of impressive rock walls, the Lehigh River's cascades and pools, and the hardwood forest cover that has grown back over the former industrial waterway in a natural recovery that makes the gorge trail one of Pennsylvania's most rewarding rail-trail cycling and hiking experiences. The commercially operated white-water rafting on the Lehigh River through the gorge—particularly during the spring dam release weekends when the Lehigh's flow is enhanced for maximum whitewater—provides the adventure recreation that brings outdoor enthusiasts from across the New York and Philadelphia metropolitan regions to Carbon County. Jim Thorpe Camping Resort operates seasonally from spring through fall in Carbon County's four-season Pocono climate, with the spring white-water season from March through May and the fall foliage season in October representing the two most dramatically beautiful and activity-rich periods in the Lehigh Gorge corridor. The summer family recreation season fills the pool and planned activities programming while the surrounding gorge's hiking and biking trails provide the outdoor recreation infrastructure that the Poconos' vacation culture has built on the Carbon County landscape for generations. The resort's big-rig-friendly infrastructure serves the family motorhome travelers whose northeastern Pennsylvania itinerary includes Jim Thorpe alongside the Delaware Water Gap and Pocono Lakes communities.