Springbrook Family Campground

Avoid this place at all costs!

We were unfortunate enough to be one of the many people who have stayed at this mud pit of a campground. We were in PA for work and needed a place to stay in our RV during the winter. The campground we were originally in recommended Springbrook as they thought they had some year round sites. Every other campground was already booked up or closed so we were happy to find a place that could take us for the winter. However, once we arrived we realized there were several issues. First of all, there are dead trees everywhere. These should be removed so as not to cause harm to the campers, RV’s or vehicles but instead at Springbrook the owners decided to use them as electrical poles. We had not been at the campground for a week when a huge pine tree fell in front of our RV, crushing one of our chairs, part of our dog fence and hitting our awning. We were so relieved that we didn’t have significant damage to our brand new $90,000 RV that we didn’t make an issue when they told us they had no responsibility because it was an “Act of God.” We realized then that these people were irresponsible, but we really had no choice where to go for the winter.

During the winter we had constant problems with the water freezing despite their promises that the water lines were deep enough. We also had continuous issues with the electric going out. Every time I called I got a voicemail then had to message them on Facebook to call. When they did call they would want me to walk around and find out who else had power or water. Isn’t that the owner’s responsibility? Evidently I was supposed to walk around in 3’ of snow to ask all the other campers if they had issues. But the problems were only just beginning!

As the snow melted and the Spring storms started all the dead trees started falling. These owners do not seem to understand that even healthy-looking trees can fall when the water is constantly washing through the roots. We counted a total of 9 trees that fell but I’m sure we missed some. They also have an issue understanding drainage and the power of water. The roads and campsites were constantly muddy and nasty, with huge potholes and ruts everywhere. The ground was so soft we often had to help tow people’s trailers out hooking several trucks up in a row to get them out. The owners still could not be bothered to keep regular office hours and if I had a package delivered I usually had to go pick it up from the mail box because IF there was someone in the office they were too busy playing casino slot games to actually walk to the mail box.

And then things really went off the rails. Sunday night we had a lot of rain and we woke up Monday morning to about 5” of water on the ground. The water drained off and we cleaned up the mess which consisted mostly of putting all my tools and such inside my gazebo on top of a table. If we had been warned that this area was prone to intense flooding when the river rises, we would have done much more, like move out! But we were not, and we were not familiar enough with the area to know what to expect. Well, what we did not expect was to be woken up at 3:30am by 2 crying teenage girls on our picnic table. Turns out the river had breached its banks and water was now 3’ on the ground with an intense current flow. A family trying to escape had their truck flood and sent their kids to run over to the “safety” of our picnic table. We immediately kicked into rescue mode and started pulling people out. I drove to the police station and reported the situation and then headed back where most of the people who were there for work were pulling the weekend campers out. Eventually the owners showed up and opened the office for 10 minutes. They stood around laughing about how this happens all the time and how there was nothing they could do until the water went down and they could start cleaning up. Well, I guess it never crossed their mind that they COULD use their backhoe and dump truck to create a water break for those trying to get out or check the campsites to make sure everyone was out and safe, or tow people out of the roads where their vehicles were stuck. They could also have started calling their summer residents and informing them that all their belongings were currently floating down the river or set up a coffee station for cold wet campers to dry off and warm up a bit while they waited for the water to recede. Instead they locked up the office and went to sit on their golf cart on a high bank and watched as people tried to save their RV’s from tipping over.

As our son started to hook his truck up to his camper to pull it out, Shawn began screaming at him to stop “making things worse” when he drove over a grass area that had turned into a lake. This turned into a screaming match between several campers who had been working for the last 5 hours to make sure all the campers were safe and the owners who had their butts parked on their golf cart watching. We lost all of our outside items but were lucky that the water didn’t make it into our underbelly or worse. We managed to get packed up and hooked up, despite a 4’ wash out in front of our RV. We managed to find a great new place that opened up mobile home slots to us for the emergency. Once we got settled in we checked our bank account and discovered these people had already charged our card for more money despite the fact that we were paid up through mid-August. AVOID THIS PLACE AT ALL COSTS!!!!