We took a trip north, making stops in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Washington, D.C. In this post, we’ll go over details from the Philadelphia phase. Read on for a campground review, restaurant recommendations, and a terrific dog-friendly trail.
To learn about the other two phases of this trip, check out the blog posts on the New Jersey phase and the Washington, D.C. phase.
In an effort to make our posts easier to navigate, we’re trying out a table of contents. If you’re only interested in a specific part of a post, getting to it should be easier from here on out.
Table of Contents
Where We Stayed
The Philadelphia South/Clarksboro KOA Holiday is technically in New Jersey, but it’s about 30 minutes outside of Philadelphia. Jesse attended a conference on Tuesday and Wednesday in Philadelphia, so this worked well as a base for those days.
I was pleasantly surprised by this campground. It doesn’t have the biggest sites or most convenient location, but the employees were friendly and the campground was in good shape. They have cute cabins, a sizable dog park, lots of trash cans, a fishing pond, a jumping pillow, a playground, and a pool.
The campground has a type of site called a Paw Pen Site that has a small fenced area with a dog house. It’s a cute idea, but the fenced area is so tiny! It’s more like a crate without a top than a fenced area. I don’t think Aiken and Corona would have comfortably fit in there together for any period of time.
Our site was pretty small. Given the number of dogs in the campground and Aiken’s fondness for barking at other dogs, we didn’t spend much time sitting outside, but it was fine for a couple of days.
| Campground Name | Philadelphia South/Clarksboro KOA Holiday |
| Location | Clarksboro, NJ |
| Dates | April 14-17, 2025 |
| Site Number | Site 80 |
| Site Surface | gravel, sort of level, but needed red leveling blocks |
| Hook-ups | Full hookups |
| Cost | $95 per night (including taxes and fees) |
| Water Pressure | 80-85 psi |
| Voltage | 120-125 V |
| Verizon Speed Test | 159 Mbps down; 2 Mbps up |
| T-Mobile Speed Test | 138 Mbps down; 29 Mbps up |
| Campground WiFi | 2.07 Mbps down; 0.78 Mbps up |
Corona and Aiken approve of the dog park. One morning was chilly enough that Corona was feeling playful.
We came across what I think is the most unique RV paint job I’ve ever seen.
What We Did
Campground Trail
At the back of the campground, we found a surprise: a trail. We even found a couple of picnic tables. If you’re camping with kids, it could be fun to pack a picnic lunch or just a snack and go for an adventure down this trail. I don’t know how far it goes, but it was pretty wide.
Unfortunately, it had rained a lot recently. I wasn’t wearing the right shoes for a trek through the mud, so eventually we turned around.
Woods of Wenonah
We came to Philadelphia so Jesse could attend a work conference. One day while he was away, the dogs and I explored a place called Woods of Wenonah. It was very different from the trails we’ve seen recently, and I highly recommend it if you’re ever in the area.
We parked in the lot at the end of Jefferson Avenue. At the first intersection, we turned left to take the trail around the lake. I was a little surprised when we came to East Maple Street. The trail continues on the other side but down the street a little. The amount of traffic at 9:00 a.m. made getting to the other side a little dicey, but we made it.
We followed the trail until we came to N Hayes Avenue. The map indicates that the trail continues on the other side of Hayes Ave, but the trail sign when you exit the woods says to turn left, so that’s what we did.
We made it to the intersection of N Hayes Ave and W Mantua Avenue before we turned around and did the whole thing in reverse. Crossing Maple Street closer to 10:00 a.m. was much less scary than it was at 9:00. The trail is much longer than the section we did. This page on njhiking.com does a good job of describing the different sections of the trail, so I’m not going to go into all the details here. Instead, I’m going to mention the things that stood out to me that aren’t mentioned on that site.
First, can anyone tell me why some of the trees had short fencing around the base of the trunk? It wasn’t all of them. I can’t figure out the secret. It’s hard to see, but both of these big trees had a piece of welded wire around the base. No more than three feet tall.
This giant leafy green plant was everywhere along the trail. Does anyone know what it is?
The trail around the lake was full of water crossings. Instead of sturdy, official-looking bridges, most of them consisted of a board or two laid across the water. These were the best ones of them all. They were also over the best section of creek for wading, so the dogs kind of ignored them.
Aiken is not very aware of what his back paws are doing, and he slipped off the side of one into mud that was about 6 inches deep.
One of the crossings was mostly a tangle of roots from nearby trees! It was really cool, but maybe not the most effective solution. My shoes were big enough to not slip through the gaps, but Corona had trouble making that crossing with her dainty paws.
After we crossed East Maple Street, it became much more hilly. At one point, we got a great view of this personal boardwalk someone had built for their property. Can you see the spot on the right that looks like benches around a firepit? And if you look at the bottom left, you can see the word “Private” where the boardwalk starts. Such a neat idea!
There were so many good trees along this trail. It isn’t reasonable to show them all, but here are a few.
We also saw turtles and ducks (photos in the wildlife section of the post). This trail would be a bird-watching dream! Sadly, all but the ducks moved too quickly for photos.
If you’re in the area and looking for hiking opportunities, I definitely recommend this spot. I wouldn’t bring really little kids or strollers, because of the exposed roots and improvised bridges, but we had a good time.
Where We Ate
P.J Wellihan’s Pub + Restaurant
Delicious! That’s what I have to say about P.J. Wellihan’s. I thought the burger was amazing, and the fries were tasty too. Others in our group got the chili and wings. The chili is apparently good but very spicy. We would come again.
Turns out there are multiple locations across Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
Shileen’s Pub
Shileen’s Pub in Westville, NJ was good, but not exceptional. The burgers and fries were pretty good. Others in our party got the chili, boneless wings, and some sort of pressed sandwich. They said the chili was good and not as spicy as it was at P.J. Wellihan’s.
Wildlife
We saw a bunch of turtles and a pair of ducks at Wenonah Lake.
I know they’re hard to see, but we saw a bunch of wild turkeys in a field on our way to dinner one night.
I know this photo is really small and so grainy. We were driving to dinner one night and I glanced out the window and saw a bald eagle. I only had time to whip out my phone and get one really-far-away photo before we were past him. So, I know it’s hard to tell, but that’s what’s in this photo.
Happy travels!
