Syracuse.com - Two veteran Central New York campers talk about getting 'prime' camping spots

[HuntingNY-News]

The art of reserving a camping site in New York State, is precisely that, an art.

My column earlier this week offering advice about finding, and securing the best camping spots in this state generated comments from several readers.

The following are reactions to my column from two, veteran campers. One is from "UpstateNYphan," who said he was Ithaca; and the other is Bob Walker, a wildlife photographer from Syracuse.

UpstateNYphan wrote:

The art of reserving a site in New York State, is precisely that, an art. And you were right in your article that people need to do their home work.

I used to work for Reserve America when they were located in Ballston Spa, NY, and I can tell you that a lot of people get mighty upset when they plan out an event, say with the grandkids, and after everything is planned, they go to reserve a specific site at a specific campground, 2 weeks before their arrival date, and it's not available, or its only available for a few days of their two week trip.

Aside from making camping reservations in New York we also reserved for MA, CT, RI, NH, FL, WI, CA, KY, ID, AK, The Federal Park system which included National Parks, Army Corp of Engineers, National Forests, and The Bureau of Land Management. More often than not we were educating people about how the process works rather than reserving camp sites. And 99.9 percent of the time, if people took it upon themselves to do some research they would be better off.

As far as any tips or trick to getting that prime camping spot in New York, you have to know when you are going, how long you're going to be staying, what campground you would like to camp at, and a few different sites to choose from.

Reservations are taken 9 months to the day of your arrival. For example if you want to arrive on Friday June 27 2014 for a weekend stay, the earliest you can book it is Sept 27 of 2013.

The longer you wait to book, the better the chance is that you will not get the site you want, or possibly even the campground you want for the dates selected. So it really helps if you have multiple sites in mind, multiple dates in mind, and multiple campgrounds in mind.

Also there are MANY campsites available on a first come first served basis, which are free of charge, and often times way more private, and as ive noticed in better shape than state parks. For example, Stony's Pond in Madison County is free and on a FCFS basis, you just need to get a permit from the ranger station in Sherburne. The Moose River Plains which run from Indian Lake to Inlet up north are free, on a FCFS basis and you dont need a permit unless you have more than 10 campers, or are planning on staying more than 3 days (just like back country camping), except you can roll your car right up to your site like you can in a state park. I stayed up there in Mid-Sept with a few friends. The sites were secluded, spaced very far apart, the picnic tables and fire pits were in wonderful repair, and the outhouse was brand new.

I also know of some sites up north of Tupper Lake by the Adirondack Fish Hatchery which are free, FCFS and secluded.

And of course you can explore your local state forest, and basically camp anywhere you want. I prefer doing that, since you generally don't have any neighbors, there are no generators, no barking dogs save for your own, no crying children again save for your own, no traffic, and no slamming of bathroom doors at 2 o'clock in the morning.

Bob Walker wrote:

I read your article on camping and you made some very good suggestions.

I have to admit I'm not overly happy with the state campgrounds here in New York. I guess I'm kind of spoiled with the campgrounds up in Algonquin Provincial Park in Ontario, Canada.

For all the years we have had campgrounds in the Adirondack Park, little has been done to improve them.

Camping on the Moose River Plains offers you more and at no charge. The trick is being able to drive the access road going in. If your tenting and you have everything in your vehicle it's not bad. But if you are hauling a trailer or motor home the road can be awful rough. The D.E.C. went through and put new picnic tables in, fireplaces and outhouses. The sad part is the public has abused some. This area needs to be patrolled more and it's rules enforced.

The Indian Lake newspaper published an article I wrote with accompanying image of fires left burning when campers had left their campsite to go home. We get a good thing, then some jerks have to abuse it and we all suffer for their actions. This is where and why enforcement is needed.

Back to the Adirondack Park State campgrounds you pay to camp in. First, some of the campsites are so bad they should not even allow folks to camp in them.

Next, how about electrical hookups and more of them in all the campgrounds? Last, but not least, how about dumping stations? These parks have been in existence for years and not much if anything has been done to improve them.

(Walker then noted his experiences at the Algonquin Provincial Park's campgrounds, which he noted as well-maintained and offer a variety of other nearby attractions, including moose-watching opportunities).

Now back to our State parks. Nine months prior you can put in your reservations compared to five months up in Canada. We have made no reservations, yet this year because of health issues.

This poses a problem if we want to go camping with our popup. All the good campsites will be reserved most likely. The remainder having limited electrical hookups, which I need because of my health problems.

I use to like the first- come, first- served system. Sorry for the ranting, but I think campgrounds in New York State need to be addressed, along with many other issues.

View the full article on The Syracuse Outdoors Blog