Best Tent Camping near Mendon, MA

Tent Camping Reviews near Mendon, MA

693 Reviews of 13 Mendon Campgrounds

• 

  Jean C.

  Legend

  Mar. 2, 2021

  Fearing Pond Campground — Myles Standish State Forest

  Wooded sites near a pond

  There are 2 Fearing Pond loops at Myles Standish State Forest, the H & I loops. The H loop entrance is closer to the Charge Pond loops and is higher above pond. This loop is better suited to the larger trailers/tents with more space to drive around a loop , but some spots have slopes. The I loop's best feature is a small beach that is easily accessible from all sites. They've done a lot of site restoration and the fact that it didn't open in 2020 helped. In spite of that, many of the sites have awkward approaches and there is a large parking lot closer to the bathroom. There are no hookups, but there is a dump station available. Water is available, but no electric hookups. Fire rings and picnic tables provided.

  The forest has miles of biking trails, ponds for swimming, fishing, and boating, and even cranberry bogs to explore (though harvest is late in the camping season and this section is not open at that time).

  Cell phone coverage is poor to absent in the forest, so download maps for offline use prior to your arrival.

  Plymouth is nearby for a any forgotten provisions and for sightseeing. Erickson's ice cream cafe is near the entrance if you need a treat!

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• K

  Kimberly S.

  Scout

  Aug. 20, 2022

  Fort Getty Campground

  No shade no rule enforcement. Great place for a big group to party if that’s what you want.

  Loud campers in large groups.

  Rules regarding quiet hours, no generators, number of tents per site and late arrival and setups were not enforced.

  People next to us crammed 8 tents on 3 sites. I counted a group of at least 20.

  There is no privacy, people were constantly walking through our site and stepping over our tent guy lines.

  People partied until 2:00am and woke up at 5:30am shining headlights and idling cars.

  Bathrooms were dirty, sites boundaries not marked and crammed together. No shade.

  Beautiful location, rangers were nice.

  RV folks were surly, seemed like a lot of them stay there for the entire season. One said hi, the rest stared when we drove by.

  We booked and paid for two nights and left first thing after just one night.

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• 

  Migdalia G.

  Guide

  May. 29, 2019

  Lorraine Park Campground — Harold Parker State Forest

  Nice Wooded Campground in Awesome Area

  We stayed at Harold Parker State Forest Campground during Memorial Day Weekend. Reservation through Reserve America was a breeze. Check in till 9:00 pm was convenient. Checkout by 11:00 am but we paid for an additional night to be able to leave at night the day we checked out. Totally worth it!

  Nice large campsites. The sites’ privacy is very diverse. You could be tucked away from everyone or closer together depending on the site you choose but they are all pretty decent in size. All sites have water which is a plus. All have a fire pit/box, charcoal bbq and a picnic table. Most of them are drive in. 

  Quiet hours from 10 am to 7 am. No alcohol allowed (although I didn’t see an actual enforcement of this rule and guess it’ll happen only if people act out). Rangers are constantly patrolling. Felt pretty safe at night. You can’t bring wood. Bundles are $5 each and it burns really well. 

  Lots of biking/hiking/walking trails, a nice small pond/beach, boat access, a few basketball courts, a volleyball court and a common huge fire pit added to the fun. A ranger ran a program to teach about the area fauna which was pretty interesting for kids and adults alike. 

  Bathrooms were fairly clean although small and showers were free! Some sites were right in front of a lovely pond and there were many group sites available as well. 

  The location is pretty good. Salem, Andover, Boston Are accesible while staying here. Close proximity to Richardson Ice Cream which you CANT miss if you decide to stay.  They have cheap but amazing ice cream, mini golf and battling cages which was entertaining for my whole crew. 

  It rained a lot during one night of our stay and the site (301) did not flooded at all. All sites seemed in pretty good shape the morning after as well. 

  Beautiful and will recommend to families with small kids, groups and couples too.

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• 

  Sable W.

  Guide

  May. 16, 2018

  Lorraine Park Campground — Harold Parker State Forest

  Spacious, Quiet, Clean and Conveniently Located

  Five friends and I decided to compete in Questival, which came to Boston for May 11-12, 2018. There aren't many campgrounds open in Massachusetts this early in the season, but Harold Parker State Forest was! I snagged a group campsite since we'd have four tents. We had to set up after dark, so we wound up congregating in one corner of the group site. When we woke up we could see just how HUGE the group site was! We had 4 two-person tents; you could easily fit 3x that number of tents. PLENTY of flat ground to set up on, and we were far enough back from the road that we never heard or saw other campers arriving, even though we know most other Questival competitors stayed at this campground. It was about a 5 minute walk to the bathrooms and showers, and potable water was available right on the site. Even though it was early in the season and not very leafy, we could only occasionally see our neighbors' headlamps. There were 4 or 5 fire pits, 5 large picnic tables, and 3 driveways that could fit two cars each. Great value for the cost! We were pleased with the privacy, space, cleanliness, and amenities.

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• 

  Jean C.

  Legend

  Mar. 2, 2021

  Barretts Pond Campground — Myles Standish State Forest

  Small campground near a small pond at Myles Standish

  This campsite loop at Myles Standish State Forest is closest to the headquarters and borders a small pond with beach. In addition to tent/RV sites, there are 3 yurts available with bunks. Sites that appear to be near the pond are pond view rather than pondside. Approaches to Yurt JC and J5, J 26, J27 are sloped. J14 is a little awkward. J33 is probably among the largest and nicest with a pond view. The sites aren't as large as those in the Charge Pond loops, but it's a smaller campground.

  The loop has flush toilets and showers. Water is available, but no electric hookups. Fire rings and picnic tables provided. Cell phone coverage throughout the forest is poor to absent; download maps for offline use if you want to be sure to know where you are or find directions. There are miles of bike trails and ponds for fishing, swimming, and boating. There's a larger beach and picnic area at College Pond.

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• D

  Darin K.

  Scout

  Jun. 7, 2019

  Green Falls Campground

  Small but cozy

  Great off the beaten path place to camp. Sites are large but close together. Each contain a rock built fire ring. There are toilets but no showers. Good parking for camper but limited for guests. Reservations are required in advance. Stones throw to beach/pond area

• D

  Desiree M.

  Guide

  Jul. 6, 2022

  Otter River State Forest

  Some sites are hit or miss with privacy

  My site (number 1) was good for not being on top of my neighbor but it was next to the tanger station. Some sites are pretty out in the open, close to the campsite road so they feel less like the woods. I would say the best site that feels most like you are in the woods and have the most space is 28. I would book there. The pond is kind of deceiving. There are 2 roped off spots where you can swim and those spots are small and not deep.  You cannot have floats. So its better for a quick dip than a hang out. Bathrooms are fine. Could use one more as its a hike in the morning when you really have to go(!) depending on your site. One thing with my site (1), it was listed as a shaded site but it absolutely was not a shade site. During mid day there is no shade at all. In the morning, as the sun rose (when I took the pics) there was some shade but thats because the sun was still rising. It was big enough to fit a 10 and 12 person tent with a canopy. Not all sites are that big but this one worked. Verizon service was limited to none depending on location, ATT was good

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• 

  Jean C.

  Legend

  Nov. 1, 2020

  Wolf Den Campground — Mashamoquet Brook State Park

  Basic campground with hiking trails in the area.

  This small state park campground offers basic campsites with running water and showers, open Memorial Day to Columbus Day.  This is NOT Wolf's Den Family Campground in E. Haddam, CT. Also, be aware there are 2 campgrounds at this State Park; the other one, Mashamoquet Brook, does not offer running water/showers, so if you want these amenities, be sure to select a campsite 1-35.

  There's a small playground in the middle of the loop, a number of hiking trails throughout the park along with a few geocaches (download details for offline use a phone connection is spotty), a swimming pond, and a small brook with an old mill and blacksmith shop that is sometimes open on weekends for tours. It's a nice place to explore and have a picnic. In 2020 with Covid, there were restrictions on visitors to the campground, reservations required, and swimming was not allowed. 

  The parking pads are paved and a few have overhanging branches, but the trees provide  separation and some shade on largely open sites that tend to open up toward the back with open areas for pitching tents. Sites have fire rings with grills and picnic tables. Site 20 is the only one with electric. The ones toward the back of the loop back up toward the woods and give you some more privacy. 

  They don't allow hammocks in the trees or pets. For some reason, silly string also makes the list of prohibitions.

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• 

  Ashlee L.

  Guide

  Aug. 19, 2019

  Charge Pond Campground — Myles Standish State Forest

  One of my worst camping experiences

  Pros - the campground is lovely to drive through and the sites are fairly nicely design with some privacy between sites (some sites have more some have less).  It's also nice to have access to the multitude of hiking trails and ponds.

  Cons - the works.  We stayed around Charge Pond on a Friday and Saturday night, and even though the park has clearly stated quiet hours of 10 pm to 7 am (which includes generators), it was one of the loudest camps I've ever been to.  Several camp neighbors in our loop were up well past 1am loud as hell - talking loudly, screaming and yelling - even their kids!  And one site had their trailer generator running all night - there was absolutely no patrol of this campground at all, which is unacceptable on weekends in my opinion.  This place attracts some really awful people - there were several spots of vomit in the road Saturday morning, and on Sunday morning a neighbor could be heard at 6 am puking his guts out in surround-sound.  That plus the general noisiness, disrespect of other campers, and lack of patrol would keep me away alone, but the state of the facilities topped it off.  The women's room in Charge Pond loop A was filthy - it wasn't super outdated, but just not clean at all.  Every surface was absolutely disgusting, they had a 5-gallon plastic bucket to serve as the bathroom trash, and the entire place smelled like urine.  To top it off, when using it Sunday morning every single stall was out of toilet paper, and the whole place had very clearly had not been cleaned since Friday night.  I know campground bathrooms are usually not the best, but this was definitely one of the worst - I've used vault toilets that were cleaner!

  I will never stay here again.

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