Best RV Parks & Resorts near White Mountain National Forest, NH

Lots for everyone to do! New playground, beach, cabins boating full hook ups... they have it all!

Soft Maple is a truly gorgeous small campground. Only about a dozen sites or so, first come first serve. Level sites for RVs or tent or hammock camping. Each site has a nice space with fire ring and picnic table. The beach is lovely and clean. There’s boat access for canoes and kayaks as this is part of the Beaver River route. 

The entire campground is accessible, with gravel pack paths, and level sites.  

Charlie is the caretaker here and everyone says he is the nicest person you’ll meet.  You can’t beat site number 11 for the perfect mix of treelined and water view!

There is space for RVs and a dump station but the sites do not have power or hookups. 

If you come in to the campground from “number 4 road” (aka state rt. 26) it’s exactly five miles from the Left turn on to Soft Maple rd. If you have time, stop halfway- the 2.5 mile mark will bring you to the entrance for Eagle falls, a short hike with a fantastic reveal.

This place is top notch. A large park with diverse types of camping. Many tent-suitable sites right on the river are highly coveted so you have to book way in advance. Lots of dry-camping RV sites are easier to book. The full hook-up RV sites are also very difficult to book, but if you score one, it will be a dream experience. Facilities are very well maintained. There’s lots to do…. a swimming beach, boat launches, a Nature Center, hiking trails, and an ADA kayak launch on Eel Bay. Only fifteen minutes to the charming community of Thousand Island Park.

Staff was very helpful! Clean place. Easy to find as well! Prices were a little more expensive but they do a discount for good sams

As a Ranger for The Dyrt, I am one of the lucky ones who gets gear to review from time to time. We recently tested out the Aftershokz Titanium Bone Conduction Headphones at this gorgeous campground in the Adirondacks! Pretty cool…

Gear Review

What we liked most about this product:

• Versatile: Can be used just about anywhere you want to be able to listen to music or a podcast (without disturbing others), but also want to be able to hear people coming down the trail, birds singing, the ocean crashing along the shore, etc. They are just as great in a library as they are outside.
• Compact: While they don’t fold down as small as a pair of traditional headphones, they are pocket-sized and can easily be stored in a jacket or a pocket of a backpack.
• Lightweight: You barely feel them on your head and are very comfortable to wear for long periods of time.
• Better for Ear Health: Because the headphones use bone conduction technology rather than sit inside your ear, they are much better for the long term health of your hearing.
• Blue Tooth Technology: Cordless is wonderful…enough said!

What could be improved:

• Adjustability: If they were made to adjust to each person’s head size, they would be even more comfortable. If you have a smaller head, they drape down a bit at the nape of your neck and bounce a bit while walking/cycling. They fit my husband’s head perfectly, but are a bit large on me.

Product Video Review: https://youtu.be/uj20w4_Yu14

Campground Review

Wow, what a gorgeous campground! This one came recommended from a friend and we fell in love at first sight. The campground reminded us of summer camp on the lake, as it seemed frozen in time. Each site has a picnic table and open grill and all sites are non-electric. We stayed in site #45, right on the edge of the lake, with great kayak access.

We spent one day kayaking on the lake and another day hiking. While the mosquitoes weren’t bad at the campground itself, they are terrible on the trails this time of year, so bring your bug spray, or better yet, bug shirts! We’ll need to come back in the winter and do some snowshoeing on these trails, so we can enjoy them mosquito free.

The bathrooms are kept tidy, the shower house is classic and clean, and there is an extensive recycling facility (yay for NY and ADK!). There is also a sand volleyball court and basketball hoop. Bonus: There was a huge stack of free wood piled near the shower house!

The Village of Cranberry Lake has some supplies, but not much except the very basics at the general store. You’ll need to head to Star Lake or Tupper Lake for anything of significance.

We did our usual reservation-less “pull up and see what they have open” style of camping, but during the main season, this place is busy! You’ll definitely need to plan ahead and make reservations if you plan to be here during the crazy season.

I’ll start by saying Swan Bay is a busy, family-oriented campground. We arrived on a weekend and it was pretty busy but loved it during the week when everybody left and things were quieter. Our site (#38) was a Passport America site so we got a great nightly rate of $42 which is half of the regular nightly rate. Our site was a “standard site” near the pool, boat launch, activities, and Tiki Bar which surprised us because sites close to activities are usually desired and not discounted. Campsite costs depends on whether you get a waterfront (which is $95/night even in the off-season), water view, pull thru, or standard site. Most sites do not have shade but they added a new section that does have some old mature trees and sporadic shade. All the sites are the same in that they have paved parking areas with gravel in front, pavers for a patio and full hook-up. Some of the newer sites now have a bit of shade from trees. There are lots of rental park models and cottages close to the pool and Tiki Bar. Within walking distance is a Price Chopper Grocery, Dollar General, gas station, and wine and liquor store.  

There is a free boat launch and boat slips (not sure if they are free) for guests. I was hoping to spend a bit of time on my paddleboard but soon realized it is very windy here and found very few windows to paddle. Our neighbor (who has camped here seasonally for the last four years) mentioned that he lost three awnings to the wind. So, don’t leave your awning out when you leave your camper and beware of winds if you want to be on the water. Check-in was quick and easy. The park is gated so you get a gate card to enter the park. You also get a BOGO card to use at the Tiki Bar which has specials during the week (like margarita Monday, bucket of beer, bloody Mary’s, etc.). The pool and Tiki Bar were not very busy when we were there. There is a second pool but it was not open yet for the season. In between the pools is a community fire pit with nice Adirondack chairs which is pretty cool. The playground is awesome and huge with lots of cool features for kids to explore. The dog park is very nice and a decent size to throw a ball for your dog. It also has potable water for drinking, which, for some reason, did not work during our stay. There are gobs of activities for kids and adults. Plenty of rentals too – ranging from boats, kayaks, golf carts, etc. 

A couple of the downsides of this park are the price (unless you get a discount like we did), sites don’t have much privacy, the park gets crowded and noisy, and there was lots of noise from the construction work within the park they were doing. If you are in the back of the park, you get some road noise from Route 12 and the refrigerated truck at the neighboring Price Chopper. Overall, we loved this park during the slow season and during the week when there were not kids running around and adults playing loud music and drinking constantly.

The state park is really nice, very natural with beautiful views of the St Lawrence River but the beach needs to be cleaned up and the bathrooms are disgusting. There’s one small open field that has full hookups otherwise it’s power only.

We camped in loop F site 43 with full hookups, nice asphalt pad picnic table and fire ring. Our site is located adjacent to a mowed grass path that leads to the main road, close to the camp store. Beautiful area, lots of hiking and biking trails and swim area.

We camp with a big rig(40ft) we prefer the heron loop they are very spacious. Nice bathrooms, a small park near the cabins and heron loop, a huge park near the beach and store. They have a beautiful nature center with a lot of kids activities. A ton of trails, they do have full hookup in another loop. By far a beautiful campground and views

Wellesley, Island State Park is right on the Canadian border. The island is beautiful and the perfect spot to be July to September. They have cabins, RV sites, sites with electric hook up, and rough camp sites. If you love being on the water boat rentals are fairly priced at two locations on the island. The staff was wonderful and eminities were clean and all in working order. They have a nature center that seems to always have interesting adventures for the children. They even have a butterfly sanctuary and plenty of hiking trails.

When we got there there was no one in the sign in station. No electricity or water hookups. We reserved online and there was a mix up. We reserved 3 days got there and found out there was no hookups we were told if we cancelled we would only get a few dollars back. Pool looked nice

We decided to go the week before Memorial Day. It turned out to be a Canadian holiday weekend so we saw lots of Ontario plates. But by Monday everyone cleared out and we were one of 3 people in our loop (c63) the bathrooms were immaculate (our only complaint was the mens room had no hot water for showers) We kayaked from the ADA kayak launch and had a nice time on Eel bay. We rode our bicycles around and even did rollerblading. So many nice waterfront sites and if you stay in the c loop you have shade, a flat driveway to park on, and electric hookups. All of the other loops that had electric were pretty much wide open with no trees or privacy.

Swan Bay Resort is exactly that. All of there sites are on slabs,neat and clean hook ups. There is riverviews from just about every site which is nice and then there are sites right on the river, the river sites do face west , so you do get beautiful sunsets. Check-in was smooth and the staff was very helpful. There are plenty of bathrooms and washing machines are in all of them. They offer boat, kayak, and paddle board rentals. They have 2 pools and a tiki bar on site. They looked beautiful but they were crowded and nobody was practicing social distancing , and for me we are still in the unknown with covid so we stayed away. No judging at all just a personal preference call. The shop was mostly chatchskis and except for the normal staple items sewer hoses and stuff of that nature. There is a supermarket that is walkable which was nice. Now for the downside and it's only 1 , this place is a bit pricey. What I spent here for 2 nights I could have stayed a week at a KOA, so I did pay for those beautiful river sunsets.

We stayed at Swan Bay Resort in Alexandria Bay, NY, for our last trip this year. Spoiler alert… we had a great stay! 

This is a great park. It’s an easy mile from I-81 and just 10-minutes drive to Alexandria Bay downtown. The staff was great— friendly and helpful. Our waterfront pull-IN site was a level concrete pad and gravel with FHU and everything worked great. Oh, and the best part was our view of the St. Lawrence River with passing ocean liners and lots of migrating birds. 

The park has 2 swimming pools, a tiki bar, a food truck, and nice communal hang-out areas. There’s a marina with pontoon boat rentals. They put on Octoberfest during our stay which featured a live band and food and craft vendors. 

There are plenty of restaurants and stores nearby. Adjacent to the entrance is a self-service car wash with bay large enough for motorhomes. 

I have nothing bad to say about this place and encourage you to visit when you can.

We have never heard of this place and had always stayed at Wellesley Island when headed up to the 1,000 Islands. Took a chance and it didn't disappoint.

Swimming hole was nice and relaxing. Plenty of sand for the kids to play in and the water was warmer than expected.

We stayed in the non-electric loop with a small travel trailer and it was great. Half of the loop is in the woods and the other half has spacious, grassy sites bordered with woods behind them. Some sites were hilly and we would not have been able to get our trailer in, so its worth calling before you book.

Everything about this place is nice. Sites are large and staff is nice. It was great to have two pools and a bar. Things I would change. Make River sites hookup for TT’s, add cable TV, and pave the rest of the campground.

I headed up to Wellesley Island state park for the long Thanksgiving weekend with three teenagers (one girl and two boys). We rented cottage A, which was clean, spacious, warm and fully stocked with everything we needed. The fire pit outside was the only disappointment as it was well below ground level (on a sloping hill) so tending the fire was a difficult process and cooking on it was challenging. The Nature Center was open and lovely and every Saturday (even in off season) they organize hikes. The park itself was incredible - highly recommend the Eel Bay trail, which will take you past the glacial potholes a d along the striking coastline. We also checked out the North end of the park, near the marina and will probably go back in the summer and rent a cabin over there. There’s a store, laundromat and arcade, but all were closed either due to the time or year, or covid. Litter is a problem throughout the park which is really sad. We did our best to clean up what we could, but someone should organize a clean up, especially because lots of it must make it’s way into the St Lawrence :( The staff we met were all really friendly and helpful. The towns surrounding the park are economically struggling and we had to drive quite far to find a grocery store that was open. All restaurants within a 20 minute drive were closed for the season. We’ll definitely be back!

Another large, well maintained and facilitated campground. At least 200 sites with spaces for tents and RVs with electric. Reasonably spread out, some sites are relatively isolated and give the feeling of being in nature and in the woods/by the water while others are more or less in a field. I found the perfect site D10 tucked away at the end of a short driveway directly on the water with a little walk out to a small rocky outcropping perfect for catching the sunset or watching the boats and day go by. Bathrooms were decent and reasonably places, never being too far from anyway. Plenty of water was available throughout. The entire island itself is an interesting area and can be explored by bike to make for a great day of site seeing and local immersion. Alexandria Bay is not far away too and is essentially the only civilization you’ll find around, with plenty of bars restaurants and shops, as well as boat tours around the thousand islands are and to the Boldt Castle. The Boldt castle is an awesome adventure. For about $20 you get a boat ride over and can spend as little or as much time as you want on the island exploring the grounds and the buildings. The history of the building and in the building gives pretty good insight and background to what is and is on Wellesley Island, where you are staying.

Even in cold rainy weather we had a phenomenal time at Stillwater. Our spot had gorgeous waterfront to it, a stone fire circle where someone had left extra fire wood, and ample trees. The season had had unusually low water all over and it left a really unusual landscape on the beach to explore. We can’t wait to come back!

Many repeat campers over many years. Best sites are hard to book ahead and are best for tents or small trailers. Some bathrooms are older. Nice play spaces for kids of all ages, and also has a nice playground area. Almost always a breeze and storms can come up quickly off the lake - be sure to keep things put away and weighted down, and be ready to “batten down the hatches” as my dad used to say!

Exceeded expectations!! This place has it all, especially being as remote as it is. (Laundry facilities, fishing, firewood, quaint general store for supplies and fuel) We thoroughly enjoyed out time here, there were kids on site, boat rentals and extremely nice seasonal campers.. The campers became our friends,  they were all willing to help from the moment of our arrival, even shared fishing spots on the lake! Lots to do here between the lake and public beach/tennis courts within walking distance. Star gazing is FANTASTIC!

About 35 spots all non electric, many on the water of the oswegatchie river. There is shower and rest rooms. A small boat launch area. A new playground in 2017. Worth a look if you like your peace and quiet. The staff is friendly and helpful.

Beautiful view of the river. Easy access to swim in the water.

Very clean bathrooms

Electric site with water

Boat launch

Plenty of tree to hang your hammock

Very relax on the rules

Small but quite

Sites are large level concrete. You can watch ships on the seaway from the front