Best Campgrounds near Pompton Lakes, NJ

This is a trailer park for RVs. Virtually all of the sites are occupied with permanently parked RVs. Most sites have years of accumulated junk around the sites. It is not inherently bad, but it’s not a great choice for traveling RVers.

I was here for 3 days while hiking on the Appalachian Trail. I was assigned a site that is in the ‘front yard’ of a permanent trailer, under their deck. My site was just un-level enough that I didn’t quite have enough blocks to get my trailer level. It was conveniently located beside the dumpsters that were overflowing when I arrived and weren’t emptied while I was here.

The bath house is outdated, wasn’t filthy but wasn’t cleaned while I was here, and smells like a Porta-potty after a county fair. Because there are really only permanent residents staying here, I suspect there isn’t much need to keep up with the bath house.

It’s a noisy park, but not in an obnoxious way. It’s noisy in the way that a neighborhood with kids is noisy. A significant number of the residents are working class Spanish families with a fair number of kids. That part was cool….gave the place a nice vibe. Waking up to residents mowing their own lawns in an RV park was a new one for me. Not bad, just unexpected.

The staff was courteous during my visit, and I believe they may be trying to improve this location. As a permanent rental option for people trying to have an affordable place to live, I’m sure it fills a need. The park was at well above 80% occupancy with permanent units. But if you are look(no for a more traditional RV park, I recommend looking elsewhere.

If you like dispersed camping, like me- this place is good. There are absolutely no amenities whatsoever & barely even a signal here, but it’s quiet & off the beaten path. The parking lot only holds about 4-5 cars, 6 if you park real tight. There’s no spectacular mountain views from above, but rather a quiet peaceful wooded area & although I only seen/stayed at one camping spot which is literally at about the required 150ft from the road, you can set up your own camp anywhere. I was the only one here & it was a very peaceful & relaxing night

There are four campgrounds that are all pretty different, we stayed at Shotwell across from the pond. For the most part, each campsite has its own porta potty or it shared with a couple other sites. At the entrance of the campground, there is a bathhouse with running water, bathrooms, and potable water. We stayed in one of the RV areas across the pond. It was peaceful to hear the frogs chirping at night, but definitely didn’t think about how many more bugs the pond would bring, probably wouldn’t stay at that specific spot again even though it’s really pretty. Most of the campsites were very rocky, but you can find some that have a little bit of grass. We came on a Friday night. Everyone was up pretty late, but was not crazy loud. The rest of the weekend it seemed like everyone’s simmered down. The campground was full of mostly families. If you wanted to shower, you would have to head to the group campsite not too far but you need to drive. We don’t typically expect to have a campgrounds with a ton of amenities. Potable water and a toilet is really all we need. Overall, it was a great time gorgeous park. Also took a few pictures of the cabins in Shotwell. I wouldn’t personally rent one, but I guess if your winter camping it has a little fireplace and will keep you dry and somewhat warm.