North-South Lake Campground and Stokes State Forest offer horse camping options in the Beacon area, though neither provides dedicated horse corrals according to available data. Riders looking for equestrian campgrounds near Beacon should contact both parks directly regarding specific horse trail access and regulations before booking. Stokes State Forest permits pets and features both tent and RV camping along with cabin and glamping options. Clean sites with picnic tables and fire rings are standard at both locations. The bathrooms at Stokes are clean and strategically placed throughout the campground. Sites at North-South Lake include electric hookups, water hookups, and sewer connections for RVs, while Stokes focuses on more primitive camping experiences.
The trail systems near these campgrounds connect to various hiking routes, including access to the Appalachian Trail within a short drive from Stokes State Forest. Campsites at Stokes' Lake Ocquittunk area feature platforms large enough for multiple tents and bear-proof storage bins. Spacious, private sites with good separation between neighbors characterize the camping experience. Water access points are available throughout both campgrounds. Stokes remains open year-round while North-South Lake operates seasonally from May through October. The varied terrain provides different camping settings, from lakeside locations to more wooded areas.
"Our first campground was in New York Aug 8th. Unfortunately, Debbie was socking New York hard. North South Lake Campground in the Catskills was our camping home."
"This is a truly beautiful and scenic campground, easily one of the best places we have visited in New York State."
Campground full this weekend
Get a text when availablefrom $22 - $44 / night
"We stayed at the campsite at Lake Ocquittunk Area. Campsite was very spacious and had a platform where we were able to fit two tents. There was plenty of space on the site for more tents."
"* Water and dumpsters are within walking distance, or if you are not up to walking you can just take a short drive to fill up and dispose of your trash
- There are outhouses scattered around, or if"
from $7 - $55 / night
"We stayed at site #T007 is was a short walk from the car to the site, but so worth it for many reasons."
"The caping set up was nice and I enjoyed the proximity to available hikes in the area. The ‘lake’ however, was kind of a disappointment."
TravelerWe’re here for the Rock, Ribs, and Ridges festival and what a great experience! Make sure to bring a 50’ power cord as the hook ups are grouped together on telephone poles rather than at each individual site. As far as I know camping is only available during select events.
GuideThis is a truly beautiful and scenic campground, easily one of the best places we have visited in New York State. The campsites are well laid out, the surroundings are stunning, and the entire campground is very clean and well maintained. We visited in October, and it was pleasantly uncrowded, which made the experience even more enjoyable. The peaceful atmosphere and beautiful fall scenery made for a perfect camping trip. I'm not sure how busy it gets during the peak summer season, but our autumn visit was fantastic. We had a wonderful time and will definitely be coming back.
GuideWe stayed at a tent platform site in Shotwell camping area. The platforms could use a little maintenance as there were a few tie down hooks that were missing or corroded. The campsites are close around this loop that includes lean-tos, but not so close that you are bothered by your neighbors normal sounds. The bathroom is close and clean. There is a bear box at each campsite which gave peace of mind. Firewood is available for sale at the park office. The staff there is very welcoming. Great Jersey getaway with gorgeous hiking trails.
ScoutI don’t normally write reviews especially a negative one. We had a very upsetting experience at North-South Lake. We drove over two hours to visit my husband’s childhood campground for the first time with our three kids(ages 5, 7, and 9). When we arrived at the entrance, we were asked if it was a day visit, and we said yes, we were only staying for the day. We paid the fee, received a map, and drove in. My husband was so excited to finally share this place and create memories with our children. Looking for a place to park, we thought we were lucky to find an empty campsite in one of the loops where he used to camp as a child.
We parked the car hoping to enjoy the view of the lake, take a walk, and maybe make the kids a couple of s’mores before heading home.
At around 2:15–2:30 p.m., the “SUPERVISOR” in the white Kia approached us in an extremely rude and nasty manner, speaking as if we were committing a serious crime and comparing our situation to“sleeping in someone else’s hotel room.” She asked us if we had a reservation; we said no. She said,“Someone else reserved this spot.” We were very apologetic, embarrassed, and immediately put our stuff in the car. I said they could have told us; we would have moved right away. I’m sorry.
She said,“They aren’t supposed to talk to you; that’s why they send me here.” She told us we had ten minutes to leave, waited there while we put our chair, blanket, and s’more cookies in the car, and refused our 9-year-old daughter access to the bathroom while we packed up our three things, and even followed us out of the loop to make sure we didn’t park elsewhere. My daughter came to us crying because the lady told her she couldn’t use the bathroom and had to get in the car. Well, she had an accident in the car right as we were pulling out.
We were mortified and apologetic. My husband even offered to leave the firewood we had just purchased for the next campers, but she was dismissive and harsh about that as well.
The following day, I called and asked to speak with a manager to explain how we were treated. The manager was just as unfriendly and miserable sounding as the supervisor. I was told they had been looking for us“for hours” and that it’s“common sense” not to park in a campsite. She actually said it’s considered trespassing. So, a friendly warning for first-time visitors: Apparently, if you don’t know that“day use” doesn’t mean“park in any empty campsite,” just for the day, you’re officially a trespassing criminal, at least according to the manager.
Reading the website now, I see that check-in for people with reservations is at 2 p.m., which was the time we were trying to make a small fire, so unless someone left their site and returned, it’s unclear how they could have been looking for us“for hours.” We were right there at 2pm.
The website also states: Day Use• Anyone who is not camping is a day-user. Day-use hours are from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Day-users are not allowed between 9 p.m. and 7 a.m.
We were not camping but didn’t realize we couldn’t park in an empty campsite. I think“common sense” would be to inform DAY USE visitors at the ENTRANCE to use public parking, especially for families or first-time visitors who may not be camping experts. Bottom line: this was my husband’s childhood family spot. We just wanted to take a beautiful fall drive and have a special day with our kids.
We understand now that we needed to reserve the parking spot ahead of time, and it was an honest misunderstanding. I would have even offered to pay for the campers’ stay for their trouble. What we wish for is that the staff had approached us respectfully and explained the situation instead of treating us like criminals. Imagine being such a miserable person and working in such a BEAUTIFUL and peaceful place for families.
This was meant to be a special family day, honoring memories of my father-in-law and creating new ones with our children. Instead, it became stressful and humiliating. Sadly, this is what our children will remember about the day and about North South Lake
GuideThere 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.
TravelerStokes is my go-to state park for unplugging and enjoying time with my family. We brought our son (23 months at time of visit) on his first camping trip this past September. He loved every minute of it.
Site T07 in Lake Ocquittunk is gorgeous and one of the few relatively secluded sites in the campground. You need to carry your gear down a narrow, rocky path that's a little steep near the road, but it's manageable. There's also a graded path into the site adjacent to a neighboring site, but you should check with those campers if they are ok with you cutting through to use it. (We opted not to disturb our neighbors and take the slope.)
I thought I would be able to launch my kayak from site 7 since it's waterfront, but there are a lot of huge rocks in the water that prevent you from getting out into the lake. We had to find a different launch spot. That was probably the biggest disappointment for us.
Still, I love site 7 and it's absolutely worth the privacy and the views every morning.
LegendWe were on a 5 state East Coast camping trip. Our first campground was in New York Aug 8th. Unfortunately, Debbie was socking New York hard. North South Lake Campground in the Catskills was our camping home. Thursday & Friday it was Neverending rain & wind. Saturday was the nice day.
North South Lake has no electricity. The sites are almost all beautiful, tucked in under shady trees. Not a good way to try out our solar panel! Some are by a stream. A few are by the lake. This is a tent campers paradise. New York tent campers are hard core camping during Tropical Storm Debbie!
There are 7 loops. We were in loop 2. Site 85. There are some sites with an incline down to the site. That might give some rvs trouble. It did for us & I had to be driven out of the campground to call 911. Thank you Mary!! It all ended well & we got a different site.
There are bears that visit the campground & one came one of the nights & visited our camping neighbor's site. They showed us a picture- it was a large black bear.
Generators are allowed for 5 hours & they tell you when you can use them.
The bathrooms/showers are state park clean- which means not very.
There is NO cell service & just forget about WiFi. You are unplugged.
This is a hiking park & for this middle aged overweight flatlander they are pretty strenuous. Kaaterskill Falls is an exception - short, easy trail, but the parking fills up quickly. Then they close it! You'll have to take a shuttle to get in.
The trail to the Mountain House Site is also pretty easy, with more of an incline.
There's 2 nice lakes with beaches.
The Catskills are very scenic& we enjoyed our time there!
GuideStokes State Forest is a beautiful park with a lot of different trails to check out, though some of them are difficult to access due to parking. The camping areas are split between two different entrances. If you’re in Lake Ocquitunk, like I was, you don’t enter at the main entrance, you have to go past the main entrance about another mile on rt. 15 N. and enter by the YMCA. All the other camping areas are near the main entrance by the forest office. The campsites themselves are a little too close together in some spots with little coverage or privacy. There is a day parking area which is only accessible going through the main entrance by the forest office— if you visit during the week park entrance is free, but on the weekend fees can be a bit steep. I wasn’t super happy with my campsite as I wasn’t able to physically have my car on the site like I thought. I had to park in a small lot above my campsite and carry my belongings down a short slope to the site. I like to car-camp so this was a bit of a let down having my car separate from my actual campsite.
The bathrooms were nice and had flush toilets, but the showers were out of service during my time. Bathrooms are extremely spaced out so you will have to walk a far distance unless you strategically choose a site next to one. I drove through the other campsite and only saw 1 set of bathrooms that had toilets and showers per campground, not including the outhouses I saw for those in the small cabins.
GuideI really love this campground each of the campsites in our loop which was in the lower 100s, has a lot of foliage around it, creating privacy between you and the site next to you. There is a lake with swimming, clean bathrooms, clean, clean showers. Picnic table and fire pit with grill top. There’s a lot of bear activity here, so constantly cleaning up your food is very important. Definitely love it here for woodsy feel.
North of Beacon, New York, campers can access several established campgrounds in the Catskill Mountains and Delaware Water Gap region. The area sits at elevations between 1,200 and 2,200 feet with hiking trails connecting to mountain summits that reach up to 4,180 feet. Summers average 75-85°F with cooler nights around 55-65°F, while spring and fall temperatures can drop significantly, requiring adequate clothing and gear.
Swimming in pristine lakes: North-South Lake Campground offers excellent swimming opportunities with clean, refreshing water. "I go there almost every year to go swimming with my family and friends and it's always a good time," reports Lizz H. about North-South Lake Campground.
Hiking diverse trails: Access multiple trail systems from your campsite, including routes for all skill levels. "There are 21 marked trails that cover over 63 miles within the boundaries of Stokes State Forest. Twelve miles are part of the Appalachian Trail," notes a visitor to Stokes State Forest.
Fishing opportunities: Many campgrounds provide lake access for anglers seeking bass, trout, and other freshwater species. "Enjoyed some fishing and hiking within walking distance from the site," mentions Vito M. about his experience at Lake Ocquittunk.
Kayaking and paddleboarding: Rental equipment is available at several locations. "You can also rent kayaks and SUP at the main office," shares one camper about the recreational options at Stokes State Forest.
Privacy between sites: Campers appreciate the thoughtful layout that provides separation between neighbors. "Campsite was very spacious and had a platform where we were able to fit two tents. There was plenty of space on the site for more tents," explains E.M.V. about Lake Ocquittunk.
Lakefront camping: Select sites offer direct water views and easy lake access. "We stayed at site #T007... The site itself is huge and we were able to position our tent facing the lake, it was beautiful!" shares Kara L. about her stay at Lake Ocquittunk.
Proximity to natural attractions: Many campgrounds are located near notable features. "Located just about a mile from Kaaterskill Falls this campground couldn't be in a better spot," states Brittany W. about North-South Lake Campground.
Clean facilities: Maintained bathrooms and showers rank high among visitor priorities. "The bathrooms are clean and nicely placed. The sites had a fire ring with a cooking grate and a picnic table and were well spaced out from other sites," reports Catherine S.
Bear awareness required: This is active bear country, so proper food storage is essential. "This is bear country so proper food storage is a must. Bear lockers are not provided," warns a reviewer at Stokes State Forest.
Site selection matters: Some campgrounds have more rocky sites than others. "Most of the campsites were very rocky, but you can find some that have a little bit of grass," notes Adeline M. about Stokes State Forest.
Water sources vary: Depending on your campground and site, access to potable water may differ. "Two water sources nearby as well," mentions E.M.V. about Lake Ocquittunk's convenience.
Seasonal considerations: Some campgrounds remain open year-round while others have limited seasons. "We rented a cabin in November (#009) and again in December (#008) of 2021," shares W.L., highlighting the year-round availability at certain locations.
Choose sites near amenities: Families appreciate convenient access to bathrooms and water. "The bathroom and water were all single stall and very clean, only a 5 min walk from our site," reports one visitor to Lake Ocquittunk.
Lake activities for children: Multiple water recreation options keep kids engaged. "North South lake is one of the larger public camp grounds in New York. The sites are well spaced out. Great for families. The lake is huge," explains Tara L. about North-South Lake Campground.
Consider cabin options: For families new to camping or during shoulder seasons, cabins provide a comfortable alternative. "We stay in the cabins. It's great to have the small kitchen when camping with the family," shares Amy B. about her experience at Stokes State Forest.
Pack for temperature shifts: Mountain elevations mean significant day-to-night temperature changes, especially in spring and fall. "I bought six bundles of wood and used them all from Friday to Sunday morning, and 7 would've have been better," notes W.L. about heating needs during cooler seasons.
Limited equestrian camping near Beacon, New York: While horses are permitted on certain trails, dedicated equestrian facilities are minimal. Contact park offices directly for current regulations and trail access information before planning horseback riding activities.
Size restrictions apply: Some campgrounds can only accommodate smaller RVs. "Steam Mill Camping Area is tucked out the of the way and is the most primitive. It is the smallest of the campgrounds with 27 sites only suitable for tents or small trailers/campervans," explains a reviewer at Stokes State Forest.
Check hookup availability: Not all campgrounds offer full hookups. "Sites at North-South Lake include electric hookups, water hookups, and sewer connections for RVs," but other locations may have more limited services.
Reserve early for prime spots: Popular RV-friendly sites book quickly, especially during summer months. "Reserve very early for waterfront," advises Rachel G. about planning a stay at North-South Lake Campground.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is the most popular equestrian campsite near Beacon, NY?
According to TheDyrt.com, the most popular equestrian campground near Beacon, NY is North-South Lake Campground with a 4.5-star rating from 44 reviews.
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