Best Tent Camping near Chappaqua, NY

I stayed at Beaver Pond Campground in Harriman State Park for two nights with my husband. We chose this campground because of its close proximity to Schunemunk Mountain. We found a lovely 6.4 mile lollipop/loop route hike that weekend, complete with beautiful rolling meadows, gradual hills, and steep climbs.

Due to some mentally-draining traffic on the way, we arrived to the campground around 9:30pm. The camp office was closed, but we were able to check in at the ranger station across the parking lot. At the ranger station we were greeted by a bunch of spiders in their webs. I'm not going to lie, I freaked out! Once we were all checked-in, the ranger explained the usual rules (quiet hours are from 10pm-7am, check out by 11am, etc.). A rule that he made sure to stress was that no alcohol is allowed in the campground.

Harriman State Park is located in a densely-forested area, and there is very little light pollution, so we didn't notice until the morning how little privacy there is between sites. There are hardly any trees within the campground, and you can see and hear just about everything. We had some rowdy neighbors, so it was a long night.

We stayed in a regular tent site, but there was also the option of sites with platforms. Each site had a picnic table and fire ring. The campground had restrooms with flush toilets and showers. There were a good amount of insects crawling around in the restrooms, including what we think were ticks. The showers were a bit dirty and old-looking. However, the showers were free and hot, so I won't complain. :)

My 3-star rating mainly stemmed from the noise an major lack of privacy.

Fahnestock State Park, Carmel, NY

Busy Campground on Weekends!

This park has a nice open beach on Canopus Lake with a concession area and bathhouse, which we found to be quite clean! They even have boat rentals - or you can bring your own boat to launch! If you are into fishing, there is another lake and two ponds that our neighbor campers said were great for catching panfish - one fisherman said he had caught several bass weighing over 3 pounds!!

Weekends - this park is FULL! Make sure to reserve at least two weeks out. Weekdays? You should be in luck! We stayed in site number 1, and I found it to be just wooded enough. Almost all of the sites offered privacy.... Even when the campground was full. I do feel the campground bathhouse really needed more attention... while it had clearly been painted this past year, it was very “buggy” - and did not appear to have been thoroughly cleaned since spring... (yuck!).

PRODUCT REVIEW: As a ranger for Dyrt.com, sometimes I am offered the opportunity to test and review various products. At Fahnestock State Park in New York state, I reviewed my Gregory Maven 55L Women’s backpack (see accompanying video).

Weighing in at 3 pounds 6 ounces, the Gregory Maven was a nice mid-weight pack for me to take on my yearly 2 1/2 week Appalachian Trail hike.

Normally, I like to save the best for last when I do a review; however, this time I just can’t wait to spread the news about my favorite features! The Maven has a Matrix Ventilation System, which provides exceptional ventilation on the pack’s back panel. This kept my back from being its usual sweaty mess! The second feature that blew me away was how cool my water stayed in this backpack! With other packs, the water gets warmed up from heat radiating off the hiker’s back. This didn’t happen with my Gregory pack! Every pull off my water - from the beginning of the day until hours later - provided me with a refreshingly cool drink. I actually questioned other hikers with Gregory packs to see if I was the only one experiencing this - The other hikers, who had different Gregory models, confirmed that their backs and water were staying cooler too! Added bonus: I was able to pull out the hydration sleeve and use it as a daypack a few times!

The Maven’s pockets helped me keep my pack much more organized than in the past. It has a lower sleeping bag compartment, top pocket with separate zipper areas (one has a place to attach a car key!), side pockets, hip pockets, and even pockets on the shoulder harnesses! I can’t forget the front pocket, which held the rain fly!

The pack fit was great, but do be careful to check your sizing if you are looking at both the 45L and 55L. While I am a XS/S with the 55L, I would have been a S/M with the 45L.

I used this pack for 2 1/2 weeks backpacking over 200 miles on the Appalachian Trail through the states of New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts. The Maven did an outstanding job keeping my possessions organized and dry as well as keeping me comfortable and happy on the trail! This will definitely be my pack of choice for future hikes!

I camped here solo on Friday and Saturday over the Labor Day weekend. Overall my experience was positive.

Camping Sites

Each camping site has a picnic table and barbeque grill. The sites are designated by printing on the roads and do not have clear boundaries between them. My site had good shade coverage and was free of rocks and other hazards. 

I had enough space that I didn't feel like I was intruding on my neighbors and vice-versa. That said, there aren't clear paths to the restroom building so it's not uncommon for people to cut through the edges of sites to get there. In my experience I (and others I saw) tried not to go right through the middle people's setups to do so.

If you're looking for privacy, the sites at the rear seemed to be less-densely packed, even though every site was occupied. Quiet hours are generally adhered to but not enforced - there were some campers that had noise running later.

Amenities

The restroom building is in the middle of the campground and was clean and had plenty of stalls.

Potable water is available at regular intervals, about at the corners of each group of four campsites.

Cell phone reception is limited - I had data but it was very slow which led to my phone's battery draining quickly.

Access

A car is an absolute must for this part - the entrance is directly off of Southern State Parkway with no pedestrian access. Train stations are nearby so you could take the train most of the way and rent a car from there.

We stayed here on a Thursday night in September prior to taking off backpacking. The campground was clean and quiet. RV hook-ups, tent platforms, and rustic tent sites were available. Our rustic tent site had a few good options for pitching a tent, as well as picnic table and fire ring.

Ranger said that during summer weekends the grounds fill up and can be quite noisy, but mid-week during the off-season it was great. Expect to purchase firewood, although scrounging for kindling was possible. Facilities were clean and what you'd expect from a campground.

Would definitely return!!

We recently stayed at site 3 at the campground at High Point State Park in NJ. It was our first time there, and we were surprised at how nice it was.

There are about 40 to 50 sites around Sawmill Lake. Many of these sites , like ours, are walk in sites (about a 50 yard walk) that sit lakeside. The sites were large and spread out, and we felt like we had a good amount of privacy.

Our site had a picnic table, and a fire ring with a cooking grate. Although, we didn't have one, we saw some sites had tent platforms

There are a few sites that sit higher up, and further from the lake, for RV and or car campers not looking to walk to there site. These had less privacy because they sit close to the road.

The bathrooms with flush toilets were ok when we were there. There are water spigots around the campground, but there are no showers or sinks. It's noted that there is no camp store at the campground, and the closest grocery was about 1/2 hour away, so come prepared. They did sell firewood at the park headquarters , which is about 10 minutes away from the campground.

It was pretty buggy (including ticks), so don't forget your deep woods.

My first time camping at High Point State Park, Sawmill Area, September 2019. I chose a campsite close to the restrooms and water spigot. It turned out to be very secluded, minus the foot traffic to the restroom at all hours. The campsite is mostly gravel so the platform is necessary. There are no trees for hammocking, so I made the best of it with the platform and my car. There was also not a lot of shade during the day. I moved my chair around to chase the shade. It was hot during the day and chilly at night.

Campground is close hiking trails and the High Point Monument(20min drive).

Each campsite has a firepit/ring, picnic table, and lantern hook. Campsite sells fire wood. Clean bathrooms with flush toilets, no sinks, no showers, no bad smell.

Shawangunk was SUCH a nice place to stay. So many good things - though a few things to keep in mind when you're booking, too. 

I definitely recommend trying to get the walk-in (meaning you can't drive to them) sites (8-15) because they're just a little bit more set back and kind of wonderfully wooded all around. 8 & 9 seemed like the star sites, because they're up and away a little bit more than 10-15.

Here goes:

The Good:

• The nicest, most level tent site you'll ever find. So easy to set up, and no worries whatsoever about roots or rocks.
• Bathrooms and wash area, water access, etc. are all very easily accessible from any campsite
• Nice new picnic benches
• Gorgeous area - especially in the walk-in sites (i.e., not car accessible), where you're a little separated from the pavement
• Holy crap is this the perfect location for exploring the Gunks, Mohonk Preserve, etc. You couldn't be more central to everything that's going on around it.
• Phenomenal access to a trash can. It's very central and made throwing out dog poop really, really simple.

The just okay:

• Campsites are pretty close to a road. It's not particularly busy, but the speed limit is 55 so you do get some pretty decent whooshing sounds while you're trying to sleep.
• The tent site is literally the only flat part of most campsites. Even our picnic table at site 13 was slightly tilted. Not an issue, really, but it was noticeable.
• With all the heavy bear traffic signs that were up, I was surprised to see how close bear boxes were to our tents. They seemed to be 1-10 feet away from tents in each campsite. 
• Take with a slight grain of salt my recommendation of sites 8-15 - 8 & 9 are up a little higher and might be better, but 11-15 are within 50 feet of a wet area, and the bugs in late May were pretty annoying. I'm guessing other sites would have been better, and our hikes were almost bug-less.
• Campsites are CLOSE together. I was relieved to be in a site we had to walk to, because having the car right there combined with other tents would have been a little claustrophobic. 

Overall we really did love staying here. It was pretty empty and we were able to have two cars in the parking spots (usually you can only have one in the assigned spot) without putting anyone out. It was full of friendly people and my dog had an awesome time romping through the leaves and people watching. Definitely recommend this site if you're hiking or climbing in the area!