Best Campgrounds near Cortland, NY

This is a relatively new location for primitive camping in the Pharsalia Woods State Forest. There is a parking area just off the Plymouth Reservoir Rd that allows you to access a network of trails that traverse the state preserve around the unique Round Pond and adjacent bog. Primitive camping is allowed anywhere in the vicinity as long as you are 150 feet from the waters edge and away from the parking lot. The parking lot has an info kiosk with a map of the trail network and info about the unique bog ecosystem. You need to sign in at the kiosk, but otherwise there are no permits needed and no fees. One amazing aspect at this site is a beautiful and accessible raised boardwalk to a unique overlook that has a beautiful vista over the bog and is an amazing place for birdwatching especially during spring migration. You can also access the bog pond here if using kayaks or canoes. It is like a unique wilderness location fir primitive camping, but only 15 minutes from the village of Norwich!

For more info on the Pharsalia Woods in general, and the Round Pond in particular, visit this link on the DEC website: https://dec.ny.gov/places/pharsalia-woods-state-forest Be sure to also click on the link on that page regarding primitive camping at this site

This state forest is beautiful but not easily accessible in the winter. After a certain point, the road is not maintained in the winter and I was unable to get cell reception with Verizon.

Pulled back and punted bc of Storm Debbie. Lucked out with a find in the Finger Lakes. Nice campground. Has everything you need. Small sites but fine for our hybrid. Ours was shady. Check out which side the hookups are on. Some not situated on the right side so you’ll need extra long cords. Just beautiful area. Hiked here. Drove to Watkins Glen-hiked-absolutely breathtaking. That campground is much larger. Went to Buttermilk Falls too.

We needed a campground not too far off our route from Niagara Falls to NH and this was great. Very windy when we arrived. Our campsite 8 did not have a fire ring but others did. Right on water…can’t drive on path in front of the water sites so you are essentially on the water. Nice clean facilities.

I love that despite there being so many sites, you don’t feel on top of each other in Seneca Village. It’s a state campground so don’t expect it to be anything close to dispersed camping. Trees separated me from my neighbors on either side, woods behind my tent, lots of quiet, no one blasted music or anything like that. I woke up to seeing trees above me and hearing birds. The bathroom was clean, with multiple ways to enter it without going near someone else’s site. The campground felt safe, and you are able to buy firewood (I didn’t due to quite a bit of rain). To get to the gorge trail, you have to walk over to the next site (Oswego I think) but it’s not too far. I would most likely stay at that loop next time though because it seemed to have even more space on each site. I didn’t see any bears and asked a few workers but only one had seen a bear the entire time they’ve been there. Definitely recommend this location. Lots of beautiful trails, red cat wine slushies were delicious, grounds were fun to explore and people were either friendly or kept to themselves which was great. Super dog friendly and I met many of them! Just a note, dogs are NOT allowed on the gorge trail.

Very well maintained. Some sites are close and some a spread out. About half of them are in the sun and half get shade all day. I switched sites after a day to get some solar charging. Clean bathrooms with flush toilets. Sign in near bathrooms on arrival. Dogs must be on a leash but I found a spot down the hill to the south where there are no campsites to let them play fetch for a bit.

Tent camping here felt like we were camping in a neighborhood backyard. We could hear so many different families talking and really doing everything you do while camping but the area felt so open and unobstructed voices carried and in the evening when everyone was building campfires the smoke could be overwhelming at times.

Nice campground, sites are borderline close, and some are laid out funky. Bath houses get the job done, but nothing exciting.

Nice and calm place in that little State Forest. Internet and fire pits are available. All sites seem fairly similar, except two are tent-only (no car acces to the site).

Tiny quiet campground right on duck lake. Water front sites available. Very friendly owner!

Yes, it’s true! You’ve hit the campground bathroom lottery here!

Let’s start off with the pros: bathrooms are great! Super modern and clean and hot, free showers! Very handicap accessible as well.

The whole campground is very well kept. Completely litter free and all the buildings and signs are modern and cool looking. Five stars all the way for the people running this place. They are doing an awesome job keeping it very fresh.

Maintenance/facilities: 5 stars

Camping sites:

I’ll start with the positive. It was a simple and easy, level site. And we had electric. So it was good.

The cons: There is zero privacy here. Virtually no trees or shrubs between sites and sites are close to each other. In the rolling meadow sites opt for the electric as the tent only sites are basically a sardine can of campers. I mean in one spot the tents were so close to each other I thought it was a group campsite but it was not. Like a group hostel room but with tents instead of bunks.

We were only here for 1 night passing through and it was great for that but I would not feel comfortable hanging outside at my site in quarters so close. Maybe I’m just weird because many people did. I can’t imagine spending any longer than 1-2 nights here. I would stay again but would check out other camp spots first. In our area 118 and 120 seemed to the best that backed up onto trees as opposed to just other sites.

Camping sites: 2 stars

Amenities: there’s a lot to do here. However I feel I must say you cannot reach the lakes from the rolling meadow campground without a car, bike or very long walk. You can see a bit of round lake through the trees but it really isn’t accessible. Expectations are the doom of any trip so just keep that in mind. You’re not going to bed with any sort of lake views or sounds near you. Also you can only swim at the beach which is pretty small and guarded by some pretty enthusiastic lifeguards taking the job pretty seriously. I guess you will appreciate it if you have little kids to me it was a turn off as I don’t prefer to feel like a fish in a bowl when I swim. But again this is just personal preference! Also there were a lot of rules at this tiny beach - more than I have seen at pretty much any other beach anywhere in the world. Mostly I assume the rules are there to protect the water which I can appreciate but don’t expect a relaxing lake vibe here. Lots of picnic tables and a perfect place to have a picnic and chill for a bit. Very clean beach bath area and I really appreciated the charging station with 4 covered outlets available and a charging counter. I didn’t use it but was impressed someone thought to add that in to the building plans.

With all the rules in place there is just one missing: No political propaganda of any type should be allowed at the campsites. We were almost blinded by idiocy each time we walked to the bathroom as we had to go past a full size Trump flag someone was flying in front of their site. Can’t even imagine the rage I would’ve felt if I had to camp next to that. Fortunately I found a cut through in the woods which I used to get around it on the way to the bathroom. Camping is where you go to get away from all of it! This is state owned land and they should not be allowing that sort of inflammatory full sized political flag in any area as it only raises the blood pressure instead of dropping it. You can’t bring your own SUP or kayak, face mask or list of any other things to the lake (rules) but you can have your heart attack inducing propaganda all over your site and in everyone else’s face - makes no sense.

Would I stay here again: Yes. But only for 1 night passing through. I felt too crowded to be there for any length of time. It was hard for me to relax outside.

Value was a 5 star because I had full electric for $30/night and there was plenty to do. I should note for kids this place is a goldmine! Great playgrounds everywhere and you can rent kayaks. And it’s great for bikes. And it was all very handicap accessible which I thought was very impressive. You can tell a lot of thought went into the facility side of park. If they cut out 1/4 of the camp sites it would be spacious and amazing. And the trumpeter is just a case of bad timing for me, not a permanent thing (although I do think they should ban that decoration of insanity at state run parks).

This was a nice spot, but the animals at the pond are very active and made a lot of noise in the night. Port-a-potty was available.

Friendly staff, beautifully kept.

Site is sloped, shaded and right next to the bathrooms and water spigot. ATT coverage is decent. Other side of the bathrooms is access to the gorge trails. Pets are not allowed on the gorge trail itself but the rim and other trails are fine.