Best RV Parks & Resorts near Hammond, NY

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.

Campground was clean with newly paved roads. Unfortunately (and fortunately for future visitors) there is a lot of construction going on as the grounds are now owned by Sun RV Resorts (from KOA). That was annoying and disruptive to us but the improvements will be nice for the future.

Pool was nice and clean but one of the pool decks was closed for construction. Pool water was freezing this time of year. The rest of the amenities were dated and/or undergoing improvements so unavailable.

Staff was awesome! Very helpful and accommodating. Bob gave us amazing local recommendations!

Fishing was fun…lots of places to go to fish and the scenery was awesome.

Great for families. Lots of kids safely and respectfully running around on bikes, scooters, etc.

Sunsets were phenomenal! I mean, jaw dropping gorgeous.

One HUGE downfall was the amount of BUGS! Millions (not exaggerating) of midges and mayflies swarming the grounds from Lake Ontario. Be prepared to deal with this as we were not and had to vacuum inside the RV (ceilings, floors, walls) every night for about an hour to get rid of them inside. Not the campground’s fault but worth noting that the bug issue was not nearly as difficult other places such as inland or along the St. Lawrence in our observation.

Within an hours drive of lots of cute, small river towns with tons of ambiance. Water sport potential was huge if you have your own watercraft (boats, jet ski, kayaking, etc). Many state parks and historical areas as well. Highly recommend a boat tour of the St. Lawrence River!

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.

We stayed at Association Island on Lake Ontario in Henderson, NY, for a three-night excursion to celebrate my daughter’s end-of-9th-grade and start-of-summer. We’re so glad we did! 

When I made the reservation, this campground was a KOA, but has since changed owners and dissociated. They’re owned by Sun Outdoors who was willing to honor the reservation, site request, and discounted pricing.(Thank you, Sun Outdoors!) 

The approach by way of a single lane bridge to the island is beautiful. Once on the island, it’s obvious that this is a great place for retreat. Surrounded by Lake Ontario, it’s a secluded and idyllic setting for a RV campground. 

Our site(#G07) was on the sunset-side of the island and the last of the row beside a walking trail. It was wooded, roomy, and has full hookups, a fire ring, and picnic table. I could probably have fit another RV in the site and still had space to stretch. 

The sites all seem to be well maintained, the campground has paved roadways, a marina for small boats, swimming pool, and ice cream shop. We didn’t explore off the island and didn’t use the bath or shower facilities. 

Each of our interactions with staff was warm and friendly. We especially appreciate this when staying anywhere. 

We met a bunch of people who’ve visited the park for several consecutive years- all of whom told us there have been many upgrades and improvements since the ownership change. 

Except for the 9-hour drive through three states, we can’t wait to return. We paid a KOA-discounted rate of$88 per night plus a$25 site lock fee. We stayed in our 37’ Class-A motorhome.

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

Overall, our trip to this campground on an island was awesome! The sunsets were spectacular and our site was literally just steps from Lake Ontario. All sites are full hook up. Wifi is available and fairly good. Trash is picked up from your site between 8-10am each day. Staff was VERY nice and helpful. Most sites are spacious enough though you can see your neighbor. Fire pits are behind the camper pad so you can see others at their fire pits but most were spread out and I didn't hear the neighbors conversations. Being right on the lake and on the west facing side allowed for the prevailing winds to be felt. One night we couldn't sit outside due to the high winds. The Midge gnats were horrible for about a day and a half. They were around all week and I understand this was the time of year for them but the one day, you could not walk outside without being swarmed. In fact, I took pics of the swarm up above the trees. I've never seen anything like it before! We went out to eat the night they were so bad you couldn't cook, eat, or sit outside. There is a store with limited supplies, a "cafe" that served food but hours were not regular, a nice pool though too chilly in mid June to use. You can rent a golf cart which isn't really needed but fun. The opposite side of the island near the marina (not a full service marina just docks for your boat if you bring one)  and sunrise view had more spacious sites and you could access the lake easier. I don't think swimming is allowed though in the lake. The interior sites not on the water were okay, but a bit close in areas. The campground was not full most of the week we were there but began filling up by the weekend. There is a winery that does tastings on Friday afternoon and evenings which was fun. The closest towns are Watertown to the east which has any store you could need (Walmart, Lowes, etc.),  Henderson Harbor (not much there), Sagett's Harbor (cute but small with a couple cool restaurants though skip the brewery as they had no local beer and the food was just okay), Cape Vincent (cool lighthouse and small downtown), and Clayton which is about a 50 min. drive. We loved Clayton. Eat at Bellas on the St. Lawrence River! There is fishing at the island and a lot was being caught but most of it was small fish. Our friends went Go Karting somewhere close by. There are a few state parks that had great hiking trails and scenery. We had a lot of down time just relaxing while taking in the beautiful view. I'd happily go again!

This place is amazing! It's not fancy but the location is spectacular. Access is off of I81, down a few back roads and across a causeway. Our site was a pull in and we faced a western view of Lake Ontario. We were treated to gorgeous sunsets and minimal light pollution at night. The stars were everywhere. We were able to drop our kayaks right in the water in front of our rig and paddle to our heart's content. The water is clear and cool. Our site was full hookup and gravel based. We would definitely stay here again.

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 came to this campground after a week in Algonquin Provincial park in Canada and the contrast couldn't have been greater. Up north we stayed on a large, shady site in a radio free loop and everyone had canoes. In New York we had a cramped, open site and everyone seemed to have a motorboat on a trailer. Our neighbors across the road set up a movie screen . The overall feel was NOT "getting away from it all".
The facilities are good and there's a nice beach and well stocked General store, also a big boat ramp facility with some docks.
We chose this location because we were attending the Antique Boat Show in Clayton, 13 miles away, and this was the closest available. It suited us just fine for that.
Keep your stuff secure, there are brazen raccoons.

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.

Association Island is a great prospect, a failed KOA recently acquired by Sun Outdoors who are clearly struggling to get it up to scratch. We stayed three nights. The internet was down for 24 hours, there was no hot water in the showers because we were told the propane had run out, the laundry machines were tired and ineffective, garbage was overflowing behind the dumpster, there was 20% occupancy being late season, yet some staff guy had time to drive over and tell me we were 10 minutes late vacating our site. Incidentally our "elite" site H73 was overrun by mites, probably due to the lack of grounds maintenance. This place has great potential but Sun management needs to get a grip.

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.

Jake from the Dyrt here! Birch's Lakeside Campground has all the amenities needed to enjoy a stay in upstate New York, a general store, laundry & propane on site keep everything you need right there!  Check them out and leave a review about your stay on the Dyrt!

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!