Best RV Parks & Resorts near Howes Cave, NY

We stayed her for the first time and compared to most KOAs we have stayed at this one was far better. I have a full review on my blog openboxreviews

Cons: low water pressure at our site

Firewood is expensive and you don't get much

Sites are close together and little to no privacy

Pros:

Pet friendly- has K-9 area for dogs to run off leash and do agility course

Lots of activities

Themed cabins

Almost all camping sites are on the water

You can go tubing from one end of the creek to the other- bring your own tube

Playground

Pool

Basketball court

Shuffle board

Level Sites

Full hook-ups

Across the street from Herkimer Diamond Mine

We had lots of fun, we spent one day at the mines and the next day we tried to do as many activities as we could- wiffle ball, made pinwheels, volleyball with a giant volleyball, bingo, family relay, ice cream social and dance party. Great time, clean campground, great staff.

For my full review visit: openboxreviews.com

So this campground was a mixed bag for us. We enjoyed the activities, and the site itself was nice, but there were some definite issues. Positives: There are lots of things to do in the park, especially for kids, as many other reviews have discussed. The lots are large and nicely wooded with working full hookups and good water pressure. Negatives: Roads: We have a large 5th wheel RV, and we were assured that it would fit. It did- technically. We were within 2 inches or less of trees on 4 or 5 instances getting in and out of our site, and I had to drive off of the road on several occasions to make it through. We are used to a tight fit in RV parks, but this was over the top. They need to clear some of the roads if they are going to accommodate rigs over 40'. Activity equipment: So although there were tons of activities and playgrounds, unfortunately a lot of the equipment was run down or not working. The arcade only had a few games that actually still worked, and at least 2 of the playgrounds need to be torn down because they are in such bad shape. Permanent campers: It seemed like at least half of the sites were occupied by permanent or semi-permanent residents, as they had structures built around their rigs, lots of decorations, etc. In some cases, it looked like the rigs were owned by people who came in on the weekend, or stayed part-time, and most of those RV's were fine. However, there was a significant number of people who obviously lived in their run-down RV's, and those sites were invariably filled with junk and were poorly kept. Additionally, some of the"permanent" residents rode circuits around the park in their golf carts, and were very unfriendly towards us. Booking site: Online booking is not done through the park's website, instead you are directed to a 3rd party site that requires a separate account and is very difficult to navigate. It contained a few dead links and required the booking party to sign several online forms about campsite rules, but some of the required signature areas didn't actually contain any forms. You were just signing a blank area in the site with no associated info. The site then required some sort of approval process for the booking to be confirmed. I received an email that the approval was partially completed, and then never got anything else. I had to call the site to confirm my reservation went through. I also never received any kind of check-in info prior to arrival. We camped at Rip Van Winkle Campground in a Fifth Wheel.

I’ve yet to have a bad experience at a state park. They are always better maintained and are typically more beautiful and interactive than national park campgrounds and even most RV parks.

The sites are amongst the most spacious I’ve ever seen. RV sites offer 30/50 amp electricity. There are several hiking trails, a bike trail, a really awesome playground, boat dock, and lots of picnicking.

The bathrooms are clean. The showers are large, but they do operate on a push system where you can’t adjust the pressure, temp, or how long the water comes out, so just be aware of that. Lots of water fill ups in the campground. Dump station on the way out. Two different book exchanges. Mostly filled with Danielle Steele, which is not my preference, but maybe someone will spice it up in the future.

ATT and Verizon fluctuate between 1-3 bars. It was enough for me to work - downloading files, sending emails, and conducting non-video zoom calls. At night we were able to stream with just a little buffering needed throughout.

Lots of bunnies, weasels, chipmunks, birds, and butterflies. Plenty of space to walk the dog. Be sure to bring your dogs rabies records!! They don’t let you in with just the tag, it has to be the paper records. We’re full time so not a problem as it’s always with me, but they are very strict on rabies requirements

Definitely recommend.

On top of hill right outside of town. Stayed during the week and was able to get a more secluded, wooded site. (Most of them are pretty open) It was quiet at night. You can hear some traffic from down below at busier times. Nice walking trail around the property through woods and field. Convenient WSE hookup right at site. Staff was friendly. It was hard to pre book a site though. You can’t do it online, you have to email, and it can take a while to hear back from anyone confirming a reservation. $50/night for full hookup.

It is a cool place, Richard and Rick are great guys. The land they share has a pond that is very secluded. We used his power source so we were near his home and site was level for the travel trailer. Slept great each night!! Lots of trails near by for biking or hiking. Highly recommend. Property has an abundance of free firewood you can collect.

Pros; great guys to get to know, level site, dark and private, available and free firewood, lots to hike and bike in the area.

Cons; only con was that they were limited on water so could not dump tanks during our stay, had to travel to anothwr place, a little hassle.

Ranger review: GCI at Brookside Campground

CAMPGROUND REVIEW We ended up at this campground because the family we were traveling with needed to accommodate their 50 foot camper. As a rule of thumb- I try to visit as little RV parks as I can, but we were trying to find somewhere that would accommodate both of our needs.

While it is true that this campground does specialize in large groups and is one of the only places in the area that will host a rig as big as my uncles, that was about the only thing it had going for it.

Grounds were dilapidated. It was like they had too much to handle. The lawn was overgrown at our site, the bathrooms were always in need of something... it was just a glorified trailer park.

I will say that the spots were spacious, particularly pertaining to tent sites. However- the brook that the campground is named after is mostly stagnant. So prepare for an abundance of mosquitos!

Another perk is the location. It was really nice to be right near The Catskills. However, I will most definitely be taking advantage of the smaller and quieter campgrounds around.

Would recommend for: people with big rigs. Large groups with children. The sports “complex” and pool actually looked very nice and well maintained. There were kids everywhere.

RANGER REVIEW ON... GCI OUTDOOR CHAIRS

So if you’ve been keeping up with my ranger reviews, you know I am always very pleasantly surprised by the things I’ve gotten the opportunity to test out that I never knew I needed. Camping Chairs were actually on my list of things to acquire this year for our trips, so I was psyched (as usual) when I found out GCI Outdoors would be what I got to check out.

I purchased the “Eazy” chair and the Roadtrip Rocker.

So first, the Eazy chair. It’s a good looking chair that comes packed away in a pouch that slings over your shoulder. It’s pretty heavy, but we happened to be car camping this time around so that wasn’t a big deal. The arm rests are sturdy, the chair is comfortable to sit in.

The Roadtrip rocker I was really excited about. And the thing is pretty awesome. The patented hydrolics is pretty nifty and it’s really neat how it works. I was surprised to find that it packed so easily into its sack, and has a sling so that you can carry it where you need to go.

Grab your own here:

https://www.gcioutdoor.com/camping-chairs/roadtrip-rocker/

Rip Van Winkle is a beautiful campground, it’s well run, well maintained, and has a lot to do! I was a little skeptical that we wouldn’t get to choose our site, but you can’t go wrong, they are all wooded, private and well situated. The campground is centrally located you many things to do. Minnewaska state park was gorgeous, and the hikes around Kaaterskill as well. The creek on the property (Plattekill) is great, the pond is fun to fish in, the RC track is great for those who are into it, laundry facilities are efficient, full hookups are the cherry on top. Highly recommend.

Although No cell service site was nice . Was our first shakedown camping trip. Very nice (clean) bathrooms and showers. Private level site surrounded by trees. EZ access to fresh water spigot. Enjoyed our stay, would return.

This was by far the worst camping experience I've ever had, and it was for less than 10 hours. I backpack and glamp when the situation calls for it. In this case, I looked for a site close to the Saratoga Performing Arts Center to stay at after a concert. The webpage mentioned having a shuttle from the concert, which only indicates that they were likely accommodating many late-arriving concertgoers. I booked my site and received a call shortly after, notifying me that my site was flooded out, and I would need to be moved to the spill-over area. Not a problem. The call was pleasant, and I couldn't have cared any less. I asked how packed the spill-over was, and it sounded fine, so everything was set. We were just there for a quick tent setup, sleep, and leave in the morning kind of scenario.$30-something for the night? Sounds good! How wrong I was. We arrived a little after midnight, as would be expected considering I was asked if I was booking my site for the concert. I notified the main desk that I was just looking for the spill-over area as my site was said to be flooded, and they ended up giving me another site! Score! We were psyched. Maybe we'd take our time and have a little coffee before we left even! I was given a highlighted map to find our site(#174). We pulled into our site and were met with what appeared to be a long-term camper situation across from us complete with green laser beam lighting, giving the surrounding area the feel of both a cheap nightclub, and being the focus of a green dot laser-sighted kill team. Accompanying the visual display was a loud radio, essentially playing the Home Depot radio playlist. Now, the volume was what my girlfriend and I both saw as inconsiderate given that it was after midnight, but we weren't going to make a stink about it. Give them a chance to realize it's late, the campgrounds have rules, and maybe consider being good people. That was a dumb idea. Not only did they turn it up louder, but then they broke out the karaoke machine and proceeded to scream into the microphone as if we had wronged them, and we deserved to live in hell for whatever amount of time we'd be there. If they weren't intentionally trying to piss us off and this is just who they are as regular people, they are the largest pieces of trash humans I've ever encountered, and I work in NYC. We plugged our ears up, trying to get whatever sleep we could get, planning to leave at 7-8 am anyway. There's no telling what drugs these jackasses were on, and who knows if they had guns. "Just get through the night," we said. At some point, a car pulls up to our site and had its headlights right on our tent, waking me up. The driver claims we had his site, which we didn't. I pointed out that the tag on my dashboard matches the site#. Turns out someone from the main desk even had the courtesy to lead them to the site. They ended up bringing the later arrivers to another site. While they were there, they even said"you know better" to the loud people across the way, who had briefly calmed down. That lasted about 2 minutes after the people from the main desk left. It went right back to the meth head karaoke party after that. It started to rain, the meth party moved inside, but they left the radio on. Good times. We barely sleep. 6 am rolls around, and I hear someone approaching my tent."Hey man, sorry for waking you up, you want a balloon?" the random voice asks. For the folks who don't do drugs, this is a balloon of nitrous oxide(whippits). I thought they were fun when I was in my 20s I guess. I respond with a less-than-kind way of saying I just want to sleep. I am proud of myself for not unzipping the tent and figuring out how to stab someone to death with a balloon. I swear I would have figured it out, but they were so messed up on whatever drug cocktail they had been doing all night, they probably wouldn't have felt it, which would have only killed whatever joy I would have gotten from the experience. They leave. We decide to pack up and leave shortly after. I left them with a few seconds of aggressive metal music blasting from my Jeep for good measure, and we left. I doubt they woke up. I truly hope they didn't... like ever. This was a horrible experience. Even if the main desk was upset with our late arrival(despite knowing and planning for the concert in the area), there's never any call for this kind of behavior. The only thing that would have capped off the whole night perfectly would have been someone sneaking into my tent and slamming a bouquet of poison ivy into my urethra. Do not go to this site unless you need a good deal on meth, nitrous balloons, or if you want to feel what it's like to have the purest hatred fill your heart and lose whatever faith in humanity you may have left. I would ask for a refund, but they probably need the money to pay for whatever addiction they're feeding.

Mostly seasonal camps- Trailers. Better for trailers, not tents. Activities offered in recreation hall. Small store at front desk. No lake but has a swimming pool

Electrical hookup, easy registration with friendly staff. Well maintained park and roomy back in sites. Approximately 10 miles from Baseball Hall of Fame and Cooperstown. Clean, modern bathrooms and showers. Paved roads to sites that are gravel and grass. Fires allowed.

My buddy and I were looking for a campsite for a quick overnight stay before a bike trip around the Adirondacks, and this spot was a perfect fit. Coming in late after driving all day, we unfortunately didn’t get to meet Rich in person. He did however give us good directions to navigate the narrow driving path in the dark to reach the pond camping area, and even had a large two room tent already set up that we were able to use - a convenient and kind gesture! The old school bus was a fun perk to check out in the morning as well. Most state ran parks in New York close up before the middle of October, and this is a great option for an off season camping spot in the area. Thanks Rich!

This park is quiet and peaceful in fall, when we visited, but looks to be heavily used in summer due to many amenities including a very large number of camper cabins and a large beach on a large lake with a picturesque setting and large boathouse. There is also a good sized though rather open campground for tents and Trailers, some have hookups but most of the sites are not very private unless you reserve a spot on the periphery along the tree line. There are lots of nice hiking trails, though beware hiking during hunting season as hunting is allowed within the park borders.

I am sorry to have to give a rating of three, however, because a major problem at this park is the recent development ofva toxic algae problem in the lake, Because of algae blooms during warm weather, swimming and fishing in Gilbert Lake are now prohibited, which is very unfortunate as the lake and watwr activities are a focal point of the park. If you are ok with just hiking and being iut in the woods you might still be interested in coming, The campground is not too private or scenic. The camper cabins are pretty basic but in a pretty setting.

one plus factor is the handicapped accessibility, there are many paved ir accessible trails, and the park office has available a new all-terrain wheelchair that patrons can use to get out into the woods and explore

This park has spacious campsites. Electric hookups on 2 of the 3 camping loops. Tent loop does not. Bathrooms are modern and clean. Hiking trails are well maintained. There are 2 boat launches- Kayak launch creek side and large boat launch to the Hudson River. Fridays during the summer they have a fire department food truck in the pavilion area where you can buy hamburgers, hotdogs, sausages, pretzels and more. They also have local live music on Firehouse nights.

Great place that’s about 50/50 permanent sites and rentals. They have lots to do, the owners are very friendly and accommodating, the campground is one of the quietest we’ve ever stayed at, both at night and in the morning. There are many pull through sites, lots of wooded sites, and open areas for kids to play. We were impressed by how they didn’t cram extra sites into these areas, though there is plenty of room. Electric, water, and septic hookups were all modern and in great shape.

I’ve been coming to Uncle Pete’s for the last 15 years. Very reasonably priced and a 2 minute drive from the center of town. Car camping so you can park right next to where you sleep, makes dining and sleeping comfortable very easy. Plenty of creekside tent sites that offer a large section of riverfront. Large baseball field and playgrounds for kids. Each site comes with an electric hookup, fire pit and picnic tables. Cheap firewood can be bought up front at the bathrooms. Becky and Danny are super accommodating!!

They’re finally adding a bunch of electric sites and have discontinued every other site in the deer run area. This makes the sites very large. There’s 30 and 50 amp hookups. There’s a disc golf course, many pavilions, a decent beach with concessions, a walking trail all the way are the lake and it’s accessible from multiple points. Great place for the family as they can be a bit strict on unruly behavior. The only downsides are the roads are rough and there’s little to no cell signal. That could be a plus for some though.

I’ve been camping at Gilbert lake for 35 or so years. It’s pretty quiet, the state has made many sites bigger over the last few years and is starting to add electricity to more sites. You can fill your water tank at the dump station as there are no water hookups. There is plenty of places to get water to wash dishes or whatever you need. The Shower/ bathroom buildings are a bit dated but well maintained. There’s miles of hiking trails including one around the lake. Multiple really nice pavilions, disc golf course and a nice beach with lifeguards for swimming. I would definitely recommend.

Nice location, near good food and wineries and breweries, owner was very nice and welcoming. We camped with two other couples and the owner was able to accommodate us and put all three of our units together. My main complaints were the pedestals where we were were in the bushes directly behind the campers, and unfortunately for me my hookups are towards the front of my camper so I had to pull in sideways to reach the pedestal. Thankfully we only infringed on our friends site a few feet. The wifi and mobile data were atrocious, which sucked when we were trying to plan out our travels. And, lastly, there were seasonals around us with dogs that barked quite a bit throughout the night and during the day at pretty much anything that moved. We had a good time overall though.