Looking for the best options for tent camping near Margaretville? Finding a place to camp in New York with your tent has never been easier. You're sure to find the perfect campsite for your New York tent camping excursion.
There are five lean-tos as well as five primitive campsites marked with round, yellow, DEC markers. In addition, primitive camping is allowed. Campsites must be at least 150 feet away from the nearest road, trail, or body of water. Camping for more than three nights or in groups of ten or more requires a permit from the regional office.
Camping is prohibited above 3,500 feet in elevation from March 22 until December 20 each year to protect the fragile summit environment. Campfires are permitted below 3,500 feet in elevation, but only dead and down fuel may be used. In an established campsite, use the existing fire ring. Before you leave, completely extinguish the fire. Never leave a fire unattended. The use of camp stoves is encouraged.
Bear Spring Mountain is located in the western end of the Catskill Forest Preserve. The campgrounds beach, boat rental, and multi-use trail system offers fun for all ages. For the horse riding enthusiast, Spruce Grove camping and trail system is one of a kind facility in the Catskill region. This region is also known for its excellent hunting and fishing.
The facility is broken into two distinct areas, the Launt Pond Area (the main campground) and the Spruce Grove Area which is 3.5 miles from the campground office. The Spruce Grove Area is equipped with pit toilets. The hot showers, rest rooms and garbage disposal area are all located in the Launt Pond Area. Spruce Grove campers have access to all amenities, however they will be a drive from their camping area. Amenities
41 tent and trailer sites; picnic area with tables, grills, playground, horseshoe pits, volleyball and pavilion rental; rowboat, canoe, kayak and paddle boat rentals; firewood sales; trailer dump station; recycling center; flush toilets and hot showers at Launt Pond Area; boat launch; sand beach; 24 horse tie stalls and horse accessible ramp; 24 miles of multi-use trails. Please note: There are no horse rentals available at this campground. Proof of current negative Coggins Certificate is required for all horses entering the campground. Out-of state horse owners will be required to produce a 30-day health certificate Patrons must carry each horse's health papers with them at all times.
$18 / night
Peekamoose Valley: The Peekamoose Valley (County Route 42 in the Town of Denning) is a popular rustic camping area. Camping permits are now required to reserve primitive tent sites from May 15- September 15 of each year. Camping is restricted to reserved, designated campsites marked with the yellow camping symbol. Visit Reserve America (leaves DEC website) to make a reservation.
Lower Field: Camping is restricted to 12 designated sites. Permits can be obtained from Reserve America.
Camp on the Esopus Creek in the Big Indian-Oliverea Valley surrounded by seven 3500' Catskill High Peaks including Slide Mountain, the tallest in the Catskills.
Our PRIVATE camp (no other campers) is situated on 100 acres of land in the middle of the Catskill State Park. We are the closest private Dyrt site to Slide Mountain, the Catskills tallest peak at 4180 feet. A perfect base camp for some of the best hiking in the Catskills, the site is bordered by Forever Wild Forest and is minutes from the trailheads to Balsam, Giant Ledge, Panther, Big Indian, Slide Mountain and dozens more peaks within 30 minutes or so away.
You can walk to a swimming hole on a winding path through a wildflower meadow blazed with rock cairns along a half mile of private waterfront. Try your luck at catching some wild Brook Trout on the world famous Esopus Creek!
Our drive up camp has a 4-6 person prospector type tent, a 10X12 covered tent platform, several individual tent sites with private fire rings, as well as a bunkhouse and a leanto for day use. The camp table and cook pit are covered from the elements. The main tent includes a wood burning stove, folding card table and seating for 4 and bunk bed with 4" thick self-inflating Therm-a-rest MondoKing 3D XXL Queen sized insulated mats for luxurious comfort.
Open Network WiFi (no UN/PW needed) is available at the Campkeeper home a short woods walk away. Seasoned bundled 16" firewood is available by honor box cash payment on Brown rd across the camp entry road.
Rules:
'Almost' anything goes. Learn about 'pack-in pack-out/leave no trace camping' and the 'leave nothing but footprints, take nothing but pictures' motto. Due to local laws, no music or noise louder than 60 decibels is allowed which is about as loud as conversation with 20 people in a restaurant, an office of 20 people speaking or being on the phone, background music typically heard in restaurants and public spaces, an air conditioning unit at 100 feet. Our site is to be best enjoyed for the sounds that do exist naturally, the many birds singing their song, the babbling Esopus Creek, the rustling leaves on the trees. Ask questions, I will always answer anything about camping and am thrilled to share my knowledge.
Extras:
-Arrive to a dry campfire stack mini bonfire for your evening's entertainment. Full of dry kindle and fire starter, just light it and enjoy! The stack will be made of about 20 pieces built up teepee style and will be covered from the elements. If you will be camping for more than one night, please specify how many or which night(s) you would like the fire setup for . Dry campfire stack is $25.00
-I have several tents available including a large 5 person Eureka! Copper Canyon tent for $15.00, and 4 two person backpacking tents (Eureka! Timberline, Eureka! Prism, 2 Gazelle tents, and Moss Starlet tent) for $10.00 each.
-I have 4 comfortable 2" thick Therm-a-rest Camprest foam and air mattresses for $8.00 each.
Inquire about the extras when you book the site. Extras can be paid for in cash after you arrive.
$130 / night
The campground is dedicated to the memory of Sam Pryor, an extraordinary conservationist whose life's work included bringing this project to fruition. More information about the campground can be found at https://americanalpineclub.org/gunks-campground
The American Alpine Club and Mohonk Preserve are cooperatively managing the campground. Campground amenities include a pavilion and cooking area, bathhouse and restroom facilities, and circulation trails. There are 24 drive-in spots (one vehicle per site) and 26 walk-in spots. All sites accommodate up to two tents (and four people) per pad. Showers are $1 for 4 minutes and are coin-operated. No RVs, no trailers, and no vehicles over 22'.
Members receive a discount on their stay, you can register for membership through the American Alpine Club at www.americanalpineclub.org/join or through the Mohonk Preserve.
Campers may access Mohonk Preserve, New York State's largest nonprofit nature preserve, via a connector trail to the Preserve's Visitor Center and historic carriage road network for world-class rock climbing and bouldering, hiking, mountain biking, trail running, and nature exploration. Memberships and day-use passes are available at the Visitor Center and all Preserve trailheads.
$10 / night
Guide
Love this place will definitely be back, not sure why it didn’t show up for free camping when I had it filtered, found it on another app. Was not the easiest for my RV van to get up the hill with the ruts, but I have a small lift so it helps, lower clearance vans might not make it. It’s a single camper site at the top of the hill left before the trailhead parking.
Ranger
The weather was terrible while I was there, so perhaps this review may be biased. The Campground was very quiet in mid October. Many of the sites seem to be seasonal as there was no traffic to or from them. But there was quite a bit of daily traffic, usually arriving late and leaving early. Perhaps because the weather was turning very chilly and although the leaf peeping was at its peak for this season, I think people were heading south fast like me.
Traveler
I stayed there for 3 weeks for work it was quite priced very reasonably for full hook up and about a half hour from stunning views.
TravelerStayed in cabin #1. Clean & had all the amenities but very dated & dark. Could use brighter light bulbs!! Beautiful & quiet. Enjoyed my stay.
Scout
Just Perfect!
Scout
Stay in one of the last weekends of August. We were a party of 8 so we needed 2 sites, the first sites we booked were horrible - so so tiny (E11 & E12) and right on a swampy pond where the grass is growing into the water so it was hard to see where the water line was. We had kids, so we needed to move our sites. We ended up right across the way on E7 & E8 - much better. This loop for tent campers is mixed. Some of the sites are literally on the road - stay away from the sites on the same side of the road as the pond. I saw a family who literally had to block the road a little bc they couldn't park their car *and* have a tent on the tiny site. Anything on the side of E7 is bigger and a little deeper into the trees, but nothing seemed to be private in this campground. It was a busy weekend, so of course there was loud music and partying - it just so happens that it was next door to our sites. Bathrooms were far on this loop. There are little foot bridges that you could take to get to the bathroom easier (and closer) but they are set on people's campsites, so if someone is on that site it's really walking through their site to get to it. The campground has good amenities - wifi, pool, jumping ball, playground, basketball courts, volleyball courts, and a tether ball court :). Great for the kids. Pool is small but it works. There's a cafe there so we were able to grab coffees and stuff. They deliver wood and ice to your site which is super convenient. We would return for sure. Also - just to let everyone know the fire pit is really small.
ScoutClean, modern bathrooms. Campsites were raked and ready for us when we arrived. Super friendly staff! Just a well laid out campground that was perfect for us. Peaceful, a mix of wooded sites for RV's and open sites with their cabins. 2 swimming pools, really nice playground for the younger kids, 2 baseball fields. Just a top notch place.
Guide
Park on side of road, campfire located down slope. Very little traffic. Felt safe.
ScoutThis is a small campground but very quiet and nice. The people that run it are very nice and accommodating. Would highly recommend it.
Legend
We 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!
GuideA great free spot for dispersed camping tucked right off the road. Had a fire pit and picnic table
ScoutGorgeous. There was a brook not far from our campsite, and it was only a short stroll to the lake. It was really peaceful when we visited in the middle of the week. Most websites are secretive and dark can play penalty shooters 2.
Guide
Really enjoyed our 2nd stay at Mongaup and will return. Good, private sites and a great pond. Facilities were clean and staff was very helpful and friendly.
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.
Traveler
Nice and clean, right on the water. Spread out just enough to feel like we had good privacy
Traveler
Blackbear is such a fun spot. Always a good time, clean, and the perfect weekend away. This spot is only 40 minutes from my regular 9-5 and it feels like it’s in another world. When you wake up, look up at the black bears in the trees and enjoy the water!!
Scout
We ended up having to spend the night at a different campsite that were familiar with this place. This place is a scam.
ScoutVery clean park. Lots of families. Tubing was fun. Bring bug spray.
TravelerThe forest is beautiful around the park. Lake is pretty too. Site we stayed at was nice and level for a yent, plenty of trees for a hammock
Scout
Great first tent camping experience for kids. Lots of activities, clean restrooms. One thing to keep in mind is the tent sites on the opposite side of the road from the river has no shade. Site gets pretty hot on a sunny day. Sites by the river have some shade.
Scout
Friendly staff, beautifully kept.
Scout
Nice area. Lots of room. Laundry room ok with 2 washers and 2 dryers. Lots of open fields.
TravelerBeen there couple of times. Love it. Two lakes. Highly recommended.
Guide
Nice quiet campgrounds close to the Beaver kill and great service staff was supper friendly and helpful
Scout
@geometry dash lite talk with me It is quite peaceful, spotless, and well worth the money. The showers are hot and have lots of water pressure. The cleanliness of the facilities at the campsite is influenced by the volume of activity.
Legend
Both the Glimmerglass State Park and the Glimmerglass Festival Opera House list their location as Cooperstown, but in actuality the Park is 8 miles outside of Cooperstown on the northeast side of Otsego Lake, with the Opera House nearby on the northwest corner of the lake nearby. If you are going to visit one, you should also visit the other! In fact the park is an ideal spot to stay if you are wanting to take in any of the Glimmerglass music or theater productions which have quite a professional lineup in the summer season. If staying at the park you will also enjoy the amazing beach and waterfront on Otsego Lake, and great kayaking on the lake as well as the stream flowing into it. You can also hike, ot take a day trip into Cooperstown, especially for museums and all things baseball.
The camping opportunities give you three options: the main campground by the park office, which is wooded and shady and has electric hookups as needed, and is close to the beach, but you will have a lot of neighbors. If you want a quiet tenting experience, choose the Beaver Pond primitive tenting campground! This offers a small number of large, well spaced and private tent only sites set back in the woods by a beautiful pond and by the Beaver Hiking trail. Very peaceful with more solitude than the main campground, but a longer walk to the beach. The third and newest option, the Travis Field campsites, reminds me of an overflow parking area at an outdoor festival, unfortunately just a bunch of basic tent campsites plunked in an open grassy field located in between the beach and the Beaver Pond sites. I am guessing the park has greater demand for campsites than the original campground offers, so they put these spots up in an open field, and maybe folks would rather have these sites than nothing if they want a week at the lake, but they would not be a first choice unless perhaps you have a group that wants to gather together and take a block of these sites. I didnt check out the cabins, but there are some, which might be especially good if you want to come in the winter as the park is open year round
Legend
This is a small hidden gem of a state park where the only camping available is in camper cabins—and pretty amazing glamping for camper cabins! Although there may be times when there may be people and groups around for day use, the small number of cabins and they way they are spread out will make you feel like you are at your own private retreat. The cabins are beautifully built with lovely settings, and well appointed though you need to bring your own linens. There are a couple of ponds for fishing, but if you want to swim you need to go over to nearby Otsego Lake. The trails wind through mature forest, and you can cross country ski here in winter—in fact, reserve one of the winterized cabins and come for a long weekend of cozy cabin time and quiet time outdoors on the winter trails. There is a beautiful picnic pavilion and playground, so kid friendly. Unfortunately, pets can come for day use but cant stay in the cabins. Reservations must be made in advance for the cabins, and you can be sure they will be filled on special event weekends in nearby Cooperstown, especially for events at the Baseball Hall of Fame or the Farmers Living History Museum. . The park is far enough on the outskirts of town to be away from crowds and noise, but close enough to run to town for activities, get supplies or check out unique cafes and bakeries
Tent camping near Margaretville, New York, offers a blend of serene nature and outdoor activities, perfect for those looking to escape into the wilderness.
Frequently Asked Questions
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According to TheDyrt.com, the most popular tent campground near Margaretville, NY is Alder lake with a 4.6-star rating from 7 reviews.
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