Best Glamping near Paul Smiths, NY

Is there anything nicer than the Adirondacks in late summer?  Buck Pond is a quiet, sublime campground about 20 minutes from Paul Smiths College.  The sites are sandy and our site was mostly flat.  Some sites do have an uphill driveway lined with trees.  If you have an RV, looking at the site on ReserveAmerica.com might be the way to go.  We didn't see any sites with electricity and there is one outlet in the bathroom area (I plugged my coffee percolator into this outlet every morning).  The shower could use an update and definitely bring some shoes to shower in and a mat/towel for the floor as it gets slippery when wet.  The bathroom area has one sink with no shelving so carrying your necessities in a shower caddy especially when you have kids that need to brush their teeth.  Sites are large enough to have an RV, a canopy, and a small tent, or several tents.  There is a canoe/kayak rental at the campground as well as a beach.  A place to buy wood on the honor system is a 5-minute drive from the campground, and there is a Walmart about 35 minutes away.  If you eat dairy, you can't miss a drive to Donnelly's Soft Ice Cream where only one flavor is served each day and standing line is worth the wait.  We're looking forward to staying here again, even without electricity!

We stayed in the Venus yurt from Saturday August 3rd thru Thursday August 8th 2024. We were going to stay until the 10th, but we had an incoming hurricane and decided to leave before the exit flooded. 

Overall, their website pictures are NOT current and I believe the reviews on their website to either be inaccurate or very old. 

Day 1: the yurt smelled heavily of febreeze and was smaller than the pictures showed. The mattress, which had no cover on it, had been turned over(the bottom had nubs on it so it wouldn’t slide- this was face up). When we flipped it over, there were obvious fresh red fluid stains and other stains on the top of the mattress. For the price we paid, we would have expected either a waterproof cover enclosing the mattress or that the owners would have swapped out this mattress. The fact that the cleaning staff felt it was ok to turn it over expecting nobody to check was a bit revolting. We went to the office to get it removed, but the best they could do was provide 2 comforters to place between the mattress and our sheets. 

When we left to meet up with friends, we found the door lock was broken. We could only lock it from the inside. Our friends were in RVs and apparently the site was digging for new sewer lines, so when the wind shifted, we got a fresh scent of raw sewage. 

When we went to take showers at the facility nearest the yurts, we found there was no hot water, the showers had to be pumped to run(no continuous water flow in either the showers or the sinks), and only 1 of the 4 stalls had lockable doors. Both of these were reported to the office the following morning. 

Day 2: found that by the store were 6 showers with hot, continuously running water. 3 were out of service and only 1 locked. This was reported to the store/office multiple times. 

The lifeguard on duty at the smaller pool across from the store was sitting down in a regular chair with a table with an umbrella between her and the pool, face down in her phone with one hand, holding her sunglasses up with her other hand, while 3 small children(~8 years old) were sliding and playing unsupervised. As a former life guard/ wave pool certified lifeguard, I would have fired her on the spot. That is an unacceptably dangerous situation. 

The mini golf course was in disrepair, the arcade was empty of machines, and the activities touted on their website were nonexistent. 

The charcoal grill, which we would have used, had a large rusted hole in the bottom right side taking out~25% of the usable bottom, making it basically useless. Thank goodness for butane camp stoves.

 Day 3: shower lock situation had not improved(did not improve during our stay despite the office being made aware) Our neighbors left the yurt to our left and the person cleaning the yurt did a cursory cleaning at best. No sign of COVID cleaning discipline whatsoever. We spent the majority of the day offsite  

Day 4: lawn mowing started at 8:15 am. The grass absolutely did not need to be mowed. Very loud stand behind rider mower that kicked up dust more than anything as it had been very dry. Took them~3 hours. As a person on vacation, this clearly woke me up early. Very disappointing.

 Day 5: got a bit cold in the early morning, so we turned on the heat. It blew dust, filled the entire yurt with a burning smell and caused my partner to use her rescue inhaler. We turned it off quickly, opened the door and 2 windows to clear the air, and found the heater had not been cleaned. 

Day 6: decided to leave due to the pending hurricane. As I was checking out, a gentleman checking in was told he had been moved further into the campsite in case the river flooded and was told that, if the river did flood, they had a plan and to not be surprised to see RVs in the road. That was their plan?!?!? 

Overall, we will not be returning and will not be recommending this to anyone. If anything, we will encourage anyone looking to camp in the Adirondacks to avoid this campground.

Lovely State Park in the 1,000 Islands where water activities are the main attraction. Make sure to check out the island too! The park spans the island and a little snaking river-like bay. Really pretty to explore on boat. Easy and very pretty trails on site, walk along the shore too. Decent wildlife and great birding. Feels very isolated though easy to get to. Bring your passport, you can see Canada from some of the picnic grounds. Incredible sunsets!!!

Quality State Park facilities, clean. Camping ranges from tents in shady woods to cabins. Some sites are pretty private, even the ones that aren't are quiet.

Note: Robert Moses apparently did a lot in New York State. This park is near Canada! There is also a Robert Moses beach on Long Island near NYC (Fire Island National Seashore) and Robert Moses parkway near Niagara Falls. These are all 8+ hours from each other! Be careful with your mapping apps and in getting advice for travel.

The Cumberland Bay State Park in New York is a great place to go and relax. If you like the beach scene, swimming, or having a picnic, then you will enjoy this park. I come here quite often to kayak, and my friends and I also like to get a game of volleyball going on the court they have within the park. During the summer months (and especially on hot days), you will find that this park is pretty busy. You can always find a little spot to put your stuff, though. Kayaking is probably one of my favorite things to do, and the lake is perfect for this. The park itself is located on Lake Champlain. You also have the option to camp overnight if you wish...I have only done this once because I wanted to get up and kayak for the sunrise! The park does provide picnic tables, restrooms and showers. I find that the restrooms and showers and pretty clean....there have been a few times that the stall I am using doesn't have toilet paper. So I would suggest checking your stall first before you sit down on the toilet :). One of my favorite parts about this park, is in the distance you can see the beautiful mountains, Adirondacks and other gorgeous views. There are also some good hiking trails nearby that you can get to by car. I would say there are trails within 5-10 miles away. All in all, a great place to come and relax!

Solid 10/10 would camp again! We stayed at the Heart Lake Campground for a week and a half utilizing it as our home base for adventures into the High Peaks Wilderness and the greater Adirondack region. We had a very pleasant stay here and personally found the weekdays to be best for “camp days” given there were few people—weekends are PACKED and there were more than a couple of party sites. It did appear that you would be able to drive in without reservation on a weekday and find yourself a site! Specifically, our site was fairly flat and most were like this but there were some that appeared to have a slope if you happened to be car camping. There are two wash houses with showering and bathroom amenities that are cleaned weekly (from what we observed). Multiple water fill stations sprinkled throughout the campground area. This campground is primarily tent centric, however, there are yurts, lean-to’s, and a handful of cabins available (and of course the ADK Loj has rooms). There is Wi-Fi at the Loj and meals are served but we believe these are for Loj guests only.