Best Dispersed Camping near Poland, NY

You have to work a bit to find info on the Whaupaunaucau state forest as a camping destination, but for primitive campers that is part of the appeal! This is a relatively unknown oasis outside of the county, but this state forest has a network of miles of trails for both hiking and criss country skiing. There is an offifical lean-to shelter and developed campsite on trail 20 (see map) but there are several primitive sites with tent site and stine fireplace, plus dispersed leave-no-trace camping is allowed anywhere in the state forest, and the possibilities are endless. Lovely hilly vistas, pondside glens, and lots of clearings near clear streams deep in this old stately forest. A great place to get away from it all for hiking and camping but it is also a fantastic place to go if you enjoy botanizing or birding, lots of unusual species to see. Just beware of ticks, they are invading the region

I came here a couple days ago only to realize that all except one campsite needs a boat to be reached. It's first come first serve so best to find another place if you intend to drive up to your campsite. The drive up campsite had an outhouse though so that was nice

Was a great camp site very big and had a trail that lead down to the water. This campsite is right down the road from the fire tower trail.

This was my 3rd trip to Stillwater in 3 yrs and it gets better each time!

Our first trip was an overnight to test some backpacking gear, it was September and the weather was perfect! We hiked into our site, not easy because almost everything is meant to be accessed by boat so we were guessing our course! Cooler weather meant no bugs to contend with

Next year we took a canoe to our site, it was July, warm weather, warm water and the bugs were not terrible, we were at Site 1, secluded in a cove, not a lot of traffic but there is a hiking trailhead near the site so there is potential for visitors.

Our latest trip was to site 10, an island site with a large sandy beachfront, we borrowed a motor boat to get there this year and brought plenty of gear for 4 days. Weather was great again, some rain each day but we had time to get setup and get shelters to keep dry.

Camping if free here but it is first come first serve but with 40+ sites you can almost always get something. There is a small store at the boat launch to get provisions if you need, public restrooms and wifi. Very limited cell service.

You should bring water or something to filter it from the reservoir. I believe all the site have privy boxes on them.

There are opportunities for fishing, a few local attractions, a nice restaurant at the launch.

There are a few camping sites and one lean-to that I know of in this area. We happened upon it on our way to the seventh lake campground and ended up staying for two nights. We accessed the sites by water on a canoe trip. There is a large sand bar within a very short walk which was a great place to hang out. Seventh lake is pretty quiet but there were a few boats there both days we visited.  There is a trail that connects the campsites to Seventh Lake Rd. and to the Bug Lake trail and we had some Hikers travel through the campsite. If you are looking for the site from the water, look for a HUGE rock and there will be a sign that reads camp here, there are two more campsites, one with a lean-to within a short walk as well.

My wife and I kayaked to Long Island and stayed for a weekend. It was quiet and had the whole island to our self. Would recommend if you want to break away from technology because you get zero service out there

just returned from our annual week at the reservoir, such beauty! We saw Bald Eagles and Loons, enjoyed swimming, canoing and paddleboarding with the family. It was so peaceful with our site #37 accomodating 20 members of tge family plus 3 dogs!

Having both camped, and trained with my SAR Unit, on Stillwater Reserve, I must say it's a wonderful place to "get lost" (voluntarily at least)!

Took me five hours to drive there but finally made it. It was nice and peaceful. I will go there again