Best Equestrian Camping near Nassau, NY

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!

The road to our campsite was paved and in good shape but there were a few tight spots because of the trees that make it tricky for a big rig (Loop A seems to be the best for big-rigs). Great thing about this park is the hiking trails and lake so you don’t even have to leave to the park to enjoy great outdoor recreation. We found it enjoyable just to hang out in the park rather than trying to find things to do in the area. After hiking and paddling, we loved relaxing out at our campsite with a campfire. 

Our campsite was spacious but required some maneuvering to avoid scraping trees with our RV. Campsites are spacious, shady, and had good separation between the neighboring sites which we enjoyed. Generators are allowed but not too many people were using them. The few other campers around that used them were mindful of quiet hours. Since it was still a little cool and our windows were closed and we never heard anyone’s generator. The park was not very crowded when we were there, but we can imagine it could get very busy and noisy in the busy summer season. The beach area seems to be a draw for people so the summer camping season is probably packed. The snack bar and gift/supplies shop at the sandy beach area were not open as we were there late in the season. There is also a nice playground for kids to enjoy. 

This is dry camping so there are no hook-ups but there are restrooms and shower. Both were clean but the shower fluctuated between lukewarm, hot, and warm during my shower. Oh well, the shower felt good after our active days. There are two pavilions you can rent which are nice if big groups want to gather. Take note that only two pets are allowed per campsite, so plan accordingly if you are a pet owner. 

Access is fairly easy, just off I-87, and there are plenty of signs directing you which way to go. Saratoga Springs and Lake George are nearby if you want to explore. We recommend visiting the National Horse Racing Hall of Fame in Saratoga Springs, if you have time. We would definitely stay here again.

Campground Review:

North/South Lake Campground is located in the Catskill Mountains in Haines Falls, NY. There are 7 loops with a total of 219 primitive sites. Most are fairly level and shaded many with views of North lake or a creek. Each loop has a bathroom and showers. There is also a dump station and several places to fill up with water. There are many activities to do here like swimming, hiking and boating. There were walk-up sites available when we arrived after hours. The cost was about $28 per night. We selected site 13 located in loop #1 which was very peaceful and shaded located next to the creek. There were many rocks for the kids to climb on nearby. The showers had no hot water available and were locked during our stay which was a bit inconvenient. We hiked to some waterfalls nearby which were very beautiful.

Product Review:

As a ranger for the Dyrt, I get to test products from time to time. At this campground, I tested the Flight+ tree tent by Tentsile. This is a combination of a hammock and tent. I was very excited to get this product and have been looking at them for a while.

Pros:

• The Flight+ tree tent is very lightweight and convenient to take backpacking weighing in at only 7 lbs.
• It has a mesh netting that keeps bugs out and can be used with or without the rain tarp. In upstate NY, we left it off because there wasn't any humidity or dew at the time. It gave us a great unobstructed view of the creek and trees.
• keeps you off the ground- high and dry
• 2 person size and each has their own door to get in and out so no crawling over your tent mate.
• a variety of colors to choose from unlike most tents and has a sleek eye-catching design that peaks interest of other campers
• Customer service is great at helping you troubleshoot your setup as well as providing videos on the website.

Cons:

• There was a bit of a learning curve to the set up. We tried it in a variety of places and with different tree configurations.
• Had a hard time getting it level so there wasn't a lean one way or the other when you were in it. Couldn't get all the tabs to line up on each strap.

This place is all in all a fantastic place for camping. The sites are nice, the facilities are ok, the staff FANTASTIC, and most people camping want to be out in nature. Saw some bears up close. Great hiking. Especially for someone with limited mobility at the time. Also some challenging hikes. What I also experienced was a LOT of people having loud parties, playing all kinds of music very loudly and leaving trash everywhere. Not my style of camping. I have to add no one was breaking any rules and maybe I am the old codger my wife says I’m turning into but that’s mt 2 cents.