Best Tent Camping near South Colton, NY

As I sat having by my coffee, watching steam rise from the pond, I listened to the distant calls of Loons.

I’d describe this campground as a hidden gem, but it’s not for everyone. To get here you leave the paved road and take a gravel road a little ways. On our way we spotted a group of Turkeys wandering about. This campground is for the adventurous. No electric or water hook ups (for RVs) and no shower facilities, but there are restrooms.

Staff was friendly and helpful. Helped me pick out a site and made sure I was good once I set up. Bring or rent a Canoe and you can travel out to an island in the middle of the pond from which families jump from a large rock into the lake.

As the sun sets and the stars come out, you’ll look up and suddenly realize just how small you are as you stare at the heavens and see the Milky Way.

Nothing but peace and quiet. When it’s quiet hours, the only thing you here is nature and the occasional crackle of someone’s fire.

Would I go here again? Brown Tract is one of those places that after you go once, you find yourself going again and again. Our tripped was booked as soon as we could.

Soft Maple is a truly gorgeous small campground. Only about a dozen sites or so, first come first serve. Level sites for RVs or tent or hammock camping. Each site has a nice space with fire ring and picnic table. The beach is lovely and clean. There’s boat access for canoes and kayaks as this is part of the Beaver River route. 

The entire campground is accessible, with gravel pack paths, and level sites.  

Charlie is the caretaker here and everyone says he is the nicest person you’ll meet.  You can’t beat site number 11 for the perfect mix of treelined and water view!

There is space for RVs and a dump station but the sites do not have power or hookups. 

If you come in to the campground from “number 4 road” (aka state rt. 26) it’s exactly five miles from the Left turn on to Soft Maple rd. If you have time, stop halfway- the 2.5 mile mark will bring you to the entrance for Eagle falls, a short hike with a fantastic reveal.

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.

50 sites, full hookup ($40), water& electric ($35) and tent ($??). Has the feel of an RV park with three rows of sites plus some more (I think the tent sites) closer to the road. Not much separation between sites. The lucky ones get beachfront sites with unobstructed views; we were in the second row. The beach was closed for the season when we were there; the campground is open May- September and an on-site caretaker is there the entire five months. Gorgeous sunsets. Coin-operated showers($1 for approximately 15 minutes)– did not use so cannot say how they were. Playground. Clean restroom but the women's only had one operable stall. Although there was a hot water spigot, I was not able to coax any hot(or even warm) water out of it. No defined quiet hours but it was very quiet by 8:30 pm.

This is a very basic campground situated in a small village in the Adirondacks – situated between Saranac Lake and Lake Placid. Every site has a picnic table and an open fire grill and most of the sites on the outer ring have a lot of privacy as they are lined with trees and shrubs. Lots of spaces for larger RV’s, but we saw mostly tent campers.

Bathrooms are mostly clean and the showers are nice. There is a quality dishwashing sink by the bathrooms. Overall, the campground is ok, but needs a bit of a facelift, repainting, etc. Also, you can hear the sounds of the city (cars, leaf blowers, and other things that remind you that you are not truly in the woods).

The best part about this campground is that it is conveniently located between two awesome places and is relatively inexpensive, so if you don’t plan to spend much time in the campground itself, it’s perfect.

We used this campground as a basecamp to mountain bike on an awesome trail just outside of Saranac Lake, the Bloomingdale Bog trail. The following day, we did a quadrathlon that involved kayaking the length of Lake Placid, hiking to the summit of Whiteface Mountain, kayaking back, and then finished the day at Lake Placid Pub and Brewery for dinner. Highly recommended, but plan on a 9-10 hour day on the lake/trail!

With its central location, this campground is close to everything you may need, most even within walking distance.

The West side of the campground is reserved for primitive tent campers with a few choice sites right on the water. These sites generally have tent platforms which is a good thing. On my recent trip there the ground was saturated and boggy. Not sure if that is normal or was just due to wet weather this spring. These platform sites are all hike-in, with a few of them located a good distance from the camp road. Each of these sites has its own outhouse. The one on my site was cleaned once or twice over the course of five days. There are other sites on the west side, not located on the water, but closer to your vehicle so you don't have to carry gear in and out. These sites are also close to water spigots. On the more developed side of the campground things are much as you would expect at a NYS campground. The sites are not especially private, but they come in all sizes. There is a beach with canoe rentals and swimming, an amphitheater, showers, a recycling center and a dump station. Wood and ice are also offered for sale. I'll take the quiet privacy of the west side, but there is plenty on offer for all different camping styles at Meacham Lake.

I have stayed here many times over the years, usually for a 10-18 day stretch at a time. This is one of my favorite places. Most sites are right on the water. Square pond is a lovely little lake that connects to a larger lake (Upper Saranac I believe) by passing through a canal. This campground has great facilities. There are restrooms located convieniently throughout the park so you never have to walk more than a few sites no matter where you are. There are hot showers located at one end of the park and a dump station for RVs. The restrooms and showers are cleaned daily. There is a great little general store just outside the park that sells pretty much anything you could want. Sites are equipped with a table and fireplace (most have grates). There are vendors that drive through the park daily selling wood, ice cream (from an old fashioned wagon, get the moose tracks!), and ice. There is a boat supplier that travels the lake every morning and evening dropping off and picking up kayak and canoe rentals. If you love water front camping this is for you! The park is pet friendly but you need to show proof of vaccines. There are great things to do nearby like the Adirondack Museum, Lake Placid, and beautiful hiking spots. You can have power boats and jets skis on the lake as well as non motorized boats. Some of the best sunsets I have ever viewed happened right here. Quiet hours are taken very seriously and rangers walk the park at night warning rowdy fireside folks to quiet down. However, as dusk turns to night, you can always count on the chorus of yodels going back and forth across the lake. This is a wonderful spot! Check it out! You won’t be sorry! Oh, but sites go on sale nine months in advance through reserve America and the best spots wind up booked for the season pretty quickly.

First thing about Cranberry Lake: the staff are wonderful. We arrived when the check in staff had the day off. Not a problem we only needed wood which was available just down the street from the campground. No need, the ranger, who let us know the overworked staff was off, brought it to our site once he had figured out the key. Sweet. Our site was on the uphill slope so we had some road noise due to that. We walked a bit of the campground until we realized it's larger than first assumed. I will say do your homework, check out the site photos which you can easily find online. Get a waterfront site but be aware the privacy isn't great at many sites, at least the ones we saw. There is a shower house which is great but be ready to drive to it, as I said the campground is bigger than expected! Some sites are super close which would be great for groups who may like to visit or it could be a nightmare with loud folks. The lake is beautiful. We weren't set up for it but if you can plan for the sunset view I think it's worth rescheduling your trip for the right site. Brand new sewer dump area for folks who need it.