Best Campgrounds near Willow, NY

Absolutely love this spot and highly recommend if you’re looking for a super private, true primitive camping experience. You have to park at the entrance and hike in about 1.5-2 miles with everything on your back to get to the spots. Once you get there, theres quite a few sites to choose from and each offer quite a bit or privacy. It’s completely free and it usually isn’t too busy since most people don’t like having to carry all their stuff in that far. You will be in the heart of the forest/woods so definitely make sure to be prepared. We had some scares with coyotes and bears in the past but never anything crazy. They give you a semi-flat area for a tent, a fire pit and grill rack, one picnic table, and a bear box you would be sharing with other campers nearby

We had high hopes for this campground initially but it ended up being a real disappointment. Since it’s a very family oriented campground having rules like quiet hours makes total sense, but this place takes things to the extreme. It seems like the woman in charge is on a TOTAL power trip. Upon check in you’re met with an extremely long list of rules, including having to keep your coolers in your car or RV at all times, which was extremely inconvenient and we didn’t have the room for. Putting away coolers at night and not leaving them left unattended is all you should have to do, but AT ALL TIMES is ridiculous. This woman is also constantly riding around on her golf cart and nitpicking every little thing on people’s sites. When we first got there and were setting up, she drove her cart up and told me to move my car off the grass. I cannot express how much my car was NOT parked on the grass especially since the lots are 99% dirt. I actually took a picture because I was in such disbelief. It was almost comical. If you are a tent camper, you’re not allowed to pitch a tent on any small patches of grass that do exist so be sure to accommodate for that if you still decide to go here. In addition to this, the camp site was on the smaller side and there wasn’t much room for it along side my in-law’s RV. Not sure why they’d even allow an RV of that length, 2 cars, and a tent to be in that spot anyway. You have to list everything you’re bringing so they know exactly what’s showing up and let us be overcrowded anyway. We ended up having to cram in the RV and not pitch our tent because there was no room for it.

The most upsetting part was probably the bathroom and shower situations. This campground has no hookups for RVs, the only facilities they do offer are bathrooms and showers. So you’d think those would at least be maintained. Our first two days there 3/4 of the bathroom stalls were completely clogged and disgusting. After we told the ranger, 2 were fixed, but the handicapped stall was still left clogged. The next night there 3/4 stalls were completely out of toilet paper! Luckily I brought my own so I could use that. Instead of being concerned about people parking on 10 blades of grass, why don’t you take care of the ONLY facilities you provide? I felt very bad for my in-laws having to use those bathrooms, the only reason we chose to camp at a place with facilities to begin with was so they could be comfortable. There were many people with young children there and I’d feel bad for them having to use these facilities too.

The showers also had issues draining, ended up standing in a puddle of water the whole time.

Also, the name of this campground is accurate. Little Pond. Don’t come expecting a lake. It’s very small. There’s also a man made waterfall at the edge with zero signage or stoppage which could be dangerous for young children.

The whole experience ended up being much more stressful than relaxing. Any time we took a cooler out to cook or grab a drink we were looking over our shoulders out of fear of getting yelled at. I know we aren’t the only people to have the experience of feeling like you’re being watched and scrutinized the entire time. This was a family trip and we’re all adults. We weren’t loud, up late, blasting music, or inconsiderate. We gave them no reason to be unfriendly towards us but still felt very unwelcome and almost targeted like they were looking for any reason to yell at us. My advice would be to camp ANYWHERE else.

Our 21 month old had the time of his life here! We stayed for 3 nights in June in a rustic cabin. There are no bathrooms in the cabin but there are public restrooms nearby. The resorts is decked out with 2 playgrounds, a splash park, kiddie pool, family pool and hot tub. They have activities on the weekends with Yogi the mascot such as wagon rides, dance parties, arts n crafts. It was a little expensive to stay here but was so worth it! Make sure you reserve a golf cart if you stay during the weekend- it's a must have to get from place to place and our little guy loved it!

We stayed at Happy Days from Friday to Monday with our 21 foot travel trailer. Site P6. Pretty level site. We liked this site and the one next to it the best out of all of the sites. George at the camp store was so helpful and we watched him actively keeping up on and taking care of the campground cleaning, etc. the entire time. Showers had great pressure and bathrooms were super clean. We showered after a Spartan Race Mud Run and they were great. Scenic spot, mature trees, we could hear foxes communicating at night. Firewood available at camp store $7 a bundle. No sewer on sites, but has a dump station. Water pressure at the site was very good. Old school playground for kids, volleyball court. The rec hall had a piano, pool table, ping pong table and more. Close to dining, Kauneonga Lake and Callicoon Farmers Market among others. We will be back!

This is a very nice wooded campground. We LOVED our site (site 9). It was absolutely massive! The photo doesn't do it justice. It was set back very far from the main road and was an extremely large site! Though it was totally private on one side, we could see our neighbors in site 10 on the other (but they weren't very close to us). Also, the back of the site overlooks the main road, but it is far away and didn't bother us at all. It still felt like a very private site. It is also right across the road from a water pump and from the path to the bathrooms so it is a prime location.

The bathrooms were fine. They were clean but sometimes ran out of toilet paper.

There was no cell service in the campground.

The campground does not sell wood, but rangers will direct you to a gas station close by where you can buy some.

Something we did not appreciate/thought was odd about the campground was that the showers were not by the bathrooms and there was only one shower house very far from the campsites. The dishwashing station was also not near the campsites but not as far as the showers.

The fireplaces at each site are cleaned out in between visitors so that was nice.

This campground is about 45 minutes from Minnewaska State Park which is beautiful and has good hiking.

Overall, we really enjoyed our stay!