Best Dog-Friendly Camping in New York

This park is located approximately 12.5 miles from downtown Cooperstown and is set in the quiet rural countryside of New York. The mature trees make for beautiful scenery in the fall. There is a mix of sites varying from tent, RV, rental trailers, and camping cabins/cottages/lodges bringing the total number of sites to 120. Back-in and pull-thru sites are available. Site types include full hookup, water and electric, and no hookup with prices varying depending upon site. You can choose between 30/20 or 50 amp electric service. Interior roads are gravel and some site pads are gravel while others are grass. 

The park is nicely terraced and all the sites are level. Patios were a grassy/dirt area with a picnic table and fire pit. Our site (#41) was a pull-thru but there was no way we could drive our 45’ motorhome forward out of the site because of a large tree and narrow roads. So we ended up having to back out. The free wifi worked well as did our Verizon 4G phone and hotspot. We picked up a dozen or so television channels with our antenna. The park does have a fair amount of trees that would interfere with roof-mounted satellite dishes so you would have to pick your site carefully. But, there are some 30 amp and no hook-up sites that are clear. This is a typical KOA with lots of amenities including a swimming pool(which was closed for the season when we were there), a playground, volleyball court, basketball court, jump house, pavilion, recreation room, bicycle rental, and horseshoes. Showers, restrooms and laundry are also present and clean. There is a propane filling station. While there is no fenced-in dog park there is a pet walking area. The surrounding area is pretty rural and the closest town (Richfield Springs– which is very small) is five miles away and where you will find restaurants, gas station, grocery store, and more. A few miles from the park is a creamery that has a café. 

Approximately five miles away is Glimmerglass State Park which was great for hiking and kayaking Otsego Lake. There is a also a historic house at the park that you can tour and the country’s oldest covered bridge. Cooperstown is a little over twelve miles away from the park but well worth a trip. Not only is Cooperstown home to the National Baseball Hall of Fame but it is a charming downtown well worth exploring. Other nearby attractions include The Farmers Museum, Fenimore Art Museum, Hero’s of Baseball Wax Museum, Glimmerglass Opera, and Cooperstown Brewing Company.

Camp Gateway in Brooklyn New York is one of my favorite places to visit. I went to college in New York, and loved to get out of the busy city and go camping and be outdoors. Camp Gateway was always a place that I loved to go. It is pretty close to town-which is crazy because you feel like you are miles away. Camp Gateway does offer a lot of different activities for everyone. One thing I love to do is go kayaking and stand up paddle boarding. My girlfriends and I tried to do this once a month to get away from the city and school. Because you are so close to the city, you can plan outdoor activities as well as some activities in the city. My friends and I stayed 1 night in the campground, and the next day went to a recital show that took us 10 minutes to get to. You can also walk, hike or ride your bike along multiple paths- I have done the Fort Tilden trail (I just walked, but there were multiple people that passed us on their bikes). Within the campground they do have some fire pits- which my friends and I always use because we love cooking smores and hot dogs for dinner. A little further away from the campground, about 10-15 miles there is a place where you can do horseback riding, see the Statue of Liberty (which is gorgeous!), and there is a little beach area. This beach area is where I do my kayaking and stand up paddle boarding. Again, its not very far away...you can either drive there, walk or ride your bike. The road is paved, which is nice. I stayed here also with my parents, and I know my dad went golfing one day (I didn't go, but he said it was awesome)- and again that was only a 10 minute drive from our camping spot. This campground like I said, does offer quite a bit. Sometimes it doesn't really feel like you are "camping" because things are pretty close by, but it definitely is worth going to and trying.