Madison W.

Granville, NY

Joined April 2018

I grew up just outside the blue line of the Adirondack State Park in New York. I love the outdoors and shoot digital and film photography on my trips!

Nice Secluded Campground

Jones pond has 6 campsites located along a Jeep road, out of the boat launch parking lot. Pets are allowed, RVs can be parked at sites 1, 4, and 5 (if you have a smaller one), and there are no water/electrical hookups. There are two backwoods privies in the campground as well. Fire pits are located at all sites, except for site 3. Sites 3 and 6 are only accessible by foot. All the sites are connected by footpaths. You will need a high clearance vehicle to access site 3 - 6 due to a rough, poorly maintained jeep road. Off of the main road, there is at least two more sites around the pond, however these are poorly marked.

Site 1 is located to the left in the boat launch parking lot. Site 2 is located to the right, just as you start to head down the Jeep road. The first privy has a trail access to the left, just after site 2. Site 4 will be the next open area you come to, on your right. The privy is in the woods on the far side. Site 3 is up the hill, opposite of site 4. I did not realize this was even a site until halfway through the summer. Continuing down the road, site 6 is accessible by foot from a parking spot at the 90 degree turn in the road. If you continue down the road, it dead ends at site 5.

These sites are great for camping, kayaking, fishing (plenty of catfish!), and watching loons, herons, and bald eagles. The sites are located within reasonable driving distance to some hiking trails. St. Regis Firetower is not far away, and can actually be seen from sites 4 and 5! Saranac Lake is a 15 minute drive, and Lake Placid is about 35 minutes.

I car camped at these sites on and on and off for most of the summer. It’s pretty secluded, and usually you will only be packed on summer weekends. For holiday weekends, you may end up with noisy neighbors, but the sites are spaced far enough apart that this usually isn’t a problem.