roadtripper731776

This site is not for everyone, but fit our RV style nicely. The location is remote, well off the beaten trail, and a little tricky to spot. We did a recon day trip to evaluate it before towing our RV. The entrance to the gravel loop is directly across the road from a day use area with a small picnic shelter. The southern end of the loop was very muddy so would be difficult for a big rig and a challenge for anything but 4 or AWD. There are several sites of various sizes around the perimeter, as well as 3 large open fields with primitive fire pits on the interior of the loop. We were able to easily maneuver our 2WD truck and 35’ fifth wheel into position in one of the fields. The site was not level, we had to raise one side of our rig almost 8”. I’m not sure how often the grass is mowed, but can confirm that the sites are maintained. On our recon, the grass was thigh high, but a week later when we brought the rig, it had been mowed.

On the downside, there was lots of evidence that this might be a party spot as there was a lot of trash in the fire pits, mostly beer bottles and cans. We stayed Wednesday through Friday morning and had the entire loop to ourselves save for one car that drove through and left. So the partying (& littering) might be limited to the weekends. We cleaned all the trash we could find throughout the loop and didn’t quite fill a single large trash bag. We were rewarded for our attempt to be good stewards with 3 Frisbee golf disks! While we were there, the deer flies were horrendous, but that may have just been due to the hot humid weather. We had no Verizon service at all.

On the upside, the site is serene and tranquil. Very quiet with barely any traffic noise despite the proximity of the road. Part of the Finger Lakes Trail passes right through the grounds and leads to a beautiful stream crossing next to a beaver dam. There is a short section of trail that continues in a loop back to the main road less than a mile from the entrance to the loop, so would make a nice easy hike. The Trail continues on the day use side of the road. Although it gets steeper pretty quickly, before it does, it passes close to another picturesque stream.

Although we managed to get temporarily stuck in the mud when we pulled out of the clearing back onto the loop, I blame it on my lack of experience and the poor traction of our dually 2WD truck.

Hard to believe this is actually free!

Arrived around noon on A Friday, December 2nd on a mild sunny 50° day. We were the only patrons staying the night. 3 pull through sites with 30 & 20 amp power working on the two furthest from the entrance.
We set up quickly as the sites are fairly level.

The road in is odd, a one lane loop that you drive halfway around to pull throughs that are angled to put you back on the approach against the flow of traffic. Not an issue if traffic is light as it was for us. The road is paved but rutted with pot holes. Very tight turns. I wasn’t able to keep the wheels of my 35’ 5th wheel on the pavement. The sites are also paved and wide enough to accommodate my rig and dually 1 ton side by side. They are not, however, long enough to fit the length of both one in front of the other. In fact anything much longer than our rig would probably stick out into the perimeter loop.

We will certainly take advantage of the dump station before we leave.

On the down side, lots of traffic noise from the highway 20’ from the park, and infrequent train noise right across the river.

4 solid bars with Verizon with around 16 Mbps down and 12 up!

There’s a short sidewalk trail closer to the river, a nice looking playground that 2 families visited while we were there. A park dedicated to Rosie the Riveters, a monument to Chuck Yeager, a nice floating dock and a (locked for our visit) restroom.

All in all a great opportunity at a price that can’t be beat!

Fairly nice location with more room between sites and comparably better rates than many in peak season. Good clean power (according to my SurgeGuard), safe 40ish psi for water (according to my pressure regulator) and sewer hook ups. All the sites were back in on raised gravel beds, and posed few challenges even for an inexperienced backer like myself.

Wish I had a canoe or kayak so I could spend some time on the lazy river. Had to contend myself with wandering the few short trails available from the site.

They have a swimming area (no guard, at your own risk) but it’s basically a pond. Same dark water as the river, and nothing to keep gators out. This was closed the entire time we were there due to water quality (it’s only tested once a month) the notices looked like they had been up a long time.

Half the park was under construction 7 days a week from about 8:00 AM-6:00 PM. The work crew damaged the water main several times, leading to several water outages, at least one that lasted 2 days. When the water is flowing, there’s a boil advisory in effect (again due to the construction). The one positive is that there were many vacant sites, so not as crowded as is typical. One regular said it routinely fills up to capacity (3000+) with lots of screaming kids every weekend.

There are (expensive) boat & bike rentals, as well as a (reasonably priced) laundry, but it only has 1 washer and 1 dryer. It is also locked on the weekends, but staff can get longer term campers access. We never had to wait.

We enjoyed our stay, despite the frustrations. When confronted with the obvious restrictions, staff agreed to reduce our RV rate to the tent site rate for those days with extended outages.