Robert H. Treman State Park Campground

When planning our exploration of Ithaca, we decided to stay at Robert H. Treman State Park on the advice of a family member who lives in the area. The park is only 15-minutes to downtown Ithaca and, more importantly, less than 7-minutes to Ithaca Brewing Company. [Make sure you check out IBC. There make some great beer and the food is fantastic for a brewery]

The park is divided into two areas—the upper falls and the lower falls. The Campground is located in the lower falls area and it’s an easy 5-min drive (or 4’ish-mile hike) to the upper falls. We highly recommend visiting the upper falls for the beautiful gorge views. There are several trails through the gorge that offer fantastic views of the numerous waterfalls.

As seems to be the standard for NY State Parks, the majority of the campground lacks hook-ups, but there was a small loop in the woods with electric (not sure about water). About two thirds of the no hook-up sites are located in an area of full-sun with only a few trees. We opted for one of these sites and with plenty of sunshine during our stay, our solar had no problem charging our batteries back to 100% by noon.

While there wasn’t a potable water spigot at the dump station, water spigots are conveniently located throughout the campground and are your only option for filling your tanks before or after your stay (this also seems to be the norm for NY State Parks, at least it was for the four we stayed at in 2016).

Bathrooms were well situated for the no hook-up sites and were clean but a little dated. The park staff was super-friendly and they sold firewood at the ranger station.

There were two wonderful playgrounds at the lower falls area—one in the campground by the electric loop and one in the day-use area. Both are very easy walks, regardless of where you’re staying in the campground.

There is a fair amount of road noise from highways 13 and 34 that was noticeable in the morning and at night, but it was nothing too overwhelming.

Speaking of noise, the only negative we experienced at this park was the influx of loud neighbors on our last night. We stayed in late September, arriving mid-week and leaving on Friday. The park was basically empty until Thursday afternoon when multiple run-down, generator-dependent, motor homes and travel trailers arrived in a group. We’re not sure what the deal was these folks, but they were all loud and obnoxious (lots of yelling and cursing). They ran their generators well past the advertised generator hours with absolutely no regard for their neighbors. What made this all the more frustrating was the fact that you could tell they were using the generators to watch TV…probably a Jeff Foxworthy or Larry the Cable Guy marathon on VHS. While it was not the park’s fault, the rangers did show up at 9pm at the end of generator hours and talk to them, but didn’t do anything to stop them—at midnight the generators were still running and I’m sure Jeff Foxworthy was still identifying stereotypical Redneck behavior. 7am the next morning, they were back at it…

Only reason it isn't five stars was the Ranger's seemingly inconsistent enforcement of the rules and the road noise.

We camped in the open field to maximize our solar and got lots of sunshine - no electricity in the open field.

There is a lovely waterfall with a swimming area a 5-15 minute walk from the campground - it was hot when we were there in May 2015 and we went back and forth several times on our bicycles. There is also a longer dirt trail you can walk up a hill/mountain with lovely views.

Campground is located just south of the town of Ithaca which has grocery stores, the famous Moosewood Restaurant and lovely waterfront parks and even a huge waterfall right in town. We also enjoyed the Museum of the Earth in town.

A quirk of NY State Parks is that they absolutely require proof of rabies vaccination for your dog (cats too) at check in so be sure you have this on hand.

Very family friendly park, well staffed, within miles of downtown Ithaca sums up our experience. Two very large, new playgrounds and plenty of young families filled the campground over the weekend. Electric sites are minimal but well shaded and feet within the campground playground. Outer ring (~sites 1-5) are against woods with inner ring (~sites 6-11) near a cabin and open field/playground. Central water access is somewhat hidden amongst the electric sites so you may have to run a 25'+ water line if you need to fill. 20A service without issue. Bathrooms were very clean (we could smell the bleach 50' away as we walked by as the crew cleaned). Centralized showers were the same - well maintained, simple, but very clean and tiled down near the open field/non-electric tent area. We stayed in sites 004 and 011 (011 was probably preferrable for privacy (though, adjacent site looks down on you). Both were reasonably level and maintained/graveled.

Staff was very accommodating, welcoming, and upon check-in offered up some suggestions for our stay with 3 younger kids. Camp wood was available on-site, though we purchased immediately across from the main park entrance for $5/bundle. Don't miss out on the waterfall and swimming hole in warm weather - its only feet hidden behind the cabins; get there early to have a morning coffee and you may be the only people within eye shot. In the summer, you can drive across/through the stream which makes for a great photo opportunity and anticipation for young kids. A 2 mile one way hike with 900'ish feet elevations was a bit too much for our stay, but a drive up the road lends it self to some pretty fantastic short walk down into the upper gorge and open access to a historic Old Mill house turned museum space.

Ithaca brewing company (outdoor beer garden, family friendly) is less than 2 miles up the road about half the distance to Ithaca. Edge of town (<5 miles away) has plenty of big box stores and gas stations.

Your stay/State Park pass gets you access to all other nearby parks (Buttermilk, etc.). If you have kids with energy to burn, search out the downtown Children's Garden along the waterway - a creative space with garden/play areas for young to old. If near town on weekends, the Ithaca Farmers Market seems like the place to be (albeit, with terribly tumultuous parking and traffic to go along with it). Plenty of local farms, crafts, coffee, honey, food, even passed a live musician or two.

We stayed here in early Oct 2019 and had a decent experience. The roads are a little rough around the campsites, but the scenery is very nice and it's an easy walk to the lower waterfalls. Site 7 was easy to get into, but we didnt have as good of cell service as what's reported by others on campendium. ATT was unusable, Verizon was barely usable, but T-mobile was decent.
The staff here was very friendly and clued us into the fact that our parking pass is also valid for visiting all the other area state parks, which actually adds up pretty quick!
FYI - this campground (as many NY state parks) does check your pet rabies vaccination, so make sure to have it on hand when checking in

Nice campground with open sites Which was good for solar. Sites were well spaced though lacking privacy because they’re open sites. There are sites also in the trees which didn’t look so good and that part of the campground the roads are pretty bad.
They have a large natural swimming area below a water fall but was under construction when we were there. The hike around the gorge was beautiful and is the highlight of the park. Lots of security from police and park police.

Loved this park! Yes it has some drawbacks. Roads were muddy and some of the sites are close. But the benefits definitely outweigh those. First off, the park manager (Jim) is wonderful! Super friendly and really went out of his way to make sure we had a comfortable stay at the park. The trail to Lucifer Falls was another highlight of our time here. We didn’t swim at the pools at the lower falls as we are keeping away from people when we can but it was a popular spot and nice that it was such a short walk from the campground. We would definitely stay here again!

This state park will be amazing when they finish the field loop. We couldn’t level our coach, the 30 amp service couldn’t pump out enough voltage. Our friends in a smaller camper were in the site behind us and the site was represented as a back-in, but there was no room to back it in. They had to parallel to the road.

The park surrounding this campground is a magical trail laden, waterfall centric place that is worth a visit whether or not your camp here. The campground here feels older - several sections of it are very well treed and some sites should not be accessed by larger rigs.

There is a loop that is in an open field. It's all dry camping, but it has plenty of space for rigs of designated site length and is easily accessible. The sites in this area seemed level.

We stayed in site 10, which offered 30A electric. The site was not level, but we were able to make it work without much fuss. The site was spacious and tucked into some trees. It had a picnic table and fire ring. There is a water spigot that can be accessed for fill-ups a with a few lengths of hose.

Water spigots for filling tanks dot each camping area. All sites have a picnic table and fire ring.

The cabins at this park appear very cute, although they are old.

There is a swimming area that is crowned by a waterfall here - it's truly really cool. Tons of trails. A playground. And bathrooms.

Verizon worked fine for non video-up related tasks.

Sites 1-11 have electrical hookups, 30 amps shared between two sites. Shady unlevel sites.
The toilets in this area do not have showers.

Boon dock site that was level, spacious and clean. The bathhouses were clean but dated. The dump station was clean, easy to enter and exit. We stayed in Site 72. The site gave us plenty of open sky to get high quality solar nectar till about 2pm, then the beautiful trees provided for diffuse solar opportunities. AT&T and Verizon hot spot worked for streaming and video calls. Hikes up and down the gorge and along waterfalls was lovely. The swimming hole is a nice way to cool off post-hike. Friendly office staff.