Outside NYC area tent & swimming sites?

[brianosaur]

Haven't been tent/car camping a long time. Did a bunch of backpacking until DD was born and now that she's six I want to get out this summer.

I am on Long Island and am Iooking for sites about an hour or two outside NYC that have water activities. (Southern NY, West CT, NJ or even East PA.)

All the campground on LI have sites that are on top of one another. I don't need a remote location but I would prefer to find a campground where there is more than 10 feet of space between each individual site. Something where you don't have to view everything your neighbors are doing.

I would also not like to be stuck next to an RV and a running generator all night. Tent only sections?

[NYCgrrl]

Re: Outside NYC area tent & swimming sites?

Hello brianosaur and welcome!

OK you want water activities but uncrowded sites, an hour or 2 outside of NYC. Yer asking fer a lot, yanno?:D
However it's not impossible.

On LI you might have missed Watch Hill because of the semi -primitive sites and ferry only access from the Patchogue side. You'll find noooo RVs; it's tenting only.

In Westchester, check the county parks. Many hidden treasures. Wont find ocean but you will find lake, pool, and pond swimming and fishing.

Now I'll tackle the difficult:campgrounds located on the ocean, with spacious sites, AND limited RVs, close to NYC.

Now don't laugh:

Hammonassett in CT. It's hugeeeeeee..somewhere between 500-600 sites spread over 2 plus miles of LI Sound shore land. And you will read reviews that will say it's treeless; has tons of RVs, reminds one of Hither Hills (W/ BIGGER SITES) and that's true of much of it.
Butttttttt if ya do yer homework you can find the perfect RV less site with lots of trees at road X, sites 1-7(odd #s only); road W, 1-14(consecutive #s); road U, 1-13(, in Area 1. Avoid the following sites as although well wooded they become a swamp when it rains and have a decided downward incline: X2-10(even#s); W 15-24(consecutive #s) and V1-10(consecutive#s).


In Dowd's, road O, sites 17- 28 are pretty nice. I'm less familiar with Dowd's than Area 1 so take this info with a grain of salt and use Google Earth combined w/ this map:

http://www.mappery.com/map-of/Hammon...campground-map

"Hammo" has a well enforced rule of no generators after 10:00 PM and since it doesn't get dark until 9 ish during the summer it's fair and fine for most. I find it a haven for children, from a safety and making friends POV. At least one G movie is played at the amphitheater weekly; talent show in same locale and lots of nature walks and talks. One pancake fundraiser per summer what I now see the beauty of (I hate cooking breakfast, LOL).
Been taking my DGD there since she was almost 2 y/o and she's almost 9 y/o now and will have a birthday sleepover there come Labour Day weekend. She keeps in contact w/ her lil campground friends thru out the year via Skype, emails and the occasional face to face Winter holiday visit. I find the entire time spent there a step back in time in a good way that still allows me to zoom back in the city for work when needed. I can and have done that using public transport and returned the same day.

Want to incorporate some nice hiking into the trip? Beside the marshland and scrub forest walks @ Hammonasset, you've a 45 min - 1 hour drive to Devil's Hopyard, Gilette's Park and Cockaponset State Forest all located in the nearby CT Valley.

I've more waterside sites to write of but 'Bletchely Park' is on and I've my priorities...:p

ETA: NYS has about 14 different boat access only campgrounds and I think the closest one is Saranac Lake:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/29/tr...oundss%2F&_r=0

A little further afield prolly 3 hours travel is Erving State Forest, and Washburn Island on Waquoit Bay-National Estuarine Research Reserve, MA. Washburn is primitve and small on an island off
MV, while Erving is set in a forest with some tent only sites.

HTH and enjoy where ever you stay!

[michelliot]

Re: Outside NYC area tent & swimming sites?

Try doing a search for "Family Campgrounds." The grounds are usually louder in nature, but there are a lot more activities on the grounds themselves. Usually a pool, playground, activity center, laundry, and other comforts of home but your residence is your tent with usually water and electricity on site. I went to one in Jersey quite a while ago named Kymer's (2hr from Queens). and Russel Brook (2.5 hrs) a little beyond Monticello and Roscoe, NY. There's all of those Jellystone campgrounds but I haven't been to any of those. Are you out on the Island or in Nassau.

Those types might suite your daughters and your requirements for a family weekend with things to do.

Enjoy.......elliot