The Best in Tent Camping: New York State: A Guide for Car Campers Who Hate RVs, Concrete Slabs, and Loud Portable Stereos (Best Tent Camping) [Paperback]

Aaron Starmer (Author), Catharine Wells (Author), Timothy Starmer (Author)

Book Description

Series: Best Tent Camping | Publication Date: June 19, 2007

From the Adirondack Mountains to the Catskills, from the St. Lawrence River to the Hudson, wilderness in New York State abounds for tent campers. Here are the 50 most peaceful and scenic campgrounds by lakes, on islands, near beaches, along rivers, and deep in the woods. Most are accessible by car, with a handful of boat-only and hike-in sites for the more adventurous. Each site description includes hiking trails, local attractions, tidbits, and wildlife information, as well as star ratings and maps for easy planning..

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Cate Wells began her outdoor adventures as a Brownie and continues to camp on travels around the world. She works in publishing in New York City and enjoys nature as a welcome change from city life.

Aaron Starmer is a freelance writer and avid camper who grew up exploring the wilds of upstate New York. He has worked for years in the travel industry as an editor for Longitude Books in New York City.

Tim Starmer has been exploring and camping in New York since he was a child. Love of the outdoors has taken him across the country and as far away as the Overland Trek in Tasmania. He currently resides in Upstate New York where he works as a timber framer.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

With Nicoll Bay on its eastern edge and the Great South Bay forming its southern boundary, Heckscher is largely surrounded by water. Less than 50 miles from New York City, it is a convenient getaway for many urban dwellers, who constitute a very high volume of day-users. The park, located at the end of the aptly named Heckscher State Parkway, has well-maintained, clean, and secure facilities. Park police are a common site; day visitors are shuffled out at sundown; and the main campground gate closes at 10 p.m. In addition, campers are not allowed in areas outside the campground after sundown.
The campground is nestled in the woods, set off from Hecksher Parkway loop by an open field. As you enter, look for the campground office on your right. Arranged in a simple rectangle, and divided into four rows, the sites are closely spaced, but nicely shaded, well manicured and flat. One large comfort station serves the campground in the center.
Use the grill for cooking. Other fires are permitted only in metal bottom containers that the camper must provide. Each basic site features a cement platform and RVs (limited to less than 11 feet high) are not an uncommon site. However, there are no electrical or water hookups and quiet hours (during which time generators must be off) are strictly enforced. At the back of the far loop, you will find the quietest sites, with 67 and 68 being the most spacious. Activities are organized in the summer for children, and families find it an ideal place to find respite from the more trafficked sections of the park.

Product Details

• Paperback: 204 pages
• Publisher: Menasha Ridge Press; 1st edition (June 19, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0897326415
• ISBN-13: 978-0897326414
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #245,018 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Better than Nothing, July 25, 2010

By 

Camperkat "Camperkat" (Long Island, NY United States) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Best in Tent Camping: New York State: A Guide for Car Campers Who Hate RVs, Concrete Slabs, and Loud Portable Stereos (Best Tent Camping) (Paperback)

I had set great hopes on this book, as we love tent camping and "hate RVs, concrete slabs and loud portable stereos" (the book's subtitle).

I spent a great deal of time reading this book, making notations, going on [...] (DEC campground rez website) and finally selected Brown Tract Pond in Raquette Lake, the Adirondacks--site 69, to be specific. There were factual errors in the book (no showers at this campground, for one thing) and long story short, I don't know when the authors last visited this particular campground but site 69, described as having "breathtaking views of the pond and wilderness" was so overgrown you could not see the lake or much of anything else, and it was sandwiched between two other sites and was literally 5 feet away from other campers (one of whom had a loud dog.) There were a great many exposed tree roots cobbling site 69, so bad that you could not pitch a tent--and the site was at a huge slant--totally not level--no mention of this at all in the book. Luckily, the caretaker at the campground let us drive around and select another campsite that was open for the time period we had booked, otherwise we would have been miserable. So, I'd say this book it "OK", that it definitely gives you a broad idea, but it's not the end-all and it definitely has accuracy issues.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars On the money, June 28, 2009

By 

jo-jo "jo-jo" (New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Best in Tent Camping: New York State: A Guide for Car Campers Who Hate RVs, Concrete Slabs, and Loud Portable Stereos (Best Tent Camping) (Paperback)

As first time campers with 2 young kids, we didn't know what to expect. We booked a campsite site unseen and hoped for the best. This guide outlined various campgrounds and detailed info on the sites within the campground. We were pleasantly surprised and were able to choose the perfect campsite for our family. I would definitely recommend this book - we've already booked our next trip at the same campground and are planning more in the future at different campsites mentioned in the book.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good camping information, September 22, 2007

By 

A. Noel (Baton Rouge, Louisiana) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Best in Tent Camping: New York State: A Guide for Car Campers Who Hate RVs, Concrete Slabs, and Loud Portable Stereos (Best Tent Camping) (Paperback)

This is a very good camping book. I like the list of features it has for every campground, including whether dogs are allowed or not (very useful for us, we have 2 dogs). We definitely will try visiting a few of these campgrounds in the future. I also liked the camping packing list in the back of the book, it's a good checklist to check out before any trip to make sure you don't forget anything important.