After finding that all the hotels/motels in Shelburne were booked solid, or very expensive, we decided to stay at the local campground. We headed over there about 7:30pm, and found the office closed. Fortunately the sign said we could find an empty campsite and check in in the morning. They listed the empty spots on the sign on the door. We found an empty spot, and pull our car in. It was raining, and we hurriedly set up our tent.
When our tent was sent up, we headed off for food. When we got back it was dark. My wife went to bed, and I plugged the extension cord into the power hookup, and recharged my laptop while working on a couple blog posts. The brochure for the campground says they have wi-fi. My computer shows one network, but it looked like another computer. A few minutes later another connection appears. I connect and manage to upload m posts.
In the morning I head off to the bathrooms intending to take a shower. There are a couple shower stalls. I turn on the water, and it is cold. I turn the knob to both extremes, and get nothing but cold water. I am not sure which way is hot, so I leave it in the middle. The water says cold for the longest time, but eventually warms up a little. Just a little! I had it turned all the way to what seemed to be hot, and the water seemed warm coming out of the shower head. But by the time the fine streams of water hit my body, they seemed kind of cold. I washed my hair, and was suffering. I couldn’t find my soap in our bag, so I washed off as best as possible, and got dressed in the cold shower stall trying to keep my clothes from getting wet on the wet floor. I did get hot water at the sink though.
Back at the tent, I attempt to connect to the wi-fi, but am unable to get a connection this morning. Oh well.
We broke down our campsite, and loaded the car. Some of the other people staying at the campground look like permanent residents, maybe people down on their luck, paying the weekly rate. We check out at the office. I ask about the wi-fi, and he says that it is only good to about 50 feet from the office.
The campground is an older place, that could probably use some updating. The spaces are close together. But at least it was cheap.
My wife and I were planning to go camping in the Adirondack High Peaks region. I looked for campgrounds near Lake Placid and Saranac Lake. I found a KOA but it was up around Wilmington, and I wanted to find something with a shorter drive from Rochester, NY. I found another campground with all kinds of amenities, but as I tried to book, I found it required a 3 day minimum stay. Darn it. I found another campground, but found that the tent sites were located on islands and you needed a boat to reach them (good thing I read more before booking one). Then I tried Rollins Pond Campground. It is a state campground. I went ahead a booked a site.
There are two campgrounds here: Fish Creek Pond Campground & Rollins Pond Campground. Fish Creek Pond Campground is more family oriented, and has it’s site located directly on the pond, and are all squished close together. Rollins Pond Campground offers more quiet, and has buffers between the sites.
As we arrived in the area, we found that we had to drive through Fish Creek Pond Campground, to reach the entrance of Rollins Pond Campground. There were about half a dozen cars in front of us at the check in. The check in process was agonizingly slow, and took us about us between 20 minutes and half an hour to get in.
We drove to our camp site. 80% of the campsites are located on the water, and the rest are across the road. Our site was not one of the 80% on the water. Reserve America listed our site as Drive Tent Prime. I am still trying to figure out what “Prime” is. The best thing about our site is it was near the bathrooms. The only things found on our site were a picnic table and a cement block firepit that looked kind of busted up.
The bathrooms were dimly lit, and not very clean. Often we found the toilets clogged up. And most of the bathrooms had only toilets and a couple sinks with cold running water. There were also mirrors, but because of the dim lighting, they weren’t extremely helpful.
There were a couple shower buildings at the campground, but we would have had to get into the can, drive to them as they were quite a ways away from our campsite. We never did.
There were water faucets located along the road for campers to use, but these were located a distance apart, and required a short walk to get water.
I looked at fishing in the pond (from a camp site on the water), but the water near shore was too shallow to try fishing from shore, and I didn’t have a boat. There was a place near the entrance where I saw people fishing on a small dock. But I would have had to drive to it, and just never got around to it.
There were a handfull of activities scheduled each day. We checked out one listed as Mountain Pies. We weren’t sure what mountain pies were. So we got in the car, and drove to it as it was a long ways away from our site. Mountain pies seem to be pie filling spread on white bread, and toasted over a fire. We didn’t bother with them, and headed back to our campsite.
Overall, I just wasn’t impressed. I will not likely stay at this campground next time. Maybe I was spoiled by our last trip to Old Forge where we stayed at a private owned campground.
Old Forge Camping Resort
SUMMARY: This camping resort in Old Forge, NY is clean, well maintained, and has excellent facilities. I will happily stay here again.
Old Forge Camping Resort is located in Old Forge, NY. The entrance is about a quarter of a mile north of Enchanted Forest Water Safari on Route 28.
Old Forge Camping Resort has 40 cottages, 132 cabins, and many tent sites. We originally reserved a tent site, but it was raining when we arrived. I asked, and they allowed us to upgrade to a cabin.
The tent sites cost $24 a night, and each come with a picnic tables, and a fire circle.
Cabins cost $60 a night ($42 off-season mid-week). Each has a full sized bed, and two bunk beds. The beds each have a mattress, but you need to bring your own linens, or sleeping bag, and pillows. They have a thermostat controlled heater, lighting, and electricity. There is a porch swing in the front of each cabin as well as a picnic table.
The cottages cost $155 a night ($115 off-season mid-week). The cottages each have two rooms. Each room has a full sized bed with a single bunk bed over it. One room has a kitchenette with a microwave oven, propane stove top, refrigerator, sink, table and chairs. The second room has a bathroom and shower. Each cottage also has a grill, fire circle and porch swing. Most of the cottages seem to be located right on the lake front.
The lodge has a small store. There is also a famil lounge with a TV (with satelite channels), fireplace, small library of books (mostly paperbacks, and reader’s digests). There is an arcade with a bunch of video games. There is also air hockey, foosball and skee ball. The lodge also has a laundry facility. One of my favorite features was the free internet connection via Wi-Fi!
Located around the campground are seven community bathrooms. Each has bathrooms, sinks, showers, and washer and dryers. Each also has a propane stovetop outside for cooking.
The resort is located next to Enchanted Forest Water Safari. They offer a shuttle service. There is also a walking path over to Enchanted Forest.
The Old Forge Camping Resort property and facilities were all kept very clean. We often saw employees travelling around in little golf carts doing maintenance. The lodge was always well staffed. We enjoyed our stay here, and will likely stay here next time we go camping in the Adirondacks.