Question on Campgrounds in the Adirondacks

Pete_Hickey · Mar 1, 2006

Yan said:
As far as driving Mecham Lake seems to be even closer as we'll be coming from Ottawa. But looking at the map the Mecham Lake seems to be larger which is not good.

Ahhh.. You're in my neck of the woods. Yeah, Mecham lake is the closest.. an 'easy' bike ride from Ottawa, and a couple hours drive.

Buck Pond is nice, but there aren't too many on-the-water camp sites, however both Buck Pond, and lake Kushaqua are there. No moters on Buck Pond, but they are on Kushaqua, however, it isn't that popular, and you won't find as many motorboats as in Mecham. Rollins Pond gets crowded/filled up. I don't think Buck Pond has gotten filled since Labor Day, in the late 90's. I don't know about Mecham. If you can deal with having a site that is not on the water it's nice and quiet, and has everything else you want. If you get there early before the weekend, you may be able to get a site on the water.... they are (or were as of last year) first come first serve. Reservations don't gurantee a particular site.

Yan · Mar 1, 2006

Pete_Hickey said:
Ahhh.. You're in my neck of the woods. Yeah, Mecham lake is the closest.. an 'easy' bike ride from Ottawa, and a couple hours drive.

Buck Pond is nice, but there aren't too many on-the-water camp sites, however both Buck Pond, and lake Kushaqua are there. No moters on Buck Pond, but they are on Kushaqua, however, it isn't that popular, and you won't find as many motorboats as in Mecham. Rollins Pond gets crowded/filled up. I don't think Buck Pond has gotten filled since Labor Day, in the late 90's. I don't know about Mecham. If you can deal with having a site that is not on the water it's nice and quiet, and has everything else you want. If you get there early before the weekend, you may be able to get a site on the water.... they are (or were as of last year) first come first serve. Reservations don't gurantee a particular site.

Are you sure that reservations are not site specific? I went on ReserveAmerica.com and it seems like you can reserve a specific site.

Pete_Hickey · Mar 1, 2006

Yan said:
Are you sure that reservations are not site specific? I went on ReserveAmerica.com and it seems like you can reserve a specific site.

That,s why I specified last year. For years, I've been going there with my family. My brother would reserve, and he would get there early to pick out a site. Things may have changed for this year, or it just may be that the place is so empty, that he has just about always been able to get a waterfront site.

Yan · Mar 1, 2006

They say there is a maximum of 6 per site - do they really enforce that? We'll probably be two families with 4 adults and 3 kids (one being under 2 years old). Can we get away with getting just one site?

Pete_Hickey · Mar 1, 2006

Yan said:
They say there is a maximum of 6 per site - do they really enforce that? We'll probably be two families with 4 adults and 3 kids (one being under 2 years old). Can we get away with getting just one site?

I beleive it's 6 ADULTS. When I go with my family, we usually take 2-3 sites for 4-5 families.... where a family is 2 adults and at least 2 kids... IE at least 8 people per site. Since we all arrive at different times, they may not be aware of the number or people we have.

The DO enforce the nor more than 2 cars per site rule, though. That is a certainty.

BorealChickadee · Mar 2, 2006

They also enforce the rule that a dog must be confined to your site. A few years back I took my incredibly afraid of the world black lab mix with me ( she hunkered down in the tent all the time) and when we both wanted to leave the site one day I took her (on a short leash) walking down the campground road to the showers. I was scolded by the ranger for not keeping her confined to the site proper. I'm not complaining-it was the rule. Just so you know ahead of time. In my case I was afraid she would tear up the tent to find us if we both were gone from the site.

Yan · Mar 2, 2006

So I called them this morning and they say that 6 people limit per site is for the total number of people including toddlers, so we'll have to reserve 2 sites. They also limit it to 2 tents per site. The 2 car limit means that any extra car has to be parked off the site and you have to pay extra for it. Which is better than in Ontario where only one car is included and last year when we went to a provincial park with a van and a bike I had to pay extra for the bike.