Dog-friendly campgrounds in NJ/NY/PA?

June 21, 2004 9:30 AM

Camping with dogs - I've been looking for a good campground somewhere in the NJ/NY/PA area (I'm in northern Jersey) that allows dogs. [More inside...]

We've tried (unsuccessfully) to find a good place for the past few years. All of the places that I've found in the past have been the kind of campground where all of the sites are right on top of one another and the focus seems to be more on the family fun activities and partying, rather than enjoying nature. We've been burned one too many times to trust what a phone call or website will tell us.

All we want is to have a nice campsite (preferably close to a river or lake for swimming) where we won't have to listen to other campers' loud music, and where we can bring our furry friends with us. Some place like Round Valley (in northern NJ) would be perfect. We've never had a bad camping experience there.

Also - any advice on camping with dogs is welcome!

posted by MsVader to pets & animals (10 comments total)

Here's the scoop (heh) on which parks in PA allow camping with pets.
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 10:00 AM on June 21, 2004

Depends on what you consider camping. I consider camping to be "pitch a tent" but apparently many people think camping is "pull up in an RV and hook up the power, water, sewer and gas". The Pine Barrens is a lovely area in which to camp, and the Wading River is a nice little river to do some canoeing on. A quick poke shows that you could stay at The Wading Pines with a dog if you're not in a cabin (at least I interpret "Sorry, NO PETS or TENTS in cabins or cabin area" to mean that they're OK outside of the cabin areas...).
posted by plinth at 10:21 AM on June 21, 2004

I'll have to get more info on that Wading Pines place, but it looks like it might be less on the "pitch a tent" side and more on the "pull up in an RV" side.

And I'm checking out the PA sites now...
posted by MsVader at 11:12 AM on June 21, 2004

Oh, and if it doesn't involve a tent, then it ain't camping. ;)
posted by MsVader at 11:12 AM on June 21, 2004

Plus, if you camp in the Pine Barrens, you might run across that Russian "Interior Decorator" that Chris and Pauley Walnuts lost a few years back....

And, yes, she considers camping to be "pitch a tent", which is exactly why I refuse to go with her.
posted by emptybowl at 11:13 AM on June 21, 2004

Ideally, I'd like some recommendations from people who have been to good campgrounds. A lot of the places we've looked at over the years said that they had rustic and spacious campsites, but in reality they were over-crowded and sparsely wooded.

And, emptybowl is a wuss. ;) (I kid because I love.)
posted by MsVader at 11:23 AM on June 21, 2004

It may be a bit far for you, but I camped at the dog-friendly Eagle Point Campground two weekends ago. Good facilities, not too many RVs, and a great lakeside location. It's about four hours north of New York City, 20 minutes past Lake George.
posted by werty at 11:51 AM on June 21, 2004

Wading Pines aside (I don't know it specifically), the Pine Barrens in general is just a pretty place to be--since it is a popular scouting destination, tent sites should be easy to find. I'm just feeling lazy right now. The Wading River also has some neat scenery along it.
posted by plinth at 2:59 PM on June 21, 2004

There is also some good stuff up along the AT in the Delaware water gap region.
(It does say pets must be on a leash) Yard's Creek was great for real camping,
but I'm not sure if it's a) still open or b) scouts only.

I wrote up a long description of Voorhees state park which is seldom crowded and very nature-y,
but after I wrote all that, it turns out that they don't allow pets in the campground, only the day areas.
I had no idea there were so many parks that are anti-pet. Hmm, this is a tough one.
posted by milovoo at 2:33 PM on June 30, 2004

The K9 trailblazers trip reports, cover mostly Maryland, but there are a few others in there.
posted by milovoo at 11:45 AM on July 1, 2004