RE: Site suggestions...Letchworth State Park - N.Y.

[DBGCAMP]

 
Does anyone have any information on what the loops at Letchworth State Park in New York, are like?  
 I am getting ready to make reservations for the fall of 03.  
 I will have a dog with me (along with the Wife and kids)  
 Dry camping is OK.
 
 Anyone have any favorite sites?

[marin]

 DBGCAMP
I ve been there, but honestly can t remember good sites from bad. It s a great state park. Hopefully kathybrj will respond, she had a great review posted for Letchworth, and pictures. You could try to e-mail her, she s very helpful...[]

[kathybrj]

 DBGCAMP
Thanks marin! Marin remembers that this is my absolute favorite place to camp! I wish I had saved my review of Letchworth. I figured all that stuff would have migrated. Oh well..
 
 Letchworth is a 14,000+ acre " park" . I believe it runs through 2, maybe 3 counties and is very large. Be prepared to DRIVE to get out to the villages around it. From the Mt. Morris entrance (that s the one you want to use to get to the campgrounds) it s 6 (maybe 9?) miles to the campground check in building. Mt. Morris is where we ended up going for groceries (Big M grocery store), because we liked Letchworth so much, we extended our stay. Letchworth camping does close down at Columbus Day.
 
 If you have pets you can only have them in loops 100, 200 and 700 (have your proof of rabies shots certificate with you- they do check). We were in  loop 200 which is close to the playground, the rec building, the camp store and the laundry room. So is Loop 700.  Loop 100 has several sites that back up to the canyon and I wouldn t feel safe having small children on those sites. Also, people are constantly cutting through the back end of some sites in loop 100 to get a view of the canyon.
 
 Loop 700 is closer to the dump station and the main gate for the camp grounds. If you ve never been to Letchworth, be forwarned- if you want to go swimming, you must use the swimming pools only (there is no swimming in the river) and the pool are a DRIVE from the campgrounds. Riding a bike would take quite a bit of time and it s very hilly (we mountain bike and we drove to the pool). I liked some of the sites in Loop 700 and we may stay there this year.
 
 There are water spigots every so often in the loops. We didn t have a very long potable hose, but a very friendly neighbor loaned us theirs and we filled up on the third day. There is electric in all the loops I believe. Check out the Reserve America site for that. That s how you ll make reservations, I believe. The bath houses were fairly clean. Two showers and three toilets in each house. Personally, we never waited to use any of the facilities and our loop was fairly full (mostly pop ups, by the way!). The bath houses also had a little room with a special, larger type of toilet for dumping casettes and porta potties. The only drawback was there is no faucet to rinse with.
 
 Off loop 100 there s a nice hiking trail that takes you to the edge of the canyon. There are NO FENCES. Keep an eye on smaller children, In some places there are short stone walls, but that s mostly along the highway in the southern end of the park. Make sure you drive down and park and then hike the trails to the falls. They are beautiful. There are TONS of hiking trails (66 miles worth- some criss cross the FLT). They will give you a map of them when you check in. There are also snack bars here and there in the park.  Some trails are multi-use (you will find equestrians and bike riders on some). You will see dozens of deer wandering the park. They aren t, for the most part, too afraid of humans. While we were there, the park officers removed a rattle snake from the cabin area. You will have your typical number of racoons and skunk also. Don t leave any food out over night.
 
 There s some group rafting activities, kayaking and hot air balloon rides and there are lots of activities posted at the rec building. There s also ping pong tables and other games in the rec building. The stores (there are 3 throughout the park) have a variety of goods. One store, near the Glen Iris Inn (a bed and breakfast within the park) has a wonderful gift shop. The campground store has coolers with milk, eggs, butter, etc. (expect to pay a hefty price). The laundry room is good sized. Luckily I brought my own detergent and dryer sheets. That stuff was expensive in the store.
 
 Outside of the park, you can drive a little and go visit and tour the Mt. Morris Dam (you can view the dam from an overlook within the park). The kids loved it and on the day we were there, two of the original engineers for the project were there to talk about their experiences. Off the end of the parking area at Mt. Morris Dam is an entrance for the Finger Lakes Trail (FLT). If you re into hiking or advanced mountain biking, it s a must! We rode it two days in a row. On the road to the Mt. Morris Dam, there s a farm stand that sells the absolute BEST corn (if you are there going toward the fall) we ve ever had. The woman that runs the stand is wonderful and we ended up going back to get a load of corn to take home.
 
 Looking over my journal, I see that I made a note to stop at Walmart/Wegman (gorceries) plaza in Geneva (maybe it was Geneseo) to get supplies- much cheaper than the Big M in Mt. Morris.
 
 Ok, I do have pics- there are at my webshots site:
 
 http://community.webshots.com/user/kathybrj
 
 If you need anymore info, PM me and I ll be happy to try to help you out.

[marin]

 DBGCAMP
I dug through my backpack and found my map for Letchworth, the following are sites that I liked:
 
 Loop 600 site 631
 Loop 500 site 504, and 527
 
 I look for privacy, and like to be semi close to the bathroom, without being on top of it. I ruled out loops 100, 200, and 700 because we don t travel with Indy boy (our baby the cat)!
 
 DH wants me to add the following, we attempted to fish more than once at a variety of locations within the park, but the fishing was bad...[]

[kathybrj]

 marin

 

ORIGINAL:  marin
 
 I dug through my backpack and found my map for Letchworth, the following are sites that I liked:
 
 Loop 600 site 631
 Loop 500 site 504, and 527
 
 I look for privacy, and like to be semi close to the bathroom, without being on top of it. I ruled out loops 100, 200, and 700 because we don t travel with Indy boy (our baby the cat)!
 
 DH wants me to add the following, we attempted to fish more than once at a variety of locations within the park, but the fishing was bad...[]
 

 marin- the water was so low this past summer, we couldn t attempt to fish. The river was at a trickle!
 
 I would love to see the park put a pool up in the campground area. On those hot days, it was a nuisance to pack up everything into the van and head out to one of the pools. I would have liked to be closer to the campground when swimming.

[marin]

 DBGCAMP
A pool would be ideal in the campground section. It is a long haul![: (]

[DBGCAMP]

 DBGCAMP
Thanks for all the input[&:]