Wellesley Island SP/Thousand Islands NY?

[Jim K in PA]

We are contemplating going up to the 1K islands are of NY to explore.  Has anyone stayed at W.I. SP or nearby?  Wellesley looks huge.  The area looks fantastic from the bridges crossing the St. Lawrence!  Is the area good for canoeing?  We might rent a boat for a day up there, if it is not too expensive.  Suggested activities are welcome.

Thanks.

[dthurk]

We spent a week in 1000 Islands a few years ago.  Stayed in the Canadian side in Gananoque.  There was a 10 day festival in Gananoque that we stumbled upon that was nice.  We also went to Fort Henry in Kingston.  Great evening performance that we loved watching.  We didn't canoe or kayak, but area looks great for that.  Don't get into the shipping lanes.  You don't want to tangle with the big boys.

[Jim K in PA]

LOL - you are absolutely right Dave - I would not want to try and out paddle a freighter :eyecrazy:  We prefer exploring coves and shallows in the canoes anyway.

We took the plunge and reserved a waterfront site in loop D (#14 I think).  It is on the river side, not the bay.  Should be great.

[dthurk]

LOL - you are absolutely right Dave - I would not want to try and out paddle a freighter :eyecrazy:  We prefer exploring coves and shallows in the canoes anyway.
 
 We took the plunge and reserved a waterfront site in loop D (#14 I think).  It is on the river side, not the bay.  Should be great.

Have fun!  It's a great area to visit.  Lots to do.  If you do get an opportunity, get over to Kingston and see that evening show at Fort Henry.  They only do it one or two nights a week, check their web page for more info.  It's well worth the extra cost.  The Boldt Castle tour is nice, also.  The one we were on took us past Irving Berlin's summer home where he wrote "Always" and also the world's shortest International Bridge.  It's about 10' long.  Make sure you check border crossing requirements and take whatever documentation is required.  We have passports so I don't keep up on the ever changing requirements anymore.

[dthurk]

Say, I keep forgetting...check out our 1000 Island photos.  We've got about 100 pics online.  It's one of the albums here: http://community.webshots.com/user/dathurk

[Jim K in PA]

Thanks for the link Dave.  Great pictures.  We have been in/through Kingston a number of times.  We used to race up in Shannonville, Ontario.

[hotshots13]

I have family that has a place a little north of the Wellesley Island- Alex Bay area. We've been vacationing there all my life. We just got a new-to-us PU this year and have a site on WI for Memorial Day weekend.
It is absolutely beautiful. You won't be disappointed. If it is your first time in the area certainly see all the tourist things (Bolt and Singer Castle ect...). Try and take one of the boat tours to see some of the other historic places. After 30 years of going up there, I'm happy with some fishing and quite time on the water.
As far as the canoe, you will be fine in the bay close to shore. Stay out of the channel. I would certainly rent a larger boat just for a ride throughout the area. Just watch out for schoals. They are everywhere.

[kathybrj]

We stayed at WI about 5 summers ago and we'll never go back. The bathhouses were filthy, there were dead fish at the boat launch area along with garbage and the workers didn't seem to care about the state of the campground in general. The sites were very close and small where we were (site 45) and had concrete or paved pads.

We filled out a comment card, as we do anytime we get one, especially from state or DEC campgrounds, but we never received a response to our comments about the maintainence being very lax. WI is the first cg we haven't received a response from.

We really liked the St. Lawrence area but we won't go back to WI. Boldt Castle was wonderful and the tour boats that take you around the many islands were also very nice. We even found a vet in the Clayton area that was more than happy to kennel our dog for the day when we took a boat tour.

[PattieAM]

While visiting family in Hamilton, NY, we did a day trip to 1000 Islands - Alexandria Bay and did the boat cruise.  Everyone loved it.  The kids especially liked seeing the island that is 1/2 Canada-1/2 US and of course seeing Bolt Castle and the gradual restoration.