mom2boys

It's been years since I have tent camped. In June our family of 4 will be tent camping on our trip out West. We will be touring Yellowstone, Grand Tetons, Black Hills..

utahtea

I haven't tent camped in years, but I have camped in these areas many times over the years.

iVillage.com has a message board called Camping and Outdoor Activities. There are many on this board that tent camp. Just tell them Utahtea sent ya...you'll see me on the board a lot.

http://messageboards.ivillage.com/iv-pscamping

RV.net has a "tent camping" and "family camping" message boards.

http://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm

Utahtea

seetheworld

Any tent camping information or recommmendations for the tri-state area of NY/NJ/CT?

My sons and their dad are more interested in the "experience" rather than traveling a long distance to try their hand at tent camping. We are in Westchester County, NY.

A place to fish and sailboat rentals are desired and I suppose bathroom facilities are essential!

Thanks for any help!

starrsville

Seetheworld,
If you want bathroom facilities then you may want to check out www.koa.com.
We also stayed in their Kamping Kabins on road trips when the kids were little. You bring your own sleeping bags/ bedding to put on the double bed and two bunk beds. The kids got their "camping" fix, and we didn't have to deal with a lot of gear. Bathrooms, swimming pool, game room - and some even had ice cream parlors and pancake breakfasts.

YES, I know this isn't "real" camping. I grew up camping in NFS primitive campgrounds. But, it got us outdoors, together and we had a blast!

seetheworld

Hi starrsville! Thanks for the information. I'm afraid the kamping kabins won't do, lol. Ya see, the trip is all about the tent
It's supposed to be a "guys" trip, but I want to go along just to watch the comedy of errors that are sure to unfold, LOL! I'm laughing just thinking about it.

My sons, at this very moment, are drooling over a camping equipment flyer and I'm certain a tent purchase is in the very near future -- if only to test it out in the back yard

I will pass along these websites to them.

rex_skidmore

I guess that is out west, isn't it?
I'm so used to thinking that CA, OR, WA states are out west.

Meanwhile :

Campmor.com can be a great source of equipment.

Google to find the state-run campgrounds in the areas you plan to visit. Some require advance reservations...

seetheworld

Hi Rex. The OP is on the west coast. We are on the east coast and looking for a campsite in the Hudson Valley area of New York, Northern New Jersey, or lower Connecticut. Thanks for the heads up on needing to make a reservation.

Scarlett

seetheworld
we took our children camping at the Seven Lakes in NY, a little Upstate.
here is a website with info on the area..
http://www.reserveamerica.com/jsp/co.../newindex.html
We camped along Lake Welch, in tents ( we rented ours from Omar the Tent Renter on Rt 17, in NJ) lol
I don't know if he is still there, the children are grown so he might be retired to his own little tent somewhere

my2cents

We haven't been to Black Hills, but we did do Yellowstone and Grand Tetons. Actually we stayed in Yellowstone as our base camp and did both from there (so we didn't have to set up our campsite more times than necessary). We stayed in Madison campground there and really enjoyed it. Upside is that it's pretty and very convenient and centrally located. Downside is it's rather large, although the sites aren't right on top of each other in the same way other large ones can be. If you want more remote there's a nice campground in the Lamar Valley area, but it's not as convenient to other things in Yellowstone. Here's the NPS websites for the Yellowstone & Tetons, as well as their sections on camping info and reservations.

http://www.nps.gov/grte/
http://www.nps.gov/grte/pphtml/camping.html
http://www.nps.gov/yell/
http://www.nps.gov/yell/planvisit/services/campgrnd.htm

Also, we found the Frommer's book, "National Parks of the American West" to be very helpful in planning our big trip to that area. He has lots of info on the parks as well as charts of the campgrounds with all sorts of helpful "at-a-glance" info on size, amenities, when they're open, cost, etc.

I'm sure you'll have fun -- it's a beatiful area with lots of great scenery and wildlife (roaming buffalo, elk, the occasional bear and -- if you're lucky -- you might get to spot a wolf pack from a distance).

rex_skidmore

Hi SeeTheWorld : The OP is planning a "trip out west" to Y'stone, GT, BH. This is what I commented on. Not your msge.

J62

Seetheworld

NYS has a lot of state parks w/ tent camping facilities.

http://nysparks.state.ny.us/parks/

A couple that are not too far from you are Lake Taghkanic in Columbia county, about 1hr north of you right of the Taconic Parkway, and Taconic State Park - Copake Falls (Rudd Pond) Area. Both have platform tent sites and bathroom/shower facilities.

You can definitely rent canoes and rowboats at the former and there is a large lake w/ fish. Not sure about sailboats however.

seetheworld

Hi Rex: No problem!

Scarlett and J62: Thank you, thank you, thank you! You guys are great! This is exactly the information the guys were looking for

LindainOhio

We tent camped out west several years ago. One of our favorite campgrounds was at Custer State Park in the Black Hills.

At the time, you could not make camping reservations at the Yellowstone campgrounds so we stayed at the rustic cabins near Roosevelt Lodge and then the cabins by the Old Faithful Lodge.

In the Tetons, we stayed at the most beautiful campground we have ever stayed at. I hope someone can tell you where we stayed. The campground was in the National Park and was for tents only. We camped on a peninsula that jutted out over the lake---maybe Jenny Lake Campground? We loved it. The Tetons were our absolute favorite---great hiking.

Photodog

The campgrounds run by the Park Service in Yellowstone which include Mammoth, Lewis Lake, Pebble Creek, Slough Creek, Indian Creek and Tower Fall are first come with no reservations. All the other campgrounds are run by a concessioner, National Park Lodges.These include Bridge Bay, Canyon, Grant Village and Madison. The Fishing Bridge RV park does not allow tents. Reservations can be made at 307-744-7311. Of the park run campgrounds only Mammoth and Tower have flush toilets and running water if this matters to you.
All the campgrounds in Grand Teton with exception of Coulter Bay RV park are also first come no reservations. Coulter Bay RV park does not allow tents.
Reservations for campgrounds in Custer State park can be made at http://www.custerstatepark.info/maps...undInformation.
FYI, Slough Creek and Pebble Creek usually have lots of mosquitos and pump water. They are also usually always filled as is Jenny Lake (tents only) in the Tetons. A good alternative would be Tower Fall in Yellowstone and Signal Mt in the Tetons.