Catskill/Woodland Valley

Val

I came to Woodland Valley to hike the Great Ledge trailhead. This trail was 0.01% view, 0% fun and 99.99% bugs and rocks. The only reason I gave 3 stars was because the employees were extremely nice. You could not pay me to hike this trail again.

Peter Frantellizzi

My review is primarily focused on the experience of dealing with the DEC personnel at Woodland Valley when we arrived to check in. First off, it's crucially important to read the fine print when making the reservation. The check in window is between 2PM and 9PM. If you arrive after 9PM they WILL NOT LET YOU IN! You get to an area of the Catskills with zero cell service, so an attempt to contact the campsite and let them know of your late arrival is limited. We arrived at 905PM after fighting traffic coming up from the city. Meeting one of the DEC Officers at the gate of the campground, she was unsure if check in after 9PM was possible, she directed us to talk to the registration office manager. The registration office wasn't closed down yet, and as I mentioned, we arrived 5 minutes after the 9PM window. Regardless, the manager was adamant that there was nothing they could do, 9PM is the hard cut off. When we asked what our options were if they weren't going to let us into the campground, for a site that we had already paid for and was sitting unoccupied, they suggested we drive back to town to find another place to stay, or camp on the side of the road until the office opened back up at 8AM. What a horrible way to run a campsite. Why is it infeasible to capture our information on a sign-in sheet and allow us to access our campsite? Luckily we were able to find another site in town and stay the night of $40. Not everyone has this kind of flexibility, it's a shame that a NYS campground is so absolute and penalizing for arriving a few minutes after the check in window.

Analis A

I was a little hesitant to camp here since there were many reviews mentioning some unpleasant experiences with the camp host. The online guidelines state that you must enter before 9 PM or forfeit the reservation. The camp host we met was a very nice man. We arrived at 7:30 PM and the check-in office was closed but there were signs directing us to camp at our reserved site and check-in in the morning. The camp sites are pretty big and the main bathroom is good. Only the handicap shower stall had warm water but it was plentiful. I like that they have a separate building for washing dishes and for sorting out trash and recycling. No cell service.

Garth Goodman

Great basic campground with potable water and restrooms/showers. No electricity. Fireplaces for cooking and campfires. Great place for hiking. The start and end of the Wittenberg-Cornell-Slide mountains hiking loop is from this campground. $20 per night - $6 per night for parking your car overnight during a hikes.

Tom Hoos

Woodland Valley leads to the Premier Sunrise spot in all the Catskills. It makes you work for it. Be prepared and be safe!