Reviews

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!

Isabelle Aengenheyster

This campground is in a beautiful location! The staff are very helpful and nice. I would love to give five stars, but unfortunately there was no access to clean water at the campsite so I took off one star. The bathrooms are clean and spacious! I didn’t get any pictures of our campsite but it had one picnic table, a fire pit, lots of space for a car and space for our big tent and small tent. The pictures I include in this review are of some views and places in the area around the campground, as well as a lovely deer who came very near to our site!

Marshal VanHook

Clean and quiet. Spots are close to other campers. I prefer more open dispersed camp spots.

Robert Ouellette

Great place, but cell service is 15+ min away on Verizon and T-Mobile, so be prepared.

Mackenzie Brennan

The amenities are great. It’s clean and convenient. However, the staff here is very rude and unwelcoming. It is very hard to relax at this camp ground when the ranger is starting up his truck every ten minutes to drive around to find people to insult/harass/yell at. I have been going camping my whole life and decided to try somewhere new. This was the worst experience of camping due to the staff. Quiet hours are 10:00.. however if you are not asleep in your tent at 10:00 you will be threatened to have the cops called and/or evicted. Despite being extremely respectful to the Park Ranger, he continued to be rude and lie about complaints being made. We talked to the surrounding camp sites and they were angry that the ranger was bothering us because the people around us said they could not even hear us and the park ranger was disrupting their night by creating problems with campers. The least secluded, most monitored camping I’ve ever experienced. If you’re a first time camper, this is good for you because it’s like a sleep away camp and if you’re not asleep, you will be punished. Literally won’t ever come back here and won’t tell anybody to go here. Terrible reputation of Catskills, NY and what it means to be in the woods.

Ben Ratner

The campground itself is beautiful, and the facilities are great. I’m giving a 2 star review due to how we were treated by security park ranger Smith. We arrived around 10pm from New York City, after having been stuck in traffic for over 3 hours. Other members of our group had already checked us and our vehicle in, but had not handed in one of the forms we needed for our dog. Upon arriving at the campground, the park ranger pulled up behind us, turned on his high beams, and signaled for us to pull over. We did so, and the ranger came out shining a flashlight at us as if he were a traffic cop performing a stop. He then proceeded to ask us what business we had on the campground (as if it wasn’t obvious we were campers) then demand to see all of our paperwork. When he found that we hadn’t handed the one form we needed for our dog into the office already (the office closed at 9, and we had proof of vaccination with us on hand), he immediately told us we had to leave and couldn’t come back until the office was open in the morning, otherwise “we would be trespassers and he would be forced to arrest us.” Despite having already been checked in, having our other group members there to vouch for us, and having proof of our dogs vaccination, he still very rudely made us out to be trespassers and made us immediately vacate the campground. Ranger Smith nearly ruined what would have otherwise been a great camping weekend. We had to drive to a nearby free campsite and park on the side of the road for the night before returning the next day. Whatever complex he has that makes him feel entitled to treat his campers like criminals needs to be corrected right away. His rude demeanor is a poor reflection of the state and it’s camping areas, and i will most definitely be hesitant to recommend Woodland Valley to friends so long as i believe he will be on duty while they’re there.

Hans Enstad

Amazing place to take the kids. Met a nice big orange bear. In the evening we all sang together with the moon #NIOtothemoon