NY State Campgrounds - Pretty Tricky

[OutOfTheTent]

I've got three sites booked for July 2020 to have a gathering of family & friends this summer. At this point, I was sure it wasn't going to happen, but hadn't canceled. Yesterday, I got emails from the NYS Dept of Parks & Rec to the effect that they had opened the reservation window for 2021 early. Instead of having to wait until 9 months prior, I could make reservations now, or transfer existing reservations, with no guarantee of site or dates.

WOW! I jump through hoops every year to get the site and times that we want, and now, because that email was sitting in my inbox for 4 hours, I've had to do something different for 2021, because someone else took the site and dates we book every year. We should have been given advance notice that this would happen, so we could go through the same craziness again.

I've made my peace with it. We will begin camping the day after the event we attend every year, and will probably stay at a motel to be able to attend. Meanwhile - and this is what I think is tricky - NY gets to keep all that reservation money for another year. Honestly, I don't begrudge them, because they are broke too. Bottom line, I hope we are all still here and healthy next year, and able to gather safely.

[NJKris]

I am keeping my July reservation in hopes they are open by then.

[OutOfTheTent]

They said the original 2020 reservation would still show Reserved. I doubt we would go, even if they were open. No fun if we can't socialize with our local friends, and no other family can come. I would also be concerned about bathrooms and showers. I live in Brooklyn, and my husband works in a covid-19 hospital, so our awareness of danger is rather high, and we are as careful as possible.

[NJKris]

Outofthetent, I was just in Brooklyn the night before, made a midnight run into city to photograph my car in front of iconic landmarks, got some great pics in Dumbo with the bridges in background. It was after 1 in the morning. At one point, a group of youths approached me and it made me uncomfortable. One kid was really really pale, looked like a vampire. I was by myself at the time, and they were all excited about the car, and taking pics with their cell phones. No masks, no distancing. Asked me to take some pics with their phones, which I obliged. When I finally went to bed at dawn, I had a nightmare they were intentionally trying to infect me. At the time, I was more concerned they would run off with my camera and tripod.


We need to get some vacation time in, so still going if we can. Infection rates up there are nill. Plus, my camper has a bathroom, so good to go!! That's why we bought the darn thing, so wife could go without risking poison ivy on her butt.

[DustyRoads]

Sorry you didn't get your sites. We had heard about the opening of sites for 2021 24 hrs before I got the email from DEC. We didn't get our usual 1st choice but did get our 2nd choice.
What I would do is put an alert out in Reserve America for the sites or loop you want. Don't put your full stay I usually do 4 days. Also date of arrival the week before. It does work.
We are still hoping our 2020 Aug camping doesn't get cancelled.
Good luck and happy camping.

[OutOfTheTent]

Originally Posted by NJKris

Outofthetent, I was just in Brooklyn the night before, made a midnight run into city to photograph my car in front of iconic landmarks, got some great pics in Dumbo with the bridges in background. It was after 1 in the morning. At one point, a group of youths approached me and it made me uncomfortable. One kid was really really pale, looked like a vampire. I was by myself at the time, and they were all excited about the car, and taking pics with their cell phones. No masks, no distancing. Asked me to take some pics with their phones, which I obliged. When I finally went to bed at dawn, I had a nightmare they were intentionally trying to infect me. At the time, I was more concerned they would run off with my camera and tripod.


We need to get some vacation time in, so still going if we can. Infection rates up there are nill. Plus, my camper has a bathroom, so good to go!! That's why we bought the darn thing, so wife could go without risking poison ivy on her butt.

I have absolutely no desire to go into the city, and would not deliberately let anyone get that close, with or without a mask. I hope you had hand sanitizer to use after handling their phones. You are probably lucky they did not try to rip you off. Maybe if you heard the sirens night and day the way we did a few weeks ago, you wouldn't be so relaxed about the possibility of infection.

Infection rates in some upstate areas are low because the locals are very careful; I know, my friends tell me, and very few city folk go that far for their vacation homes. If your bathroom also has a shower, then great! I hope you are able to get away safely this summer. We will make do with our backyard, and walks in the neighborhood.

[OutOfTheTent]

Originally Posted by DustyRoads

Sorry you didn't get your sites. We had heard about the opening of sites for 2021 24 hrs before I got the email from DEC. We didn't get our usual 1st choice but did get our 2nd choice.
What I would do is put an alert out in Reserve America for the sites or loop you want. Don't put your full stay I usually do 4 days. Also date of arrival the week before. It does work.
We are still hoping our 2020 Aug camping doesn't get cancelled.
Good luck and happy camping.

Thanks. At this point, since I have to manage three sites (a lot of family and friends were joining us this summer) I'm just going to stay with what I've got.

[NJKris]

Originally Posted by OutOfTheTent

I have absolutely no desire to go into the city, and would not deliberately let anyone get that close, with or without a mask. I hope you had hand sanitizer to use after handling their phones. You are probably lucky they did not try to rip you off. Maybe if you heard the sirens night and day the way we did a few weeks ago, you wouldn't be so relaxed about the possibility of infection.

Infection rates in some upstate areas are low because the locals are very careful; I know, my friends tell me, and very few city folk go that far for their vacation homes. If your bathroom also has a shower, then great! I hope you are able to get away safely this summer. We will make do with our backyard, and walks in the neighborhood.

Thought you were in the city.

I live in Brooklyn

I am very careful normally, but did not expect to be approached that late and didn't want to do anything to provoke them in case they were not 'normal'. I have survived this virus once (barely) already, and normally always mask up in public enclosed spaces. I don't go around groups of people even outside and never expected them to come up to me like that. Hoping I have some immunity, but I know nobody knows yet. If I drop off the forum again in a couple weeks, you'll know I made a really bad decision with that visit.

[OutOfTheTent]

Originally Posted by NJKris

Thought you were in the city. I am very careful normally, but did not expect to be approached that late and didn't want to do anything to provoke them in case they were not 'normal'. I have survived this virus once (barely) already, and normally always mask up in public enclosed spaces. I don't go around groups of people even outside and never expected them to come up to me like that. Hoping I have some immunity, but I know nobody knows yet. If I drop off the forum again in a couple weeks, you'll know I made a really bad decision with that visit.

I sincerely hope to keep seeing you here! I think the most upsetting thing about this virus is how little we know, and how we keep learning new and frightening things.

Residents of the outer boroughs commonly refer to Manhattan as "the city". I remember years ago, when I did live in "the city", skiing in VT, some Brooklyn skiers that we met said "oooh, the city!", and that's the first time I heard it.

[NJKris]

It was in Brooklyn Dumbo neighborhood I got approached! In 'the city', there was nobody there, except a couple bums that didn't go near me other than to beg for a dollar, but they didn't get close. I didn't know city people ski, when I lived in VT I never met any! Was like a zombie apocalypse in Manhattan. No traffic, no people, surreal.

[OutOfTheTent]

Originally Posted by NJKris

It was in Brooklyn Dumbo neighborhood I got approached! In 'the city', there was nobody there, except a couple bums that didn't go near me other than to beg for a dollar, but they didn't get close. I didn't know city people ski, when I lived in VT I never met any! Was like a zombie apocalypse in Manhattan. No traffic, no people, surreal.

Well, duh. Now that you say Dumbo, I do recall seeing it, and you even said you were in Brooklyn. Of course Brooklyners ski! When I lived in Manhattan, I even worked for a ski shop in Queens that ran weekend trips. I was one of several "kids" they hired to teach the customers how to put on their equipment, snowplow, stop, and use the lifts. Then I got to ski all day for free. The last I looked, Emilio's was still there. Where did you live/ski in VT? I really loved Stowe, because it had a T-bar that never had a line and had a good mix of trails for a relative beginner. After I moved to Brooklyn with my husband, we used to go to Killington every winter. Then had kids, and didn't ski for about 30 years. Went back to Bellayre in NY, and Catamount in NY/MA.

[NJKris]

I learned at Norwich University. Had to take a P.E. class. Back then, we were lucky enough to have a beautiful ski slope on campus, complete with chair lift, and line for bunny slope. I was there for 6 years, 87-93.

[Beachbourbon]

Originally Posted by NJKris

I learned at Norwich University. Had to take a P.E. class. Back then, we were lucky enough to have a beautiful ski slope on campus, complete with chair lift, and line for bunny slope. I was there for 6 years, 87-93.

The fact that you were there 6 years is making me smile, but the fun, mischievous kind of smile.

[NJKris]

Hahaha, I was wondering if that would be noticed. I started as an electrical engineering student, with a horrible math background, started in calculus never having taken trig. I never rose to the occasion, and after 2 years they put me in environmental engineering. "less math" they said. still no good. 2 years later I was in criminal justice and sociology to finish. Went from floundering to dean's list. I had found my niche. I somehow gravitated to criminal mentality, lol.

[clayart]

Originally Posted by OutOfTheTent

I've got three sites booked for July 2020 to have a gathering of family & friends this summer. At this point, I was sure it wasn't going to happen, but hadn't canceled. Yesterday, I got emails from the NYS Dept of Parks & Rec to the effect that they had opened the reservation window for 2021 early. Instead of having to wait until 9 months prior, I could make reservations now, or transfer existing reservations, with no guarantee of site or dates.

WOW! I jump through hoops every year to get the site and times that we want, and now, because that email was sitting in my inbox for 4 hours, I've had to do something different for 2021, because someone else took the site and dates we book every year. We should have been given advance notice that this would happen, so we could go through the same craziness again.


I've made my peace with it. We will begin camping the day after the event we attend every year, and will probably stay at a motel to be able to attend. Meanwhile - and this is what I think is tricky - NY gets to keep all that reservation money for another year. Honestly, I don't begrudge them, because they are broke too. Bottom line, I hope we are all still here and healthy next year, and able to gather safely.

It is crazy that so many people knew they could book next year’s reservations now. By the time I found out by chance, all the available dates For Wellesley Island State Park In July were gone. How did these people know about being able to book early? It doesn’t seem fair.

[Jfkmk]

Originally Posted by OutOfTheTent

I was one of several "kids" they hired to teach the customers how to put on their equipment, snowplow, stop, and use the lifts. Then I got to ski all day for free. The last I looked, Emilio's was still there. Where did you live/ski in VT? I really loved Stowe, because it had a T-bar that never had a line and had a good mix of trails for a relative beginner. After I moved to Brooklyn with my husband, we used to go to Killington every winter. Then had kids, and didn't ski for about 30 years. Went back to Bellayre in NY, and Catamount in NY/MA.

OutOfTheTent, you are showing what era you’re from. Snowplow, t-bars....bringing back a lot of memories! The snowplow was replaced by the wedge then the pizza slice (or vice versa), and does any place have t-bars anymore? Remember rope tows??

[CNYCamper]

I received the E-mail from NY Parks regarding the early opening of 2021 reservations on 5/14. We went on-line with Reserve America and were able to book all our 2021 trips, including some for which we'd had zero luck in the past. We are also keeping all our 2020 reservations in force which begin mid-June. We've been doing this a lot of years - know which sites we like along with Plan B's and all are well spread out from fellow campers.
I did post in the On The Road - Eastern USA thread about this 2021 development on 5/14. Don't know what else I could have done. Good luck to all!

[OutOfTheTent]

Originally Posted by clayart

It is crazy that so many people knew they could book next year’s reservations now. By the time I found out by chance, all the available dates For Wellesley Island State Park In July were gone. How did these people know about being able to book early? It doesn’t seem fair.

Exactly!

[OutOfTheTent]

Originally Posted by Jfkmk

OutOfTheTent, you are showing what era you’re from. Snowplow, t-bars....bringing back a lot of memories! The snowplow was replaced by the wedge then the pizza slice (or vice versa), and does any place have t-bars anymore? Remember rope tows??

How lucky to have a ski slope at your college! We checked out Middlebury a few years ago, and decided we were not skilled enough at our ages to attempt it.

I only had to deal with a rope tow once, at a dinky little place the ski shop went to. I fell off that T-bar at Stowe once, on a particularly steep part of the hill, closely hemmed in on both sides by trees. It was quite a slog to a slope. I learned on the old full length skis, but I took my husband to Killington to learn with the then-new Graduated Length Method, and bought him the skis he used at the end of three days. A tribute to both the method, and my husband's athleticism. I taught my daughter, a figure skater (I was a coach), to ski on modern skis about 10 years ago. She couldn't do a snowplow stop, but mastered a hockey stop immediately, lol. The two sports both employ edges, and I knew a kid whose dad brought him for figure skating lessons to improve his skiing.

[ChuloGordo82]

Originally Posted by OutOfTheTent

I've got three sites booked for July 2020 to have a gathering of family & friends this summer. At this point, I was sure it wasn't going to happen, but hadn't canceled. Yesterday, I got emails from the NYS Dept of Parks & Rec to the effect that they had opened the reservation window for 2021 early. Instead of having to wait until 9 months prior, I could make reservations now, or transfer existing reservations, with no guarantee of site or dates.

WOW! I jump through hoops every year to get the site and times that we want, and now, because that email was sitting in my inbox for 4 hours, I've had to do something different for 2021, because someone else took the site and dates we book every year. We should have been given advance notice that this would happen, so we could go through the same craziness again.

I've made my peace with it. We will begin camping the day after the event we attend every year, and will probably stay at a motel to be able to attend. Meanwhile - and this is what I think is tricky - NY gets to keep all that reservation money for another year. Honestly, I don't begrudge them, because they are broke too. Bottom line, I hope we are all still here and healthy next year, and able to gather safely.

I know the feeling it was amazingly tight to get the spot this year.