Green islands break the St. Lawrence into channels you camp beside, with markers on the water and ocean-going freighters coming through them, and the Cedar Point overlook is where you stand to watch them go by. A boat from Alexandria Bay lands on Heart Island at Boldt Castle, and you walk the island for the day.
You come back to the same riverside pad at Wellesley Island State Park. It is the largest camping complex in the Thousand Islands region in ReserveAmerica's words, and it is open all year. Coming off I-81, you can be on a site the same day, with Watertown as the nearby town.
Keewaydin and Cedar Point take the other state-park nights on this stretch of river, from May into early fall. Keewaydin's beach season ends at Labor Day, so a later trip still sleeps there without the swim.
Farther east at Massena, you camp at Robert Moses State Park on the Seaway, reached through a tunnel under the Eisenhower Lock. The season runs into mid-October.
Cooperstown and Otsego Lake
People drive to Cooperstown for the National Baseball Hall of Fame and they stay. The Hall is a full day, sometimes two, and the night is Glimmerglass State Park on Otsego Lake, outside the village. Lock that site before you book the van, especially in summer.
A short drive from Cooperstown, Howe Caverns drops you onto a boat in the dark, on a river the cave cut through the rock. Oneonta is the other town on this road.
Hudson Valley parks from Copake Falls to Staatsburg
The woods at Taconic State Park at Copake Falls are the east-side Hudson Valley overnight. Trailers run up to 26 feet with no hookups. If you need more sleeping space or a longer rig, see RVs for rent in New York.
Lake Taghkanic State Park is the large-vehicle overnight, because the Route 82 entrance is built for large trucks, RVs and campers. Mills-Norrie State Park at Staatsburg is the other pad, and coming up the Taconic Parkway or the NY Thruway you can reach either the same day. As of September 2026, Fahnestock State Park's campground is closed through 2026 for bathhouse construction.
The Walkway Over the Hudson is the day, an old rail bridge you walk, with no camping on it. Hudson, Rhinebeck, and Beacon are the town days along that stretch, and Poughkeepsie and Hyde Park's mansions fill another outing.
Chenango Valley and Gilbert Lake
Hemlock and hardwood close around two kettle lakes, Lily and Chenango, at Chenango Valley State Park in Chenango Forks. The water takes car-top boats only, no trailered or gas-powered hulls. Camping runs from mid-May into mid-October, close to Binghamton.
Gilbert Lake State Park near Laurens is the other Southern Tier weekend, in the Catskill foothills, with the NYS Civilian Conservation Corps Museum on the grounds.
New York state parks and DEC campgrounds
Campgrounds on the St. Lawrence, Otsego Lake, the Hudson, and the Southern Tier book as New York state parks, on ReserveAmerica. DEC campgrounds in the Adirondack and Catskill Parks are a separate inventory on the same reservation site. An Empire Pass covers day-use entry at most facilities operated by State Parks and DEC.
Where the city pages take over
North, the High Peaks are the Adirondack Mountains trip, Lake Champlain belongs to Plattsburgh, Lake George runs from Saratoga Springs, and the Helderberg escarpment is Albany's weekend.
South, the Catskills run from Woodstock, Harriman and the Gunks from Middletown, the city and its beaches from Queens, and Montauk from Long Island.
West, the gorges are the Finger Lakes trip, Green Lakes belongs to Syracuse, Letchworth to Rochester, the east lakeshore to Webster, Allegany to Buffalo, and the Falls to Niagara Falls.