Green Lake holds that glacial color even at noon, a still oval under the escarpment with Round Lake beside it and old-growth forest coming down to both shores. You swim and paddle Green Lake, then walk the rim trail through the trees toward Round Lake. The water is the day, and the trail above it keeps you in the woods until the second lake opens below you.
The Robert Trent Jones golf course shares the park with the lakes. A round in the afternoon still leaves you on the same loop at dusk, with the water a short walk away.
The overnight is a full-hookup loop, with pull-throughs up to 60 feet and back-ins to 40 as of September 2026. Book the site first, then the van. If you need more sleeping space, look at Syracuse RV rentals before you lock the pad. Camping runs mid-May through mid-October, and Green Lakes is the first night close to town.
Chittenango Falls is a day from this side of town, the water seen from the footbridge in the gorge, and the park has no camping. Highland Forest is the trail day in the hills toward Cortland, and Skaneateles is the village day on the water. The gorges west through Auburn are a Finger Lakes trip.
Selkirk Shores and the Salmon River at Pulaski
Bluff campsites at Selkirk Shores look over Lake Ontario at sunset, the water going copper off the bluff. Down the shore at Pulaski, anglers stand in waders along the Salmon River when the Chinook come through in late September and early October. DEC calls it a world-class fishery for migrating Lake Ontario trout and salmon.
A small boat goes in at the Pine Grove site, so the river and the overnight share a morning. Book the site first for those Chinook weeks, then the van. The campground is the pad for the river, not a parking lot at the hole.
Oswego is the other town on this shore. Tug Hill in winter is day use only, forest roads under lake-effect snow and a plowed lot on Route 177.
Oneida Lake and Verona Beach State Park
You swim Oneida Lake from Verona Beach State Park, campsites set back from the sand on the eastern shore. Every site has electric, and Utica is the town farther east along the same water. It is a small park, so book the pad first.
The Great New York State Fair
The on-grounds RV park at the Great New York State Fair is a full-run stay in late August, rows of vans living inside the fair. That week the public campgrounds fill too, so a fair-week van sleeps at Green Lakes.