Exploring Round Pond NY MWR: A Camper’s Paradise
This was a return trip, so we knew the layout of the Round Pond Campground. There is a paved road that goes all the way around the big pond. It is beautiful. Many of the buildings are these gorgeous stone.
The campsites are close to the water on the office side, and on the other side, there are steep hills; so you have an incredible view over the water from the higher elevation.
Study the angle of each campsite when booking, because some are a little tougher to back into than others. The road around the pond is one-way, so all traffic is going to pass by you eventually. We had 27.
We were in C 15 last time. It is up on the hill, and a quick walk over to a dumpster, a depression like quarry ruins, some nice big rocks, and there is a porta potty four campsites away. There is a lot of space between each campsite. Loads of privacy.
This year happens to be very foggy and rainy, and it is absolutely glorious. You must understand we came from blistering, hot Florida, so rain and fog are lovely!
There is very little cell phone service at the office side of Round Pond. Sometimes I cycle all the way around the pond so that my emails find me. You can send texts sometimes, but not photos. From the volleyball court to the decline before the office; you will have service.
Round Pond has so much to offer! There are pavilions everywhere, there’s an off the road hiking trail, you could hike all the way around the pond on a paved road, keeping your feet dry and clean. There are pedal boats and robots and paddle boards and the beautiful lake. There’s even a sand beach with slides for the kids and a big inflatable tower for them to climb.
There is a volleyball court, and I see a new children’s playground with a ton of things to climb on.
There are 28 RV camping spaces, 20 tent sites, four pop-up sites, eight mini log cabins, two ADA mini log cabins, one rental cottage, and five party pavilions.
Talking to the receptionist, their busy times are home games and graduation.
The camp store and Office has two dollar ice cream. And all sorts of bass and worms and fishing gear and PFD’s and stickers and mugs and all sorts of cool souvenirs and snack things. They have all the supplies to put together a round of s’mores.
The big rock outcrops are everywhere, which is so exciting for Floridians to see since we have no indigenous rocks except for some on the West Coast.
The last time it was several weeks later, and we saw the plebes outside of the property with their backpacks, taking a rest by the side of the road.
Sites have electric and water. The dump station has a large lot next to it for easy pull-around access.
This is the dump station and the bath house and laundry facilities. Signs tell you to keep the doors closed due to bears!
There are about five toilet enclosures, then the public sinks.
There are two showers, very spacious.
The laundry here is $2.50 a load to wash, $2.50 a load to dry. Almost double what it was at the last place. Although we have a washing machine with us, I considered drying a load so we start fresh. But at $2.50 each, five dollars total, I don’t know… PS: next stop at Hanscom AFB laundry is $1 wash, $1 dry!
This location is absolutely beautiful. When we were here last year, it was warm, and there were people on the beach that actually has sand.
This year, the sun finally came out and people gathered on the beach after it was carefully groomed several times by staff.
Aluminum docks and ramps have some very interesting hand mechanisms to get them out of the water. I would imagine in the winter the pond freezes over. Or, water levels change often enough to warrant these adjustments.
There are trout stocked in the pond; we saw someone go fishing every morning by boat, and others from rocks around the pond.
We took a bike ride all the way around the camp. We also went off road around another huge pond, even bigger than this one. Then we went down the entrance hill so that we could climb it. It’s .4 mile, but it was a killer for us flatlanders!
There is one part of a hill climb that is so steep my road bike was sliding down last year. This year we bought gravel bikes, and I climbed it.
From this campground, you can hear the gun range. And there is an archery range.
We saw this skunk every day. One morning, the mockingbirds were fussing at it. Stomp your feet to make them go away; learned that at Mt. Mitchell.
Chipmunks at our site enjoyed banana peel, strawberry tops, and corn cobs. They were very enthusiastic about the snacks. We saw one snake, and one blue-tailed lizard.
There’s hiking trail that goes all the way around the place, a single track trail. And then there are some roads that go all the way around as well to another even larger pond. The larger pond has a couple floating docks also. And Boat over there for you to use, but I think you have to take paddles with you. Which is funny because we saw the same set up at Great Pond!
For more information and to make reservations: https://westpoint.armymwr.com/programs/round-pond-recreation-area
I Don’t Go Anywhere Without:
- Stream2Sea Reef Safe SPF 20 or 30 mineral, regular or tinted sunscreen, mask defog, shampoo, conditioner, rash guards and more reef-safe supplies. Use my code “DeepWH” for 10% off. Yes, using boating and camping shampoo and conditioner protects our waterways and runoff.
- Mustang Survival pfd’s and foul weather gear for military specifications equipment.
- Harvest Hosts for the wineries, breweries, alpaca farms, honey apiaries, camping on the fly!
- Crisis Medicine Tactical Casualty Care Course knowledge so we can help ourselves.
- MyMedic Individual Bleeding Control Kits. We take ours everywhere.
- North American Rescue CAT tourniquets.
- Travelex is our trip insurer – click for a free quote.
- Girls That Scuba – members discount card for all things diving.
- RoadId for $5 off your cycling/running/kayaking/travel/sailing id. Sailors are now wearing them!
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