Wellesley Island State Park August 1999

In August of 1999, we spent a week camping at Wellesley Island State Park in the Thousand Island region of New York. This was the fourth outing for our new pop-up, a 1999 Coleman Sante Fe, and the longest trip for it to date. We had a ball on Wellesley Island and the pop-up performed like a champ.

Favorite Sites The sites in Loop C are fairly large and have electric hookups. Favorite sites in this loop are: Site 39 Sites in the 40s. (Some of the even number sites are quite large)

As we left southeastern Pennsylvania on Sunday the 8th, it was just starting to rain. After I met my brother and his family in the Poconos (he was also pulling a Sante Fe), it pretty much poured continuously the rest of the way on through New York. I was a bit concerned about the gasket on the hitch end of the pop-up not being sealed as tightly as the rest of the way around, but everything was still dry after several hours of driving through the pouring rain. Ditto for my brother's Sante Fe.

At Wellesley Island S.P., we had two adjacent sites in Loop C (C37 & C39). This loop has electric hookups only (not a limitation since we mostly dry-camp anyway) with both 30A and 15A outlets at each site. The sites were semi-wooded, level, and reasonably large. The shower/bathroom facilities were very good and well-maintained. We rented a boat for the week at the Park's marina and really enjoyed the fishing. There is a beach area on the river but it was a bit too cool to give that a try. Wellesley also has a nice little nature center with several hiking trails. The Park also had concerts and organized activities, throughout the week. Just a short trip back over to the mainland is the town of Alexandria Bay which features lots of shops, restaurants, and boat tours. One of the "must see" attractions in the area is Boldt Castle, out on an island in the Bay.

We were very close to the bathrooms and, if we had any complaints at all, it would be the slamming of the bathroom door and the noisey hand dryers during the night. Otherwise, it was one of the quietest State Parks I've ever visited. Oh yeah...the maintenance folks cleaned the bathrooms every morning at 7:00 AM or so. Right at the morning rush hour!

The loop with full hookups, by the way, doesn't allow pop-ups, I'm told. I wouldn't want to camp there anyway since it is wide open and pretty much devoid of trees. If you don't need utilities, there are loops with some picturesque sites right on the St. Lawrence River. These are a bit more rustic and aren't paved. There is also a large number of inland sites without hookups; some situated in large fields surrounded by trees.

All in all, it was a great week. Wellesley Island got eight "thumbs up" from our families and we will definitely going back there again sometime.