Camping in the Finger Lakes area in September

Letchworth is a beautiful park; I can speak from experience and highly recommend it. If you like hiking, it has many miles of trails of varying lengths and difficulty. The campsites are electric only, and there is a nice triple dump and water fill station near the campground entrance. Do be aware that the campground is at the opposite end of the park as the main "attractions" of the waterfalls and footbridge and so forth, a distance of several miles. (This is primarily a consideration if you have a motorhome and no toad; it means you'd likely be breaking camp and driving it to and fro. That's certainly doable, and parking is generally sufficient and reasonably accessible along the way, but it can be inconvenient to set up and tear down daily.)

Watkins Glen is also beautiful, though I haven't been there myself.

Reservations may be a good idea, particularly on weekends and particularly getting towards the end of September as foliage season is approaching or starting. It may help to gauge the availability for the date ranges your thinking of and see if things are getting pretty booked up or not.

If you want FHU we would recommend Chute Memorial Park located across the road from Seneca Lake in Watkins Glen. It is a nice central location in the Finger Lakes. The park is city owned and kept in decent shape. It is more like a RV park than a state park. Another (more expensive) option is the KOA located between Watkins Glen and Corning, NY. I would suggest reservations because the fall is a very popular time to visit the area with all the wineries in the area.

Make sure you hike the glen in Watkins Glen. There is also an interesting museum about Curtis Wright in Hammondsport if you get a rainy day.

Oh my, so much to see and so little time! Thanks so much for your suggestions. I'll be making reservations later this week. Apparently this isn't the time of year to try my flexibility! Hoping to stay in Watkins Glen, Bryon and Springwater and then heading home for a wedding.

Hickory hill campground in Bath, NY is another option for full hookups. We have stayed there a couple of times and found the staff very friendly and helpful. It is about 20 miles to Corning from there.

Thanks wborst. Are you familiar with Bab**** Hollow Family Campground in Bath? It's a Passport with good reviews on RV Park Reviews.

Gauke,

Where ever you decide to go that time of year in the northeast, call the campground and make sure that they will be open. Many close earlier than you might expect and they may close suddenly if a fall storm kills "leaf peeping".

We even had a reservation at a campground and when we got there, they were closed and the place was empty. We did get our deposit back.

Matt

X2 on Clute Park in Watkins Glen.

When you go to the Gorge, check if the shuttle is running. It's much easier to take the shuttle to the top of the gorge and walk down to your toad than it is to climb all the stairs going up.

The Corning Glass Museum is well worth a trip and the Glenn Curtis Museum, as mentioned, in Hammondsport.