Taconic State Park – Copake Falls Area

Nice place, friendly staff, very comfortable and clean. Don’t overpack! Stayed in 3 bedroom Greenwich cottage which was fully equipped with dishwasher, microwave, toaster, coffee maker, fridge, stove/​oven, shower, a small tv with basic cable. They supplied an abundant amount of pots and pans, cooking utensils, dinnerware, silverware. Also supplied sheet sets for all beds plus towels, toilet paper, garbage bags, mop, broom and dustpan. There isn’t a supermarket nearby so you’re better off bringing food beforehand. Walmart is 35 – 40 mins away.
Be aware they require a $ 100 deposit on check-​in, which isn’t listed anywhere on the website when you make the reservation! Have your credit card ready for the pre authorization. Apparently this applies only to Greenwich cottages.
If you try and find the entrance through GPS, you won’t unless you put an EXACT address of: 253 Route 344, Copake Falls, NY. We learned this the hard way and got lost, arrived at the registration office about 30 mins after closing time (they have limited hours) and were scared we would be unable to get our keys but they left us a note and the cottage was left open for us with our key.
There is a general store up by the registration office with limited hours but reasonable prices, except for the firewood. If you want firewood, go down to Stewart’s 4 miles away and get a bag for $ 8. Do yourself a favor and get fire starters or your fire will be pitiful. If you love fires like we do, you will need 2 bags/​day.
The cottage has a very responsive thermostat so don’t worry about being too cold/​hot! Also has ceiling fans.
Fire pit in the front, bring a small shovel to clean out the embers from the previous tenant!
Deet and Citronella are your friends!
We watched TV at night only, the cable company is Charter Communications, which I was able to google and input the zip code of 12 517 and found a TV guide/​channel listings. There is no DVD player but you can hook up your own. Bring your own DVDs because the closest Redbox is 30 mins away in Massachusetts. Luckily for us we brought my laptop just in case, and were able to watch scary movies on that. FYI there is NO WiFi (you don’t need it much anyways if you’re enjoying the outdoors)!
Keep a charger or extended battery handy. You will be GPS’ing everything in the area!
If I could do it over, I would pack less clothes, only necessary toiletries, and bring more food (rather than driving back and forth to Walmart or other supermarkets). My cottage already had dishwashing soap and dishwasher pellets, not sure if it was left by a previous tenant but you should bring your own just in case.
Animals will rummage through the garbage can in front of the cottage (even though we were told otherwise)! Best to hold onto your garbage, empty it daily or even twice daily at the dumpster. Separate your recyclables in the bins they provide.
Must be left in broom clean condition and they will inspect it! There is a key Dropbox in case you checkout before 11am. Registration office has VERY limited hours.
It was a great getaway from the hustle and bustle of NYC. My kids loved it! Next year I would love to reserve 2 weeks.
*see photos of Greenwich cottage

Nice spot.
1) Came here to hike the Bash Bish Falls and Bash Bish Mountain.
2) There was plenty of parking.
3) The bathroom was great. They even had a water fountain to fill up my water canteens.

A group of us decided to go Camping for the first time since we were kids. Came across Taconic State Park– Copake Falls. We were all pleased with the campsite. The weather was definitely on our side. Online pre-​registration made the check in easy. The staff were friendly from the minute we got there.
We stood in Loop C and thankfully it wasn’t as packed as Loop A and B were. Loop C sites are not too close together so you have a bit of privacy. The park has quiet time, but don’t let that scare you off you can stay within your site and talk amongst each other around the camp fire. We had music playing very low, low enough for us to hear but didnt want everyone else to be partying with our music during quiet time. All sites have a ring fire and a grill. Getting a fire started, if you don’t know be sure to look it up, can be tricky at first but once you get the hand of it, bring on the grilling and S’mores.
Thankfully all the other campers on site were friendly. We enjoyed our stay here and would definitely go back.

As stated by others, Loop A is packed tightly together. I have stayed in Loop B twice in the past 2 weeks and I think it is great. However, a bad neighbor or neighbors could ruin any camping experience.
The facilities are adequate. Restrooms in Loop B were clean enough. The showers near the park entrance were on par with your typical campgrounds shower. There is also a dish wash station located near the shower facility as well. Comes in handy. I found the campgrounds to be literally mosquito free. I don’t know if that is just a coincidence or if they spray. But the lack of mosquitoes definitely adds to the pleasure factor. Each campsite has a picnic table and a fire pit with a cooking grate. I don’t like cooking over a wood fire, so I bring a grill.
The nearby Bash Bish Falls are a short hike away and worth visiting. There are also several other hiking trails nearby. You can rent bicycles from a place right before the park entrance. There in a lake to swim in, but it is not always open.
All in all, this is a good place for beginner campers. You are not far from anything you would need. If you can stay during the week you will probably have a more secluded experience. That said I stayed on a Saturday night and a Friday night and it wasn’t the crazy party camp that others have experienced. Your mileage may vary,

The weather was not on our side when we stayed at Taconic State Park. We were unlucky to arrive on a Memorial Day weekend marked by torrential rain and freezing cold temperatures. I do understand that this is no fault of the park ground however. That said, the park is really for veteran campers and experienced drifters. There are no amenities, the pet policy is not enforced and the lots are tiny and not really ideal for those who only have a tent. If you own a recreational vehicle then you will probably be more comfortable. It is a park you will either love or hate.

I enjoy coming here every year with my daughter & wife. This is our annual location for getting away on Father’s Day! Nice hiking trail to a waterfall. So look for it!

been here five or six times now with groups of roughly 7 each time
we stayed in loop b every time and it seems to be the best
it’s not crowded if you go before memorial day or after labor day
the hikes to sunset rock and bash bish are both easy and neato to see
it’s louder than other sites i suppose, but IMO that’s not a bad thing as long as you know what to expect, we go there because we don’t have to worry about people telling us to be quiet at 10pm.

Here’s the facts about this campground. I went at the end of October. Just forget about Loop A. They need to go in there and completely reconfigure that. It’s the worst of any campground in the state of New York, bar none. The showers are at the very front of the campground near the entrance.
Loop A: If you are camping to enjoy peace and quiet and to get back to nature, if all you want to hear is your camp fire, if you like that 10pm is quiet hour, you don’t want Loop A. This is a large circle with platforms and tent sites about 5 feet from each other on all sides. You could seriously hold out your hand and touch the platform next to you on all 4 sides. THAT close. However, if you want to party all night, come with a big group of friends, don’t want to be quiet at 10pm, Loop A is the place for you. The park ranger does go around all the time but they do not try to keep Area A quiet.
Area B. It sits up on a hill and I liked almost all the sites. It is beautiful! Backs right up to the state park (which on the Reserve America map is to the right side behind B). The sites are good sized and there is plenty of privacy between them. Yes, you can see your neighbor but it’s not awful. Sadly, the most beautiful sites are up the hill directly above Area A and you can hear everything from that area because of the echos.
Areas C&D. Unless you book right at the front of C&D where it’s close to A, you will be happy here. The sites are nice. The ones that are on the outside of the road that back up to the park are better than the inside. The only warning I give is don’t book the sites next to the bathrooms because they have those white vents and you can smell the sulfur. There are a few sites in C&D that are open and grassy. It’s like camping in a cow pasture. Don’t believe the Full Shade description, you need to call and ask. C allows pets but the pets are with the RV people and inside at night.
Sites 1 – 33: Avoid unless you like to be loud.
Sites 34 – 40: Out in the open, next to main road. Right by trail to Bish Bash. Like camping on the road.
Sites 45,46, 47: Bad. Where everyone drives by to get to B, C, D. No privacy at all.
Site 48 – 53: Not good. Area A
Sites 56, 57, 58, 60: Not good
Site 59, 61, 62: In a very wooded area, but right next to A loop
Site 63: 64 is up the hill on one side of you and the road is on either side. However, this is a huge site so you can put your tent toward the back of the site and you will have plenty of space. Nice site.
Sites: 64, 65, 68, 69, 70. Up on the hill. All beautiful sites. Unevenly spaced so you aren’t next to your neighbor. They are either behind or in front of you. Plenty of room in between.
Site 71, 72: Wide open grassy area, not privacy due to location
Sites 76, 77,78, 79: Backs to a big grassy area and too close to Area A
Site 80 – 88: Most are good. There are a couple in large grassy areas so don’t believe the «Full Shade», call and ask
Site 89 – 90: Awful. Right by the smelly bathroom.
Site 106: Big site. You may have headlights in your tent due to the location but there is plenty of room to put your tent in the back of the site and it’s not bad.
Site 95 – 105: Good. Yes, they let RVs and dogs but the sites are big, lots of privacy, and away from Area A

We booked site B-​58 with the hopes of spending a quiet weekend outside. It didn’t quite work out for us. Everything was relatively pleasant when we first arrived, but then people started arriving at our two neighboring sites within quiet hours. One group who arrived at 10 pm was OK as they were done running their car for their inflatable beds and hammering. They just didn’t how to talk quietly. A larger group arrived at 11 pm and were still unpacking at 1:30 am when we packed up and left. They ran two cars, kept revving up, talked very loudly, and eventually pulled out guitars at 1:20 am. I talked to them and politely asked them to be quiet, but it didn’t help at all. The whole camp ground is very loud. Camp ground personnel does not check for quiet hour enforcement unless somebody calls the ranger’s office (which we could not since we didn’t have cell phone reception). Someone else did and I believe our neighbors got a nice big ticket, but they were giving us dirty looks since they assumed that we called the ranger. After that we did not feel safe.
Camp sites are way too close to each other with no bushes or any other way to dissipate sound. I also can’t say that I buy into the comments about sites C-​D being better. I believe D is where people with pets stay and there were several dogs barking all night. We drove through C on the way in and it didn’t look much better. The point is that if you get decent neighbors, things will probably be fine. Otherwise, you are out of luck. When I called the camp office the next day they didn’t seem to care at all. There is no way I am going back.

I am glad I did some research before booking. Some sites are very small and close together. The platform site are very close together, but loop B’s are pretty good. We arrived on a Monday and saw them patrolling at least 3 times that night, but less on Tuesday. Not very crowded, but it could have been b/​c of our stay on a weekday and early in the summer season.

This was definitely the loudest, most crowded campsite I have stayed at. My boyfriend and I met up with friends who had booked a spot here.
There was no enforcement of quiet hours and there was a large group of people right in front of our site who were playing beer pong and blasting music loudly until early morning hours when it started to storm and they were forced into their tents by the pouring rain.
The falls are nice, but there are people everywhere here, making it hard to feel close to nature. There are railings and a stone stairway leading down to the waterfall. I wasn’t able to get close to the falls because there were many, many people crowding the rocks. On the hike to and from the falls, there were also people everywhere, so there was no chance of seeing any animals or hearing nature.
Camping is fun, but I like it to be more rustic than this. This location would be a good choice for college aged kids with a mindset to party in the woods, though it’s a little misleading because one of the first things you see upon entering is a lake full of small children and their parents swimming and a playground.
I found this to be a very sanitized camping experience. There were park rangers and security everywhere during the day, including at the top of the falls monitoring everything. But, I wish they had been as vigilant about the noise levels at night and the things campers were doing away from the falls. Our friends witnessed people cut down a tree next to our site.
The bathrooms were pretty standard for a campsite. The showers were very clean and somehow bug-​less. During my stay, there was no hot water, but this wasn’t a big deal to me.
On a sidenote, there were absolutely no mosquitoes, which I found very odd. I get eaten alive on the way to the convenience store here in Queens. I wonder if they spray for them.

Was nice to be so close to bash bish but we actually left and came home because it was so loud on Friday night we were unable to sleep at all. There were definitely some quieter sites but ours was not one of them (58) and no privacy what so ever. Would got back if I could reserve a more secluded site