Mongaup Pond Travel Blog, Full review of the campground

First time camping in 4 years almost to the date! After a veryyy busy June and accidentally overbooking myself, I was so glad I had this trip scheduled for Tommy and I. We both honestly needed it! No cell service whatsoever and we were pretty glad when we realized that our phones were in SOS mode. Don’t get me wrong, I wished I had more than 1 bar that came and went as it pleased to not only share our time out there but to also have just in case I needed to call Tom when he ran to get more wood or ice. So just an FYI because part of me wished I knew this, be prepared to have NO cell service at all. Like none lol.

That leads me to this.. while we haven’t been in 4 years, there’s a few things that could’ve gone better lol. Better planning on our end if we’re being honest here. I’ll get to that in another blog with our weekend recap 😆

Now for the juicy stuff, the campground and a review!

Firstly, we absolutely LOVED the campground. Everyone was pretty friendly and smiled at you, waved, or would greet you good morning passing each other on the way to the bathroom.. that’s pretty much the only time I actually had an actually talk with anyone. For the most part, people kept to themselves or their friends they came with at nearby campsites.

Secondly, I made a list of things we wished we had or that we just need to add on as we go. Camping isn’t as cheap like some might think. It is if you already have most of the stuff though! Luckily, we were pretty prepared from last time in that sense. I’ll get into the things we wished we had and why in another blog lol. All in all, I think we really found a great spot we plan to go back to more than once!

Letchworth was so amazing but not an almost 4 hour one way drive amazing. Still highly recommend going there if you haven’t! It was a great spot with beautiful scenic views, hiking, etc. you can read all about that here! 

The campsite was a great size, there was a leveled area to set up your tent if you had one, pet friendly, clean sites, clean bathrooms that you had your very own locked room for, clean bathrooms.. old and squeaky doors for the bathrooms lol but still clean. 

Also, just mentioning the showers are at the front when you drive into the park, not with the bathrooms in each loop! I thought that was interesting. They seem fairly new, love the doors and that you can lock them. The lake is right next to that area as well so if you go swimming or in the lake at all, you can pop in the shower right after and head back to camp squeaky clean.

The lake was beautiful btw! To go on the lake boating, kayaking, canoeing, etc was $15-25 I heard the lady say. It depends on was you do and that’s a day rental from 10am-4pm. We rented a row boat and it came to $20. That was all Tommy, he was the muscles for me haha. I sat back and prayed we didn’t tip in 😅. We wanted to go to the beach but it was pretty crowded by the time we got back to shore.

The bathrooms had small paths so you. Old access it from just about anywhere in your loop no matter where your campsite is. I don’t particularly love being right next to a bathroom because you never know what foot traffic will be like but I loved being close enough that it was a short walk especially for late nights when you have to pee and it’s dark lol. Tom walked with me at night and mostly during the day too lol. We had a water spigot close by. It was actually at the start of the path to the bathroom! There was one every few campsites so always accessible.

Our campsite actually had a random open field with cut grass behind it! We explored it our first day there and it was pretty cool through these woods. There is a path! There was also the perfect spot for my hammock at the start of it on our site. It was so comfortable!

If you are into walks or running, the loops are great to get your steps in or go for a morning run! I saw quite a few people running and many walking around. Not just in the loops either, but down to the main entrance and back! The cars were all mindful, drove slow, and we even had a woman stop and wave to us out the window on our walk. 

Keep in mind this is a family friendly, pet friendly campground. You never know who your neighbors will be! There were some kiddos nearby running back and forth to another site, riding their bikes, etc. Not a complaint, just mentioning!

There is a general store called Davidson’s close by and they drove through the campground each day around 2:30. If you need anything, you just wave them down. I thought that was so cool and different.

The grate over the fireplaces were very convenient however Tommy and I do prefer a different style firepit than what is provided. It worked out regardless! That’s just a personal preference.

The garbage areas are nearby the main entrance. Love that! They have bear proof, locking ones so you can drop off between 8am-8pm. Make sure to lock up food and throw out the garbage bc bears and wildlife will come lol. Since we are evening shower people, we would eat dinner, lock everything up, drive to throw our garbage out, and head to shower since they’re all in the front!

We still have some other campgrounds on our list for the years to come but so happy we finally got to go again. 

Next few blogs will be more recap style about our time there, not just a review of the campground itself although I do find these helpful, but also prepping, things we wished we had, things that could’ve been better planned out, and anything else that comes to mind!

I hope you all had an amazing weekend and I can’t wait to share more with you all!

Questions for you!

1. Is there anything you would like me to talk about in the next blog for camping?

1. Do you have any questions about Mongaup Pond Campground? 

1. What is one thing (or a few lol) that you cannot camp without!