Trailer

With my typical tendency to postpone decision-making until some other time, I found myself searching for available campsites for the week prior to July 4th... with barely 3 weeks to go. We were looking to get away for 8-9 days and return on July 3rd, prior to the crazy traffic - and ideally not spend the entire week driving, leaving plenty of time to explore and enjoy one area, which would ideally be nice enough to warrant such exploration.


I settled on lake Ontario for no specific reason other than "it felt right" - and went through Reserve America one state campground at a time (using their semi-usable Microsoft-biased web interface). Most were booked solid or had availability in what appeared to be the worst remaining sites. My clockwise search around the lake eventually reached Lakeside Beach State Park, and that is where we went. The park is less crowded (except on July 4th, as I can attest) than its neighbors because it lacks a swimming beach altogether - in fact, it even lacks a boat launch. All access to the lake is either over boulders, cliffs, or both. For us, this is an ideal destination: less crowded, fewer kids, more serene. (Again, except July 4th). I was able to reserve the closest site to the lake on loop C for the days we wanted, and off we went to be quite surprised on arrival.