Cain Hollow Campground

We stayed in the open sky 50 amp only area. This is a large cleared grass hill - not a flat space. We were unable to get level in either direction. Several of the units around us were at a steep angle side-to-side. A lot of space between sites but people still walk through your space. Dark and quiet at night, lovely tree covered hills all around. Dump site easily accessible, two sides available. Easy check-in at second kiosk. Although it is a drive-through you still need to get out of the RV and walk over to the window - kind of weird but it works.
No cell coverage in the campground or the park. Little town of Salamanca has services and eateries.

We live about an hour and a half away Allegany State Park, and we always seemed to overlook it. This time we decided to give it a shot and we were pleasantly surprised.

Check in was a little inconvenient, once we got to the Cain hollow campground toll booth there was a sign that we had to turn around and check in at a different location. I’m not sure if this is the norm but it certainly made things inconvenient when towing a camper.

Our site had electric hookups but no water hookup. However there are several spigots throughout the campground where you are able to fill up. We also had absolutely no cell service.

But on a positive note our site was pretty spacious and the sites were separated well providing decent privacy. Also allegany state park is very beautiful with several hiking trails and scenic views.

We will be back sometime!

we stayed 2 nights in Cain Hollow A - site 33: the incline was so steep that we almost didn't make it up there - having a 4-wheel drive truck would have made it a lot easier. Also, the site was the most un-level campsite that we have had in our 4 years of RVing - we had to raise the front of our trailer higher than ever. That being said, the site itself and the view from it was wonderful.
We then moved to Cain Hollow B - site 53 for 3 nights. We practically had to jack-knife our rig to back into this site, then we realized that people actually drive into this loop in the opposite direction of the one-way sign to be able to back easily into the sites near the creek and the bridge. We got to this site before the host got to it to clean it and we had to clean up the site ourselves. It was pretty disgusting because the campers before us left it looking like a pig-sty. It's sad to see campers dis-respect a such a beautiful campground and their fellow campers.

We are western, New Yorkers so we have camped here numerous times...starting in a tent, then a pop-up and now a hybrid. This state park fit the bill each time.

THE SITE:
This specific site fit our pop-up camper but it may be tight for anything larger than 20ft. It is also located atop a hill, which may make it more difficult to park. The site would be ideal, in my opinion, for a tent or pop-up. There are lots of other options in Cain Hollow on lower loops that larger rigs will fit into.

This site has LOTS of privacy and is backed up to the woods. The driveway is a hill, which is fun for the kids to roll balls and toy trucks down but may be difficult for those with mobility impairments. The bathroom/shower house is a short walk away. Not the cleanest...that's for sure.

THE PARK:
There is a creek nearby that my children love to go into to try to catch tadpoles. We like to catch and release fireflies at night. The park store is about a 5-10 minute drive from the site with generous hours and they stock lots of necessities. There's an ice cream shop connected to it. A building is across the street from that with a washer and dryer. There are multiple playgrounds throughout the park. There is a pretty clean beach nearby (lifeguard usually present) with a really nice playground and also an ice cream stand. Lots of picnic tables. We usually pack a lunch and go there for a day.

CELL SERVICE:
We have had both Verizon and AT+T while in this park. Verizon seems to work a little better but neither of us have service (at all) at the Cain Hollow sites and in most of the park for that matter. We'd have to drive down towards the lake (which is near the park entrance) and we'd get a bar but it was very spotty.

Cain Hallow is one of two campgrounds in Allegany State Park (the other being Red House). This campground is further south, almost on the Pennsylvania border. Within Cain Hallow, there are two distinctly different camping areas. Cain Hallow Loop A is in a grassy meadow with trees. The other loops are in a densely forested area. We stayed in Loop A, which worked great for us since it was a cool, somewhat rainy week.

Getting to the campground is easy. The roads are nicely paved. We were camping in June during the week. The check-in booths were empty. After setting up camp (we had reservations), we had to go to the campground office to check in. Have a map on hand when entering the campground, the loop numbers are poorly marked...or not at all.

High season in this park starts in late June, once New York State schools are done for the year. We stayed in low season, mid week. It was very peaceful. I suspect it's otherwise during high season.

Reserving a site online can be a bit confusing. You will see a site marked with one length in one place on the website. In another, it's stated as being much shorter. The sites themselves are gravel, spread out, but often not very level, so bring blocks. We had three couples in various size rigs in our group. Since we were the biggest, we took the site that suited us best. It was marked for a 36' RV...we were 40' and had room to spare as it turns out.

All sites had 50 amp power and a picnic table. There is a dump station in the campground. There are water hydrants scattered throughout the campground. The restrooms are brand new and clean. There is no OTA television. One of the couples said on a previous visit he couldn't get his satellite dish to work, so he left it home this trip.

There is NO Verizon service for 99% of the people. My cell booster was of no help. But, we have JetPack with a MiMo antenna (google it). By placing the antenna in a window facing southeast, I was able to pick up 1 bar of 4G. However, if you drive out of the campground down to the parking area by the lake, you could pick up enough of a signal to make phone calls. The General Store has decent WiFi (and ice cream) and a pay phone. For full cell service, you need to drive towards the town of Salamanca.

There is an excellent beach on the nearby lake with a beautiful new playground and new beach house. I am sure this place is packed in the summer. There were lots of kayakers on the lake also.

Be sure to drive up to Thunder Rocks and take the easy walk around them. We also drove into Pennsylvania and visited the Kinzua Dam. On the way back, we stopped in Bradford, PA and visited the Zippo Lighter Museum.

We enjoyed our 5 days at this park and would definitely visit it again in the off season. I would probably think twice about visiting in the middle of summer.