Scaroon Manor Campground

Boon dock site that was level, spacious and clean. There were water spigots available in several areas. The bathhouses were clean, up to date and all facilities were in great working order. The shower had me stumped to start/stop - there's a touch button to engage, first for me. The dump station was clean, easy to enter and exit. We stayed in Site 012, Morning Star Loop. The site gave us plenty of open sky to get high quality solar nectar. Verizon hot spot worked for streaming and video calls. Walk to the lake was lovely with various infographics about the history of the property.

Scaroon Manor State Park is just off of the Interstate 87 or Highway 9, so very easy to get to. It’s between Schroon Lake and Pottersville. Schroon Lake is a small lakeside town with a lovely park and all the stores you might need – grocery, hardware, restaurants, tourist shops and a large marina.

The campground has four loops. The first loop is Morning Star Loop, which has a good number of sites with shade and some screening. These sites are still fairly open, so if you have solar you will be able to use it. There are sites that are in the sun all day and are fairly open. The sites are fairly far apart, which makes up for the lack of screening. You do have road noise from Route 9 during the day. These sites are also further from the lake. This is the loop we stayed in.

Tailor Point Loop has less shaded sites. The middle section of the loop does have some water views. This is also closer to the beach. This area probably has less noticeable road noise.

Amphitheatre Loop is mainly in the trees with little sun. The sites tend to be small, better suited to tents and small trailers. The lower numbered sites are closer to the water, while the ones at the other end (higher numbered sites) may have road noise.

Camp Cayuga is a walk in tent site near the lake about a mile from the larger area. I read somewhere that if you stay at this area you have to come over to the main part of the park to shower.

We did not use the bathroom facilities. I did peak in and they were very clean. They are individual shower or bathrooms. There is at least one in each loop in the main part of the loop.

There are water spigots throughout the campground. The dump station is conveniently located between the three main loops. Cell service with Verizon was 2 bars and a booster was somewhat helpful.

The website says, “This one of a kind campground, completed in 2011, has been designed from the ground up to provide accessibility to people of all abilities.” The bathrooms are accessible and the campground roads are paved, but none of the sites are paved. So unless you have an all terrain wheel chair, you will have some difficulty maneuvering. If you have mobility issues, the disabled parking for the beach is pretty far away. It’s over 700 feet with a moderate grade downhill. There is a dirt road with a gate where you can go to off load things, but you can’t park there and it is still a good walk to the beach - about 500 feet.

The beach is sandy and the water is very shallow, which is good for young children. BUT, the parking is near Taylor Point Loop and you have a good walk downhill to the beach. It’s a good 1000 feet to the beach from this lot, as far as some campsites that are closer to the water. So bring a wagon to cart your items or a bike.

There are boat docks if you bring a motorized boat, but the ramp to put the boat in is in Schroon Lake or the boat launch near Pottersville.

There is no launch site for canoes or kayaks either, or it wasn’t obvious to us. I think they really missed the “boat” on this. In the Taylor Point Loop you can get to the water between site 32 and 35, but it is down a steep bank and pretty mucky. They usually rent canoes and kayaks, but we were there during Covid-19, so they were not available. The racks for the canoes and kayaks were near the top of the beach, so I am assuming you could launch from the beach. But again if you have to off load at the dirt lot, you still have a fair ways to go to get to the water, so bring a dolly for your kayak or canoe.

Since the lake is about 9 miles long, you have a lot of motorboat traffic during the weekend. It’s quieter during the week. The lake flows north to south and the prevailing winds out of the south can make the lake rough for small boats. The Schroon River at the southern end of the lake is damned and makes for 4.5 miles of calm paddling up and back. It would be lovely except I-87 parallels the river and you hear the constant roar of traffic. You might try paddling around the island at the southern end of the lake and the boat launch area, which is some what protected and further from the interstate. The northern end of the Schroon River can be an interesting paddle, but the water was too low when we were there. You will need two cars to do this trip. We found nearby Paradox Lake, again not on the weekend, offers calmer and quieter paddling, especially the eastern end. Eagle Lake, beyond Paradox Lake is another spot to try. Information on paddling in this area can be found on the web.

This unique state park is the former site of the Scaroon Manor resort, a place for the big city rich & famous to come recreate. In the 60s, the land was turned over to the state and in 2006 the campground opened on the former golf course.

Ruins of some of the old building, including the old amphitheater, boat docks and beach. Situated along the lake, there's fantastic swimming. And there's trials on site for exploring.

The campground is well laid out with lots of space between the sites. Even full, it's peaceful.

All sites are dry camping, so the price is a bit on the high side. But we thoroughly enjoyed our stay here.

Our Verizon and T-Mobile both had boostable signal to stream, but were iffy otherwise.