Montauk State Park — Attraction in Salem

Oh it is so quiet and peaceful and SO BEAUTIFUL!! The vibrant colors, everything is SO green right now and the water, the Current River as it's known, was obviously clear but when you've been staring at ponds water for as long as I have been, you just REALLY appreciate how beautiful and CRYSTAL CLEAR that water is!!! There must have been 60-70 people there yet it was as quiet as a library! Ahhh, SO relaxing!! We went down there looking for the Forest Service Arbor day FREE tree give away. This is an annual event that is I think a 2 or 3 days event where they hand you (3) three FREE trees, small, about (2) two feet in length with bare roots. Bare root trees are ones just as they sound, there's no dirt or pot, just the clean bare root and the young tree. Of course they wrap each one up around the roots to protect them and keep them moist. They ALSO answer any questions you have about the nine different species of trees they had to choose from. Two of them were nut trees, walnut and pecan I believe. They had two pine tree species as well and my favorite was the one that blooms purple and is so beautiful as it is surrounded by all the green foliage and trees! I got the Walnut, one of the pine trees and of course, my favorite tree! I'm sure I would have at least paid $20 for EACH of them at the nursery and here I am getting basically $60 worth of trees for FREE. Ahhh, what a Great Day! I of course just had to try the Western Omelette at the Lodge Cafe! Let me tell you what, that was some fast service and I'm glad I used the restroom (VERY clean), before I ordered, because even with the extra sides I ordered, that plate came out fast and piping hot! Ummm yum, it was perfect, exactly as I ordered and unfortunately I was too full and I couldn't finish it. And I made sure I took VERY good care of my waitress for her OUTSTANDING SERVICE!! Belly full I made my way to my car for the beautiful drive home, although, I learned I actually NEVER LEFT Salem City limits! The general store manager, who has lived there more than 20 years informed me Montauk is no longer there and the Salem City limits extended down to the river!! I drove over 30 minutes and never left the city limits! Surprising to say the least! I highly recommend this spot for numerous reasons, so you have no excuse to not go there one...

I would give it 5 but seeing how there's a bridge that crosses over just below the hatchery and it was swept away in the massive flooding they got hit with. I would have assumed it would have been replace by now. No it was not a car bridge, rather just a walkway bridge where 2 people could pass by, including carrying stuff, and not run into or knock the other one off the bridge. It was only a few feet above water and the water was 5-8 foot right there so many falls wouldn't be an issue. With this access gone you now have to try and swim or wade across at a different point. This is a big issue when you have kids and/or plan on staying out there going back and forth from the water there and then the path the bridge took you to also would take you over to another part of it and had the most amazing loaded spots and just so beautiful. We have cancelled our remaining 6 trips to there for the year. Hopefully they've put in a new one by next season and we will go back. If not, I know myself and 30+ family members that won't go back neither due to not just the bridge but tons of other destruction still laying around. You have the Park trying to hide things, rig things, come up with a billion excuses etc. Welcome to Gboard clipboard, any text you copy will be saved here.Touch and hold a clip to pin it. Unpinned clips will be deleted after 1 hour. One of the workers at the store said there's no legitimate plan to actually get the park back to its previous state and/or better. Sounds like it needs to be much much better with actual flood controls/plans to help it not be so bad next time. Yes these floods rarely happen but now as you can see it will eventually always happen one day when you're dealing with water like that. Just imagine how many fish were swept away too far to make it back to those cold waters. I wonder how many thousands and thousands and thousands were found down stream miles and miles all dead once the water receeded or on the brink and of it. Other than that issue, yes I really consider it 1 issue as it's just a giant issue with many...

Montauk was a very amazing experience for me!! I stayed in June of 2024. Thursday night-Sunday afternoon camping at 234 campsite. I love that site it right beside a water faucet for easy clean up (rinsing your feet, cleaning up utensils from grilling, washing your hands while preparing food). Our site 234 has a nice shaded spot for a nice big tent. It was very hot but it wasn't to bad considering it has electric to that site. We where able to use our two fans that we brought from home. We fished and caught the daily limit each day! A nice gentleman taught me an easy way to filet the trout! We went to the Hatchery it was so neat ! You can feed the fish at the Hatchery it cost 25 cents for a small handful. The trout at the Hatchery will swarm the spot you throw it at. There was so many nice people who made it warm and inviting to camp there. The staff at the Lodge are all amazing. Many things to buy from last minute items to souvenirs. The ice cream is the best try the strawberry cheesecake flavor. You won't be disappointed if you give it a try ! My favorite spot to fish was back behind loop 3. As soon as the whistle blew I had caught one shortly right after. The whistle is just like the tornado siren. I almost pushed my husband in the water trying to escape the siren. Now we laugh about it but then it wasn't funny !! There was plenty of great spots to fish. We saw a few snakes but they weren't interested in us. Montauk was my first camping experience and I loved it. Give Montauk a try if you like camping, outdoors and an...