Whetstone Gulf State Park — Attraction in Town of Martinsburg

Intro: Unfortunately, I'm not going to be as kind with this one as the other parks I've review. The main reason is extremely superficial; it was simply too hard to get clear views of the gorge from the upper trails.

Entrance: Just off the main road, side road marked by clear, clean signs. The roads between the locations in the park are a bit small, but that's nitpicking. I believe there is a fee for entering the park, but I visited outside the Toll Booth hours, so I don't know.

Parking: Gravel parking, just outside the North Rim trail entrance. Not a robust amount of parking, but the park doesn't get much traffic.

Facilities: Quite a few facilities. You got the typical picnic setups, tables, grills, a few rentable pavilions. There is a large cabin Beach House, but I do not know if it's for rent or serves some other purpose. There are a few playgrounds and campsites. One interesting feature is a large deck overlooking the creek, with a staircase of sorts leading into the creek, I've seen people standing in the creek and having fun. I'm not sure this is intended, since there are "no swimming" signs right next to it, but there could be a difference between standing and swimming, lol. There are also some RV specific facilities, but I didn't look closely at those.

Trails and other Features: Even though I was told the Rim trails combined is nearly 6 miles, I went ahead and hiked them. The goal was to get as many pictures of the gorge from a high viewpoint as possible. Unfortunately, the trees were too clustered on the edge to allow much of a clear view. Not necessary a bad thing, but I was looking for an unobstructed view. The trail maps marked several viewing places, but even those views were pretty obstructed. I did find 2-3 good views, but considering it was 6 miles, that isn't a lot. The trails are very rough with exposes roots crisscrossing the trail for most of it. Both Rim trails have quite the steep incline/decline at the beginning, both the South Rim trail is more severe, I recommend saving that trail for the return trip. The Observation Tower trail can be quite scary, only hike it if you are careful. Then again, most of the trail is near the edge of the rim, and there is nothing between you and the open air, heh.

Final Word: Despite making a fuss about the views, the Rim trails were actually a nice, pleasant hike after you get past the beginning part. I recommend it if you want an interesting hike, but not if you want take pictures of the gorge. Maybe it'll be different in the Winter, might have...

We had a terrible experience at this park with the management and his draconian rules. First of all, the beach was closed on a Tuesday that was 90 degrees. No life guards they told us. You can stop playing helicopter state and let people swim at their own risk. There aren’t many other places to swim in the area. The park ranger told us to go to Westcott 1 hour away if we wanted a beach. Now for the next nasty part of our visit: My 9 and 11 year old daughters were playing in a very mellow stream in their tubes. We were the only people in the area, the water was about a foot deep. Ranger Rick told us that he has a rule against tubing because someone got hurt last year. Wonder why kids can’t have fun in nature anymore? It’s because of park cops like this guy who unnecessarily outlaw safe activities under the guise that parents aren’t capable of watching their own kids. Are kids even allowed to climb trees at this park? We’re not from the area, but my guess is that forest fun cops like the employees here are a big reason why local kids probably spend their summer days glued to an iPad rather than...

Wife and I stayed on opening weekend. Staff is super friendly, witnessed grounds crew checking the bathroom/shower facilities several times throughout the day, and the bonus was a friendly NYS Trooper included a quick drive through the grounds while out on patrol. With ample amounts of precipitation, biting insects were in full swing, so make sure you include some kind of insect repellent. Even with kids riding their bikes around the campgrounds all day, it was very quiet and peaceful! Sanitary dump station doesn't have any hookups for back washing your black tank(s). We improvised by hooking up the hose from our outside water hookup to flush our tank. If you have that capability, make sure you have plenty of water in your fresh water tank to accomplish. With this beautiful campground just 30 minute drive up the road for us, we plan to return late in the summer after labor day. Oh, one last note...your black tank is not leaking...the campground is surrounded by dairy farms, so winds will occasionally carry the aroma of fresh manure...