Lillydale Campground — Hotel in Albany

After navigating the very long and very winding and hilly entrance road 🫣😬 You will be greeted by a very nice couple who is more than happy to give you a generous amount of information with a smile 😃

The campground is very nicely laid out in three large loops, plus an island oasis.🏝️ One is exclusively for tenting⛺, and of course, so is the island which is completely primitive. A couple of the tent sites are right on the water!🌊 In another loop. Several of the pads are concrete located right on the water.🌊 Apparently the story is here that for many years this was a pine tree forest until it got attacked by beetles🪲 and killed all the trees.🌲 The park had to be shut down and completely rebuilt. New trees were planted. 🎋

The bathrooms🚻 are very large, very clean, And have automatic lighting when you enter. 👍🏻 They are cleaned every morning.🧹🧽 Two of the bath houses have a complimentary full size washer and dryer for use! 😲 With a complete 45 minute or longer cycle. You know how I feel about "short-timed" tiny pay washers 😡

There is a conveniently located inbound and outbound dump station as well as dumpster with a recycle bin. Kind of funny to see so many beer cans in the recycle bin. 😲🤫 But hey, at least they're being recycled. 🫢

☹️ I see a lot of children running back and forth and riding their bicycles between the sites! 😲 A strict violation of proper campground etiquette. But their parents are also doing it!!🫣 Some of the people I see here could use the extra walk 🚶🏻‍♂️of going around and staying on the street.... 🫢

It gets light early here in the central time zone on daylight savings time in the summer. There's always someone with an obnoxiously loud diesel truck who decides to get on the road before 6:00 a.m., ignoring the quiet hours and enjoying the sound of his vehicle🙉 as he races out of the park! Maybe he's thinking that if he goes faster the noise won't last as long? 🤷🏻‍♂️

😖Unfortunately, this appears to be something new for some of my...

I want to give 5 stars because this place was super cool, very clean and the scenery beautiful. But I'm mildly irritated over some of the "rules" so I'll explain. This place had the cleanest outdoor facilities I think I have ever seen! Nice clean camp ground, well kept and an all around very nice place, I highly recommend camping here....here comes the BUT. BUT, we camped on the island. This is primitive camping (which is what I like). The island is beautiful, the camp spots are a good distance from other sites. Every spot has its own grill, fire ring, picnic table and trash hanger. "It sounds like you liked it then?"

This place doesn't allow you to drive your vehicle to your camp spot in order to unload and load your vehicles. So if you want to camp on the island (don't) or be prepared to walk a half mile back and forth between the parking lot and your camp, until set up or to take down.

Oh, btw, they do provide wheel carts to carry your stuff, but there are only 2. So there are 10 sites on this island?... basically, you aren't getting a cart. I can understand the value in not allowing everyone to keep their vehicles on the site, but at LEAST let people unload and load their camp.

Also, they make you put up your tent on the gravel lot they provide and nowhere else. There is a ton of this grassy land and some tree's for shade, but you aren't allowed to use it. So all of your stuff is covered in gravel and dirt (and if it rains, then it's awful!)

On the island there are 2 disgusting Porto potties that have NEVER been emptied or cleaned (so it seems) so the walk to the bathroom is about a 30 minute ordeal.

The process of putting up camp and taking it down was so frustrating that I don't think I'll go back, which really stinks because it was nice. I think they need to be more accommodating for the island...

I actually love this place! This was my first time ever camping out at Lillydale. It was a pretty awesome experience. Had a little (kinda) conversation with a squirrel lol, saw a family of Deer and an Eagle, all in the same spot of the campground. The weather was very nice, the area that we placed our tent in was an amazing shaded spot and had a view of the lake from our tent. We reserved spots 31 and 32. They were right across from the restrooms/shower rooms, which made it better with having kids that don't like to walk anywhere lol. I will say that if you need anything from the store like groceries, you may have to stop before getting there. There aren't any big name stores in the area like Walmart or anything, but there is a little store called "Triple D" on 294, or if you just want to eat, there's a restaurant called The Fork at the beginning of the road that leads to Lillydale's campground. For those pulling campers and trailers, please be careful on the roads leading to the campground, they are a little curvy.

I will definitely be going back one day!

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