Oakland Valley Campground — Hotel in Town of Deerpark

I had high hopes when I made my reservation for this Campground, but my hopes were dashed when we got here. The first thing we were greeted by was an unpaved driveway full of loose rocks and river gravel that sloped sharply down and jolted our rig as we drove into the Campground. Then there was a sharp left turn over to the Campground store, which also serves as the Check-In Office. We were checked in by a very friendly woman who also showed us exactly where our site was.||||Now, I must say that several reviewers here have claimed that the check-in staff/Owner or personnel was unfriendly or unhelpful. We did not find that to be the case at all. We found the staff there to be both friendly and helpful, so no people problems there. ||||However, this is an old campground in need of serious infrastructure maintenance. It doesn't help that many campers park older rigs here for extended periods of time or even for the season. We are used to boondocking in state and federal campgrounds, which also are aging and have infrastructure that has not been properly maintained, and I get the very same impression of this place. The only difference is that state and federal campgrounds have a 14 day limit and they do not allow storage of rigs there, and so one never sees those campgrounds full of older dilapidated rigs. Sadly, the owners allow for the storage of older and dilapidated rigs, which gives a poor impression. My husband reported that there are several such parked in the riverfront campsites and that their condition is so bad that they probably cannot be moved from there. As for the majority of them, the rigs were in movable condition, but due to the layout of the sites it would be impossible for any one of them to be moved unless their neighboring campsite was vacated first. And then they would face the issue of getting up the steep hill. ||||I can now understand why many private campgrounds disallow rigs older than 10 years, and why government campgrounds require people to leave at the end of 14 days. Campsites full of sad-looking RVs that have seen better days do little to improve the appearance of a campground that is past its glory years. ||||At some point in time, the roadway was paved, but washouts and frost heaves due to weather have left the pavement broken and even completely disintegrated in many areas. There is a very steep downhill curve in the road leading to the riverfront sites that is made even worse by washouts. It’s full of ruts and protruding rocks. It would be nearly impossible to get a small rig like ours (25’) down there, much less anything like a bigger one. And I shudder to think what getting back up that hill would be like, as I previously said. ||||The restroom areas in the bathhouse are very clean and neat, however the shower stalls are another tale altogether. My husband reported that the Mens’ showers were ancient of days but relatively clean. But the shower stalls in the Ladies’ room were all full of mud and debris. There were many children camping at the same time we were and parental neglect allowed them to go unsupervised into the Ladies’ room to wash off mud collected by playing in the river, creating a horrific mess in there. It didn’t help that the shower stalls, constructed of unsealed concrete, were covered with black mold. The combination of mud and black mold created a harrowing appearance that contrasted deeply with the clean and neat appearance of the toilet stalls. We are self-contained, so I was able to bathe in our camper, thank God. ||||When went to the dump station as we were leaving, we found that the RV Dump area, like the rest of the campground, had many low-hanging tree branches and bushes. There was debris piled up at the dump station as well as an open trench. Because we are relatively small, these did no damage to us at all; however, anything bigger and wider than we are would definitely get scratched up or land in the trench. ||||It would not take much to improve things in the campground. The roadway surfaces could be greatly improved by simply running a grader over them to smooth them out. The dilapidated trailers and buildings at the front of the campground give a wrong impression but could be remodeled, repainted, or removed. The overgrown grass in the campsites could be mowed or trimmed, and the bushes and trees could be trimmed as well. The bathhouses only need a good cleaning with a power washer and bleach to clean the old concrete floors and stalls, followed by a good coat of paint. ||||With improvements, I could recommend this campground with 4 stars, but as it currently is, two stars is all I can give with a recommendation that this place is more suitable for car and tent campers than for...

Been coming here for years so let’s get right into it. I am a tenter so I can’t speak for the people with trailers but here it is. Stay up top on the 300 level to tent on some grass, beautiful view of the moon when it’s out and have a view of the perfect time to get in the pool, see what activities may be going on organized by the campground and keep a short walking distance to the bathrooms with the hot water sinks/ showers… (all other bathrooms on the campground have cold water sinks and no showers and are a bit more sketchy) there is a rec hall where they may or may not have activities going on. Occasionally the campground owners may provide a complementary bonfire setup by them for all to enjoy in a big grass patch by in between the pool and the bathrooms (can’t miss it) usually there might be some kind of activity for the kids to participate in by the pool or the rec hall during holiday weekends or themed weekends (pay attention at check in and ask questions)

Stay on the 200 level to camp on grass but alot of tree roots. There is a big open grass patch for the kids to play, swings, some small play houses for very small children, a volleyball net and a bathroom with actual toilets but cold water sinks. ForJuly 4th weekend the 200 level is where the fireworks are (Book your site way in advance because I probably already took it) also there is a trail on the second level that is pretty easy to navigate to a nice section of the river that isn’t advertised. Stay on the 100 level to camp down and dirty. There are sites along the river, sites along the creek/ridge also some sites in the middle of both. You are at the bottom of the treeline down there with plenty of shade and if it rains then plenty of big puddles on the roadway. Very few sites down there have electricity just an FYI. There are 2 bathrooms on the 100 level both cold water sinks, 1 has actual toilets (the one by the sites in the 40’s-50’s) the other bathroom is the one that is not gonna be the girl’s favorite place… it’s doable but is the only bathroom on the campground without actual toilets that flush and that is located in between the sites that are in the 60’s and the river sites that are in the teen’s.

Other than that the campground has dumpster’s on all 3 levels, plenty of sites with electricity/ water. There is a dollar general literally 5 minutes away, and right next door to that is “Odell’s” which is a gas station with plenty of items you may need. There is a flea market on the weekends right in the church parking lot by dollar general you may want to check out. Yes this is a campground but civilization is RIGHT THERE don’t panic people. “G mart” is the closest supermarket which is about an 18 minute drive, “stewarts” close by, there’s a super Walmart in Middletown NY which is about 25 minutes away, seriously don’t panic if you forget anything...

We would recommend this campground to families with children. I camp 3-4 times a year for 20 years, and have stayed at at least 20 different camp sites. This campground was above average.

I took off one star because the firewood we purchased from the campground was mostly unseasoned and damp. We had a very difficult time with our camp fire the first night. We literally couldn't fully burn one log after two nights of fires. The second night we purchased firewood at a beer distributer in Port Jarvis and didn't have any issues. There were closer places that also sold firewood, though I can't speak to the quality.

I chose this campground based on the number of reviews complementing the cleanliness of the bathrooms and proximity to Silver Canoe and Rafting (which I also recommend). There are at least three bathrooms - two in the lower area and one near the entrance. The entrance bathroom had very clean toilet stalls and showers in both the men's and women's restrooms. We only used one of the lower bathrooms - the women's bathroom was clean and the men's bathroom was relatively clean, which likely reflected the proportion and relative cleanliness of other male campers. The bathrooms were above average in my experience.

The camp sites were adequate. You can see all the campers in the adjacent sites, but the sites were on the larger side compared to most places I've camped and we had no trouble with quite hours or loud campers after 11 PM. Like many campgrounds, there were a number of long-term guests in campers and what appeared to be pseudo-mobile homes, which I don't love but are typical of such campgrounds. I prefer campsites to be more remote, but again the campsites were above average in terms of space and cleanliness. There were many large puddles of water due to recent rain, though I'm unsure if that would be typical of any campground that received as much rain as this place apparently received. Still, our camp site did not flood during a fairly heavy rainfall at night.

Overall, we had a very pleasant experience and I would recommend this campground to...