Blueberry Patch Campground — Hotel in Town of Hector

This is a great campground.

There is a parking lot at the very beginning, which is what you’ll use if you are just here for the day. The picnic area has several fire pits and grills, and it looks like someone pulled out some big tree logs to sit on, in addition to the provided picnic tables.

Camping itself was relaxing and peaceful here. I managed to snag a site and there was only one other site occupied, it was a week day and off season. During the summer months in can get full quick on weekends, bur weekdays should still be fine.

Some of the spaces were pretty close to each other, only one or two were more secluded (but you could still see and I’m sure hear other campers if more sites were used). They have flattened ground designated platforms ideal for pitching tents. I pulled my car up (you park at your site) and slept in it, I prefer that. During the daytime you can hear birds chirping, little animals like squirrels running up trees. At night, it was so quiet. You can sort of hear cars on the road nearby, but they almost blended in with the crickets, not too noticeable at all especially with a fire going. We stayed two nights, and we heard coyotes howling in the distance both nights, which was pretty cool. We saw no wildlife at night, but that is fine with me!

When we went into the woods nearby to gather up sticks, we didn’t see much a trace of animals, besides a single pile of deer poo, and what I believe was dog poo. I think we also found a nest along a stream of water (definitely not drinking water, and not much. More just muddy runoff water), which appeared to be abandoned, but cool...

Small campground (9 sites). Deeply wooded, lots of shade. First come first served. Pay at a kiosk at entrance. Cell service is patchy. Nicely maintained, although the pit toilets could have used some more attention. We stayed one night en route to another destination, and again on the way home. The first was a Monday night and there were 3 empty sites. The second was a Friday night and we got the very last site when we arrived at noon. Several families with many small children.

Very pretty. Lots of birds and chipmunks. A nice set of trails adjacent to the campground, but bring your boots. There were some long stretches of muddy puddles. It had been rainy, but it looked like the mud might be common because the trails had lots of boardwalk segments.

Update: We've stayed here several more times in the past few years. Bathroom cleanliness has improved since our 2020 visits. We found some blueberry bushes this year! The ones we saw were along the Interloken Trail...

The Finger Lakes National Forest is the best-kept secret and treasure around! We don't often camp in the Blueberry Patch campground, but we do from time to time, when the family members along prefer to have toilets available, mostly. Last I knew the cost for overnight stay was $10 and you self-pay. There is NOT potable water available to drink, though - used to be years ago when we started coming in the 90's but not anymore. But still a deal! TONS of trails that come through and off from this central hub and lots of ponds and creeks nearby. Lots of geocaches, too.

If we don't have whiners, we usually to prefer to find roadside camping that's free and available throughout the forest lands, many of which have decent parking areasm picnic tables and fire rings, but sometimes you just need to indulge the ones who need to sit on a toilet seat to poop. (although the forest is a LOT less stinky place, if you...