Lovely but a bit cramped, with a serious bear + trash problem Woodland Valley State Campground
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I have stayed at Woodland Valley three times in the past two years, and I do recommend it for hiking the highest peaks of the Catskills–even though I have strong complaints about its management.
As other reviewers have pointed out, Woodland Valley is in a lovely site along a stream surrounded by great hiking trails and truly wild country. Plus, it’s just a few minutes down the road from Phoenicia, an especially charming and informal little town with good food. Yes, the sites are a bit small and not very private, but it’s peaceful anyway, unless you’re just there on an unlucky night (which can happen to the best of us). The bathrooms are kept pretty clean too. (Yes, bring quarters for the pay showers.)
Unfortunately, there is a serious bear problem that the campground’s own policies have helped create. On any evening when there are a significant number of empty sites, one or two bears are liable to wander through the length of the campground. I have never seen them wander through an occupied site, but one of these days I suppose they might. When asked about the bears, the campground staff inevitably blame campers and their refusal to follow the trash disposal policy.
But here’s the problem: Dumping and recycling hours are so absurdly restricted that many campers feel compelled to leave their trash in outdoor bins or next to the garage, which is nearly always closed. When they do this, they must know they are violating the posted policy. But here’s why they do it: The drive to Phoenicia takes quite a while, and like most towns it lacks public dumping facilities. If campers are forced to choose between illegally dumping trash right next to the always-shut recycling building in the campground, or illegally dumping it twenty minutes away somewhere in Phoenicia, they will always choose to dump it right at the campground.
If the staff were actually interested in solving the bear and trash problem, they would either expand the dumping hours to allow people to empty their trash at a convenient time, say, after dinner (logical, eh?), or alternatively do what state parks in New Hampshire and the western states do, and supply campers with a bear-proof dumpster or other receptacle that can only be opened on top or in some other way that bears cannot penetrate. (That way you could dump your trash anytime, and bears could not get to it.)
I love wildlife and am not particularly scared of being attacked by a bear. But when bears are so accustomed to visiting a campground where people bring their families, something is not right. Although I am sure I will be staying at Woodland Valley again, I won’t come with kids. I have to say its poor management on this crucial issue really annoys me.
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