Going Camping In New York This Summer? You Might Want To Plan Now

Nothing beats hitting up the wilderness for some serenity. But, if you wait to make plans, you might not be able to camp at all.

With prices soaring all across New York on pretty much everything, camping still remains a cheap weekend option that so many across the state enjoy. Because a big group of people makes it a yearly tradition, for some multiple times, now truthfully is the time to make your plans.

If you are someone who spur of the moment goes camping, that may not happen in 2022.

“Don’t wait too long to reserve a site,”. “While there are still plenty of campsites available, summer weekends and prime sites are filling up quickly.” - Dan O’Keefe, New York Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation spokesman

Now, obviously, if you're hearing that said from a New York State spokesperson, then it certainly is in regards to camping at New York State Parks. If droves of people are making plans to camp there, imagine the privately run ones that people have huge desirability for.

One of the fun things though about camping at New York State Parks is how much there is to do. For instance, scroll below and see all the fun that can be had on a random weekend at Thacher Park in the Capital Region, which happens to be a state-run park. If you're going camping with kids involved, it almost becomes a no-brainer.

Heads up, camping season at these parks begins May 20th. Click here to make a reservation now.

John Boyd Thacher State Park

This park is nestled just 35 minutes outside of Albany making it a very short drive from anywhere in Central New York. As you are about to see, they have a lot to do for people of all ages as well.

RANKED: Here are the most popular national parks

To determine the most popular national parks in the United States, Stacker compiled data from the National Park Service on the number of recreational visits each site had in 2020. Keep reading to discover the 50 most popular national parks in the United States, in reverse order from #50 to #1. And be sure to check with individuals parks before you visit to find out about ongoing, pandemic-related safety precautions at www.nps.gov/coronavirus.

LOOK: Here are the best lake towns to live in

Many of the included towns jump out at the casual observer as popular summer-rental spots--the Ozarks' Branson, Missouri, or Arizona's Lake Havasu--it might surprise you to dive deeper into some quality-of-life offerings beyond the beach and vacation homes. You'll likely pick up some knowledge from a wide range of Americana: one of the last remaining 1950s-style drive-ins in the Midwest; a Florida town that started as a Civil War veteran retirement area; an island boasting some of the country's top public schools and wealth-earners right in the middle of a lake between Seattle and Bellevue; and even a California town containing much more than Johnny Cash's prison blues.

LOOK: Here is the richest town in each state

Just saying the names of these towns immediately conjures up images of grand mansions, luxury cars, and ritzy restaurants. Read on to see which town in your home state took the title of the richest location and which place had the highest median income in the country. Who knows—your hometown might even be on this list.

LOOK: Here are the 50 best beach towns in America

Every beach town has its share of pluses and minuses, which got us thinking about what makes a beach town the best one to live in. To find out, Stacker consulted data from WalletHub, released June 17, 2020, that compares U.S. beach towns. Ratings are based on six categories: affordability, weather, safety, economy, education and health, and quality of life. The cities ranged in population from 10,000 to 150,000, but they had to have at least one local beach listed on TripAdvisor. Read the full methodology here. From those rankings, we selected the top 50. Readers who live in California and Florida will be unsurprised to learn that many of towns featured here are in one of those two states.

Keep reading to see if your favorite beach town made the cut.

READ ON: See the States Where People Live the Longest

Stacker used data from the 2020 County Health Rankings to rank every state's average life expectancy from lowest to highest. The 2020 County Health Rankings values were calculated using mortality counts from the 2016-2018 National Center for Health Statistics. The U.S. Census 2019 American Community Survey and America's Health Rankings Senior Report 2019 data were also used to provide demographics on the senior population of each state and the state's rank on senior health care, respectively.

Read on to learn the average life expectancy in each state.