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Wed Jul 20, 2011 1:07 pm

Leaving New Hampshire for the Niagara Falls area in on the 6th of August. New wife has no passport. Can anyone suggest a low-key (stealth, even) camping area within 20 miles or so of the state park?

Wed Jul 20, 2011 1:28 pm

Stealth camping I'm not sure,
but there is a NYS park north on the lake.
4 mile creek State park
http://nysparks.state.ny.us/parks/6/details.aspx

the general vicinity of Niagara falls is industrial, tourist and residential
I'd doubt if you could even stealth at the Walmart.. and well many neighborhoods are sketchy, the nice ones are watchful. it's certainly less than safe in the industrial areas..

right now (7/20) there are 166 out of 258 sites available for (8/6) and well, a clean safe site with a shower and security is worth a few $$.. though NYS does ding out of state campers an extra $5.. fees aren't subsidized via federal taxes anymore.

Wed Jul 20, 2011 1:44 pm

danfromsyr wrote: Stealth camping I'm not sure,
but there is a NYS park north on the lake.
4 mile creek State park
http://nysparks.state.ny.us/parks/6/details.aspx

the general vicinity of Niagara falls is industrial, tourist and residential
I'd doubt if you could even stealth at the Walmart.. and well many neighborhoods are sketchy, the nice ones are watchful. it's certainly less than safe in the industrial areas..

right now (7/20) there are 166 out of 258 sites available for (8/6) and well, a clean safe site with a shower and security is worth a few $$.. though NYS does ding out of state campers an extra $5.. fees aren't subsidized via federal taxes anymore.

+1 for 4 mile creek. it is a very nice campground and easy driving distance to the falls. a few sites have killer sunset views of the lake.

Sun Aug 14, 2011 10:55 am

Thanks for the tip on Four Mile Creek State Park. We stayed there for three nights, Monday through Wednesday, and were very comfortable. We picked a spot at the far west end of the campground for afternoon shade. The park was approximately 25% full, so it was quiet and peaceful at night. They have large, clean restrooms and showers. We washed our laundry there on the last night. Niagara Falls and Fort Niagara are very short drives, and we parked for free at Niagara Falls by showing our campground receipt, saving $10 in parking fees.

On our way home, we drove along the southern shore of Lake Ontario and stayed overnight at Westcott Beach State Park, at the east end of the lake. We found the spaces much smaller, the park unacceptably crowded, and too noisy for anything longer than a single overnight stay.

We spent our last night in New York in Rogers Rock State Park, just south of Ticonderoga. The main campground was mostly the same as Westcott Beach, crowded and noisy, but they have a small extension, directly across the highway from the main entrance, that is spacious and quiet. Unlike the main campground, the extension is all dry camping with flush toilets, but no showers.

Lots of stereotypical "city folk" seemed oblivious to the crowded conditions, barking dogs, and loud music. We live in a very quiet rural area, and are thankfully, blissfully, unaccustomed to the din.

Sun Aug 14, 2011 11:05 am

mwsnow wrote: Leaving New Hampshire for the Niagara Falls area in on the 6th of August. New wife has no passport. Can anyone suggest a low-key (stealth, even) camping area within 20 miles or so of the state park?

I am glad you had a good time on your trip. You say you stayed in the U.S. because your wife has no passport? Did you know the Border Patrol believes it can conduct immigration checks anywhere within 100 miles of the border? That would include the road along the south shore of Lake Ontario.

Sun Aug 14, 2011 11:45 am

Gauche1968 wrote: mwsnow wrote: Leaving New Hampshire for the Niagara Falls area in on the 6th of August. New wife has no passport. Can anyone suggest a low-key (stealth, even) camping area within 20 miles or so of the state park?

I am glad you had a good time on your trip. You say you stayed in the U.S. because your wife has no passport? Did you know the Border Patrol believes it can conduct immigration checks anywhere within 100 miles of the border? That would include the road along the south shore of Lake Ontario.
We are USA citizens by birth, carrying ID cards with recent photos issued by both the federal and state governments, driving a Westy with current New Hampshire tags and insurance. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that travel from New Hampshire to New York and back is a low-risk event.

Sun Aug 14, 2011 2:14 pm

I have a funny story about 4 mile creek SP.

We got there at about 10pm (I had called ahead and the ranger gave me the gate code).

It was almost full, so we went around the circle twice and backed into a spot with a huge weeping willow tree and fell asleep to a soft drizzle of rain.

At about 2 am we woke up to what sounded like distant gunshots. Then people started screaming. It was pitch black outside very surreal. Things banging around every where, then something hit the fiberglass top, then the windshield.

Slowly we came to the realization that the park was being pelted with golf ball sized hail.

The people in tents were screaming and running for cover. The people in metal rvs were banging and denting. In the morning we saw busted windshield, ripped tents. It was awful.

The big weeping willow protected us, all we got was the ricocheted hail. Thank you willow tree :D

Niagara is an awesome place, you can feel the earth shake for miles around. We may be going back late September

Sun Aug 14, 2011 3:01 pm

mwsnow wrote: Gauche1968 wrote: mwsnow wrote: Leaving New Hampshire for the Niagara Falls area in on the 6th of August. New wife has no passport. Can anyone suggest a low-key (stealth, even) camping area within 20 miles or so of the state park?

I am glad you had a good time on your trip. You say you stayed in the U.S. because your wife has no passport? Did you know the Border Patrol believes it can conduct immigration checks anywhere within 100 miles of the border? That would include the road along the south shore of Lake Ontario.
We are USA citizens by birth, carrying ID cards with recent photos issued by both the federal and state governments, driving a Westy with current New Hampshire tags and insurance. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that travel from New Hampshire to New York and back is a low-risk event.

Probably, they usually only go after Greyhound buses on 1-90; although who knows what might be lurking inside a Westy. :P

Sun Aug 14, 2011 9:18 pm

mwsnow wrote: we parked for free at Niagara Falls by showing our campground receipt, saving $10 in parking fees.

We camped for free in their parking lot for the night by paying a $10 parking fee 8) But I'm pretty sure you could poach for the night and be fine as the guy behind the counter didn't write down our plate number or give us any sort of tag for our dash.

We were only there for a night and left early the next morning to get home, for a few days the place you stayed sounds quite nice.

The maiden of the mist tour was awesome, highly recommended!

Mon Jan 05, 2015 5:16 pm

Gauche1968 wrote: mwsnow wrote: Leaving New Hampshire for the Niagara Falls area in on the 6th of August. New wife has no passport. Can anyone suggest a low-key (stealth, even) camping area within 20 miles or so of the state park?

I am glad you had a good time on your trip. You say you stayed in the U.S. because your wife has no passport? Did you know the Border Patrol believes it can conduct immigration checks anywhere within 100 miles of the border? That would include the road along the south shore of Lake Ontario.

(old thread alert)

You can ignore these checkpoints by simply asking if you are being detained, and then driving on. You are under no obligation to show ID to CBP away from a border.

Garlow Road follows the Reservoir in the town of Lewiston and is a fairly quiet place to pull over and camp for a night. 15 minute drive to Falls

A few blocks away from the Falls on the American side is crack infested and burned out ghetto. Amazing and shamefull.

Tue Jan 06, 2015 7:38 am

As a general rule NYS and NYS DEC campgrounds have decent sized campsites. Private ones, not so much. I guess the temptation to cram as many campers into campground is too great to resist. At least that has been our experience.

Thu Apr 14, 2016 7:58 am

There are a lot of good stealth parking spots along lake road, Route 18 on North shore of NY/Lake Ontario

Town of Olcott and Town of Wilson are two that are pretty close to the Falls tourist area. Good Cheap eats, nice people.

I sail out of that area.